keg dispensing trouble...

Hey all, I'm new to homebrewing and kegging. I have put 10psi on the keg and let it sit for a week. Chilled it and bled off down to a few psi and served. It seemed to pour best at 6psi. My problem is that it seems that the first pour is always foamy but flat. The next few pour ok i guess but it seems that the carbonation is gone within a few pours. If this is a problem of force carbing should I prime the next keg? Thanks in advance.

Did you chill it before you put it on gas?

It needs to sit for a week at 39 degrees at 12 psi to carb properly.

10psi on a warm keg will do nothing no matter how long it sits. You'll need to chill the beer down and leave it at about 12psi/40F for 1-2 weeks. Your beer isn't going flat after a few pours, it IS flat and the foam you're seeing in the glass is not really from CO2 coming out of suspension. If you need to carb warm beer, it's going to take 30-40psi depending on the temp.

I would bet that it just needs more time. That has been my limited experience since kegging at the first of the year.

Read this:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/Hi-Res/kegging-system.pdf


You shouldn't drop the pressure, 10 PSI is a good serving pressure if your lines are balanced. 6 PSI will cause your beer to go flat, unless it's very cold.

This all depends on beer temperature, CO2 PSI setting, and serving line size & length. 3/16 ID serving line has a pressure drop of 2 ft of head loss/ foot of line, so for a faom free pour, you need half your serving pressure in line length.

For instance: 12 PSI @ 40 deg F provides about 2.4 volumes of carbonation (very common volume for american ales). At this pressure, you will need 6 ft of 3/16 ID serving line for a foam free pour