Tower too warm

[snail]

I have an older BM-23 I bought on craigslist. Inside of the kegerator there is a vinyl tube that you can put about half way up the tower that blows cold air to cool the tower. It doesn't seem to work very well because every 1st pour is 3/4 foam. I have 10 ft. of 3/16 ID tubing with the c02 set at 11 psi at 38 degrees. I also have it hooked up to a ranco temperature controller. What seems to happen is the fridge will turn on until it hits the set temp, but the tower obviously isn't getting as cool. Maybe I could put the probe in the tower... I'm wasting a ton of beer currently. Any suggestions....

 

[Slipgate]

Is the air tube powered or have a fan on it? Make sure it is as far up the tower as you can get it. The one I set up runs all the time 24x7. If yours only runs when the fridge is running, then you may not be getting enough air flow up there.

 

[snail]

Yeah the tube has air going through it. If I take the top off the tower I can feel cool air blowing in my face. It's also as far up the tower as it will go. The air tube is built into the kegerator so it only runs when the kegerator runs. So when the controller turns off, the air stops flowing through the tube. I'll probably have to hook up a pc fan or put the beer line in copper tubing with some excess going into the kegerator.

 

[MistyMountainHops]

PC fan is a gem. I have one attached to a little box with a flexible plastic tube up to my tower. It also runs 24/7. I never have foam issues and my tower stays super cold.

 

[wildwest450]

Yeah the tube has air going through it. If I take the top off the tower I can feel cool air blowing in my face. It's also as far up the tower as it will go. The air tube is built into the kegerator so it only runs when the kegerator runs. So when the controller turns off, the air stops flowing through the tube. I'll probably have to hook up a pc fan or put the beer line in copper tubing with some excess going into the kegerator.

You answered your own question. Hook up a pc fan.

 

[qvantamon]

could it be co2 coming out of suspension in the hose? I found out I got a lot of first-pint foam from bubbles in the hose when I reduced the pressure in one of the kegs. The other one was stable (and plugged into the same tower), no bubbles, no foam.

 

[snail]

I don't think so because the next couple pours are fine.