Whys my beer foamy?

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tylo_k2008

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Hey I have a kegorator that I finally got a keg for. I currently have one tap. Im drinking Miller Lite. The temperature in the kegorator is set to 36 degrees. I have the Psi Set to about 13. Its been hooked up and tapped now for about 4 hours. On a perfect poor though I am still getting close to 1/2 cup of foam. What am I doing wrong? Where do I start to find my issue? Oh also in my chet freezer I have 5' of beer line. It flows fine, Not to fast, the foam is just bugging me. So...... HELP ME!! I WANT A BEER ALREADY!!! :rockin:
 
Drop the pressure on your CO2. I've found with most commercial lite beers, that 5-7 pounds of pressure is all you want when dealing with a basic kegerator set up. I've been over this issue a lot of times with friends and found most of the time, they are trying to pour at 10-15 psi and that is too much for commercial beers, until you get into designing the kegerator to specs by cooling the tower and or lengthening beer line. It won't pour as fast, but you are only talking a few seconds difference per glass for a nice full glass with a little head on it.
 
drop the PSI. i agree with clonefan94 here. 10-15 is too high for that style. try 7 lbs and see how it treats ya.
 
Thanks alot! Well I switched it to around 5-6 PSI and it worked great for a few glasses then all of a sudden it was starting to foam again even though the regulator still said 5 PSI. Why would my regulator keep jumping though? I set it around 5 PSI and then this morning I woke up and the regulator read 10PSI. This is the second time it has done this to me, and I cant figure out why on that either.
 
Use a longer beer line and/or drop the pressure.
Coil up a 10' beer line in your keg and your foaming trouble should go away even at 10psi.

As far as the regulator is concerned; do you have a check valve on the output?
Your sankey coupler should have a rubber/plastic one built in but you should also get one for your regulator as well.
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=check+valve
 
Thanks alot! Well I switched it to around 5-6 PSI and it worked great for a few glasses then all of a sudden it was starting to foam again even though the regulator still said 5 PSI. Why would my regulator keep jumping though? I set it around 5 PSI and then this morning I woke up and the regulator read 10PSI. This is the second time it has done this to me, and I cant figure out why on that either.

C02 is coming out of the beer causing the pressure to go up in the keg. It will keep doing this till the amount of co2 is equal to the pressure setting on your gage.
 
C02 is coming out of the beer causing the pressure to go up in the keg. It will keep doing this till the amount of co2 is equal to the pressure setting on your gage.

This, because you had it set so high the beer is overcarbed, it may take a day or two and a few pints pulled to bring it back down. Im sure your up for the task.:mug:
 
This, because you had it set so high the beer is overcarbed, it may take a day or two and a few pints pulled to bring it back down. Im sure your up for the task.:mug:

He said he only had it hooked up for 4 hours.

The big question is "is the beer cold?" Not just cold enough to drink, but a proper serving temperature? Warm beer holds less CO2 than cold beer. If you're serving it warm, it'll foam. Give it a good day or two at 36 degrees and it should re-absorb whatever CO2 it off-gassed.
 
I bled out all the pressure and lowered the PSI to around 6. Temperature still around 37 degrees. 24 hours now and the foaming has decreased from about 2/3 cup of foam to about a 1/3 cup of foam. Optomistic by tomorrow everything will be perfect. Also looking into getting a fan to get some of that cold air up more towards the faucets.
 
That's great to hear! I installed a fan in my kegerator and it certainly does keep the temperature nice and even in there. I also used copper piping as sleeves for the beer lines which hang low into the fridge to conduct the cold all the way up to the faucets. I also have 5 foot lines and at 10 PSI, the beer pours very nicely with all these things in place.

Here's a link to the fan I bought for this application:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OJN250/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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Thanks for everyone who helped me out. I still didn't get the fan, but last night my beer was flowing perfect! Woke up this morning and regulator hasn't moved any so I am completely happy. Until the next tap, or as soon as more issues come along! Thanks
 
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