Super Foamy Double IPA?

[Iowa Brewer]

Hey all,

Brewed my first IPA, which was a double honey IPA.
Kegged and force carbonated it, and it turned out delicious!
Only thing is, there's a massive head on it, whenever I draw a pint. Like REALLY foamy. My beer/gas lines are all what is recommended and my other beers, which are also on tap right now, aren't producing this kind of foam. Is this normal? Is there a way to mitigate? I have it at 12psi, right now.

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

99% of purported beer line calculators share a common misconception and are frankly unhelpful.

So, what is the inside diameter and length of your beer lines?
And at what temperature do you hold your kegs?

fwiw, two handy resources: our favorite carbonation table and the only beer line length calculator worth using...

Cheers!

 

[sborz22]

Check the dip tube to see if you have any gunk in there. I had a raspberry stuck in my tube once and every beer I poured was a pile of foam until I removed it.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

99% of purported beer line calculators share a common misconception and are frankly unhelpful.

So, what is the inside diameter and length of your beer lines?
And at what temperature do you hold your kegs?

fwiw, two handy resources: our favorite carbonation table and the only beer line length calculator worth using...

Cheers!

Thanks for this, day_trippr. I'm not sure on the diameter, but the line length is 5'. And I keep things at 40F
Dos that help?

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Check the dip tube to see if you have any gunk in there. I had a raspberry stuck in my tube once and every beer I poured was a pile of foam until I removed it.

Cheers, sborz22! I'll check the line.

 

[day_trippr]

Thanks for this, day_trippr. I'm not sure on the diameter, but the line length is 5'. And I keep things at 40F. Dos that help?

Sure! Typical carbonation level for pales/ipas/iipas/neipas/etc is around 2.4-2.5 volumes. If the beer is held at 40°F the corresponding CO2 pressure to achieve/hold the carbonation at that range would be 11-12 psi. And if you plug the pressure and a couple of other parameters into Mike's line length calculator it'll advise using at least 10 feet of 3/16" ID beer line. Or, using our HBT rule of thumb of 1' of 3/16" ID line per PSI you're in the 11-12' ballpark.

Note these lengths assume solid PVC tubing (of which Bevlex 200 is the industry standard). If one uses a barrier line like Bev Seal Ultra Series 235 the advise is to multiply the lengths by 1.5, minimum, as the PET liner is slicker than PVC - plus what is being sold as "3/16" ID is actually 2/5" ID...

Cheers!

 

[Jtvann]

Agree with day tripper. I have 3/16 inside diameter lines, keep my keezer at 40 degrees and CO2 set to 12 psi. Basically the exact same conditions as you.

My lines are 15 feet long. Very happy with them

 

[bobeer]

While you have the keg open checking the dip tube, check your "out" post pop-it. If you had a lot of dryhops and some transferred over to the keg there could be hops stuck in the spring of the pop-it. This can cause foaming or just plain-ole bad pours.
I have 5ft of line on both my kegs and have the psi set to around 8 or so after the beer is fully carbonated to where I like it.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Hey all, sorry about the long delay in reply (been quite busy over here in Iowa!).
I'm going to check all these things out and see where it goes.

Again, cheers!