Foamy Keg

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brazedowl

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My friend got a keg-fridge and CO2 hookup and gave it a try yesterday. He was saying that the the regulator is continuously bleeding off gas when the tank is open and connected. Also he says the beer is WAY too foamy. He just tried it with a keg of bud light (don't judge). So I guess my question for all you expert-types is...

Sounds to me like he's got the pressure up to high. What pressure should the system be set at? How can this be adjusted?

Is something wrong if the regulator is continuously bleeding off gas? or is that just because the pressure is set too high?
 
His serving pressure is going to be a factor of line length, but generally 10-12 psi. Adjust pressure with the regulator... there is a knob or screw in the center. If he's losing gas, he's definitely got a leak. It could be from the regulator or elsewhere.
 
brazedowl said:
My friend got a keg-fridge and CO2 hookup and gave it a try yesterday. He was saying that the the regulator is continuously bleeding off gas when the tank is open and connected. Also he says the beer is WAY too foamy. He just tried it with a keg of bud light (don't judge). So I guess my question for all you expert-types is...

Sounds to me like he's got the pressure up to high. What pressure should the system be set at? How can this be adjusted?

Is something wrong if the regulator is continuously bleeding off gas? or is that just because the pressure is set too high?

Go to a home brew store and get a bottle of star San (he's gonna need it anyway come time for cleaning and sanitizing (should have already sanitized, btw). Star San is good to put in a spray bottle then spray it around all the connections to see where the leak is. There's no reason the regulator should bleed gas unless the pressure exceeds the ability of the regulator, which is doubtful that's the case. The two tanks I lost (both same day) when I first started were leaks at connection points where the hoses attached to barbs. The beer being way too foamy is pretty generic and without more info there's no way of knowing. Is the beer blasting out of the faucet? That's the first sign of too high of pressure. You should have him reduce the pressure to 10-12psi and see what happens. If it's still coming out pretty forcefully and foaming like crazy, he needs to put on a longer beer line. My first faucet was a "kit" that came with a 5' line. According to all the calculators online 5' should have been right to balance my system, but it was still too strong of pressure coming off the faucet. The #1 rule is to set your pressure ACCORDING TO YOUR BEER. Set the PSI to what it needs to be to maintain the appropriate CO2 volume, then trim/add beer line as needed to slow down the flow and keep the beer from being too disturbed while coming through the line, shank, and faucet.

There are calculators you can use to "balance" your system, but as long as you set your PSI to the beer you can add 7 or 8 feet of beer line then trim and test until you find what you like.
 
I would take their advice on finding/fixing the leak.

I have had this configuration on my home Kegerator and the method I found best for getting the LEAST amount of foam was to do this:

DON'T Turn on the CO2 tank until...
AFTER You tap the keg...AND you fill up a few glasses or a pitcher of beer until the pressure of beer stops or comes to a slow leak, then SLOWLY raise the pressure with the tap on until you find the "Sweet Spot" of pressure -EDIT- (In terms of how slowly, in time, it should be the amount of time it takes for you to fill up one more pint of beer). Once you do this once or twice you will know where the psi should be for your configuration, but always use this method EACH time you tap a new keg!

Enjoy a less foamy keg, invite me to the party and let me know how this worked for you!
 
Bike27e said:
I would take their advice on finding/fixing the leak.

I have had this configuration on my home Kegerator and the method I found best for getting the LEAST amount of foam was to do this:

DON'T Turn on the CO2 tank until...
AFTER You tap the keg...AND you fill up a few glasses or a pitcher of beer until the pressure of beer stops or comes to a slow leak, then SLOWLY raise the pressure with the tap on until you find the "Sweet Spot" of pressure. Once you do this once or twice you will know where the psi should be for your configuration, but always use this method EACH time you tap a new keg!

Enjoy a less foamy keg, invite me to the party and let me know how this worked for you!

The problem with this is that if your beer has a fairly high CO2 volume, and you're pushing with a low PSI, over time you will have more and more CO2 come out of solution. You really should set your PSI according to the temperature and beer type to get the volume in solution right (and maintain) and adjust your line length/ID accordingly.

This was written by the man that invented the forward-sealing vent free faucet:

http://www.pjmuth.org/beerstuff/Kegging.pdf
 
This is reference to party kegs of beer like bud light/Natty Light/etc... Pouring just 3 or 4 glasses worth of beer without pushing an alternate source of CO2 will not have any noticable affect. And then you adjust to the desirable pressure. When I speak in reference to slowly raising pressure, I'm speaking in terms of Continuously turning the nob slowly until you get desirable pressure, this should be achieved within the pouring of 1 more glass of beer.
 
I bet the "regulator is continuously bleeding off gas when the tank is open and connected" problem is due to a missing gasket in the coupler between the regulator and the CO2 tank. It's a common rookie mistake...

Cheers!
 
I bet the "regulator is continuously bleeding off gas when the tank is open and connected" problem is due to a missing gasket in the coupler between the regulator and the CO2 tank. It's a common rookie mistake...

Cheers!

+1 exactly what I was going to say. He also may have the pressure too high but check this for sure.
 
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