The tastiest foam I ever poured

So I kegged my batch on Monday and I spent a few minutes with it at 30 psi shaking it up and stuff, then I let it sit for a few days at 12 psi and today I tapped it. It poured foam so I turned down the pressure to about 5 psi and poured a pitcher and drank off of that and pretty soon my wife and I were catching a good buzz. Then I had to turn it all the way down to 0 and it was still pouring foam a bit.

I have a 3 foot line and a picnic tap and the line is 3/8. The line isn't raised or anything it's just hanging from the corny.

So is my line to short or what?

Pouring into a pitcher works great but if I keep drinking pitchers I could get into trouble in a hurry.

Edit: oops maybe I mean 3/16 on the line - wow this beer is good.

3/16 or 5/16? The difference (in my own experience) is immense. It also depends on serving temperature. A 2ft line of 5/16 from keg to tap at room temperature was a nightmare, at fridge temperature (and 10PSI) not bad. I now run a few feet of 3/16 in-between and it works great though I am going through a flash chiller. Regardless, I suspect I could run room-temperature beer through this set up and get a good pint. Add a few foot of 3/16th line into your setup and it should serve you well.

I would vent the keg a few times and then try it again at around 6-8 and see if it works better.

Did you release the pressure before pouring?

Also, hose size will make a big diffrence. I use 6 feet of 3/16th for beer at 12lbs and 20 feet of 3/16 for soda, at 30lbs.

Just make sure you vent after turning down the pressure.

Yes I vented a few times and that helped but I still got quite a bit of foam even at 5psi or less. The beer is around 40 degrees and I have 3 feet of 3/16 line.

My kegerator is at 40 degrees, and I have about 8 feet of line now. I also use just picnic taps, and set my regulator at 12 psi. I get perfect pours every time. I think you may want to go with longer line, and it should solve all your problems!

oswegan said:

Yes I vented a few times and that helped but I still got quite a bit of foam even at 5psi or less. The beer is around 40 degrees and I have 3 feet of 3/16 line.

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You need to double your line length, at least. You shouldn't have to vent before pouring, and you serving pressure should be at 8-12psi minimum. Get 8 feet of line and if it pours to slow you can cut it down 6 inches at a time until your happy. Your problem is definitely line length.

You people are awesome! 6-8 feet here we come.

I'm running 40 degrees and 6 feet of 3/16th line.

6 feet should cure your issue, if not...not sure what to tell you.

Also make sure you are opening your faucet all the way.

I added 8 feet of 3/16 line and it pours well. I still have to turn it down to 5-8 psi otherwise I get a lot of head.

oswegan said:

I added 8 feet of 3/16 line and it pours well. I still have to turn it down to 5-8 psi otherwise I get a lot of head.

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Hmmm. I pour/carbonate/store all at 10-12 psi. I don't like having to purge and then re-set, so I like the set it and forget it way. You could try even longer lines, which might help.

If it gets much longer there'll be a whole beer in the line.

i bought the 4 tap refridgerator conversion from keg connection.
3 beers pour perfectly(bm's cream of3 and centennial blonde and orfy's english mild) but the fourth(orfy's hobgoblin) gives me a glass of foam.
another thread said to make sure the beer out line stays below the tap which i did.
i looked at the beer line right after a pour and it is all foam. i have vented the keg and turned the c02 right off for two days so the beer won't pour then turned it back on at 8 lbs and still foam.
this keg was primed with corn sugar but so was the mild and its fine.
any ideas??

Oswegan, I have the same setup as you, 3 foot line at 3/16 with picnic tap. I have my pressure set at 2 psi and it pours into a glass without a problem. I could probably go up to 4 but havent tried yet.

I'm going to say that the beer is just highly overcarbed. You might have racked it in before it was fully done fermenting so the residual sugar plus addition of the priming sugar got you to 4 volumes or something. Venting the keg once or twice isn't going to reduce it all that much. Keep venting it over the course of an hour or so.