All foam

I have three kegs in my kegerator. All are at 1bar. All with 3m (~9') flexmaster II as beerline. Two have picnic taps, and one has a fatlock with an Andale tap. For some reason I can't get a good pour out of the Andale. All I get is foam. All conditions are the same. I have swapped the tap to other kegs and even swapped beer out disconnects to make sure there isn't a problem there. It is ALWAYS the Andale tap that has the problem, regardless of the configuration.

For ages, I was getting a really slow pour that was all foam coming out of the tap. Then I pulled the fatlock apart and turned the little plastic bit around. Now I get a fast pour (too fast). It comes out more 'beery' now, but turns to foam as soon as it hits the glass. I tried turning the pressure down to 0.8bar and burping the keg, but it still comes out really fast and turns to foam straight away.

I don't get it. The picnic taps give a perfect pour every time. All taps are at the same height, with the same length and type of beerline. What the hell is going on?

0.8 bar is equal to 11.6 psi. this is still fairly high for serving pressure turn it town to about 0.5 to 0.6 bar and see if that helps. if not turn it down more. the "to fast" pour is creating turbulence that is causing the CO2 to come out of solution. you may have to burp the keg and let it sit for a while before the carbonation settles down again.

TipsyDragon said:

0.8 bar is equal to 11.6 psi. this is still fairly high for serving pressure

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With 9' lines 12 PSI should be fine. You never want serving pressure to be different from carbonation pressure.

Yeah, I don't want to lose carbonation either. I could try longer serving line on just that tap, but I'd rather not have to experiment with extra line only to find out it doesn't help, because money is a factor for me.

It also doesn't make sense to me that it's only this tap that I have the problem with. Considering that it comes out slower than the picnic taps when the plastic bit is in one way, and faster when it's around the other way, I guess the restriction inside the taps makes more difference than it is usually given credit for. Balancing tables never mention anything about what tap is being used, only the line.

I don't even know which way around the plastic thing is MEANT to go. I got this tap second hand, and the plastic bit has been cut short (the long end is now about the same length as the short end). I bought a seal kit for it, and it came with a new plastic thing. It doesn't fit, which explains why the one that came with the tap was cut short. Anyway, it makes sense that it's meant to be oriented to give the least resistance. If I add a bit of beerline, then it might match the extra resistance that the picnic taps have.

This happened to me, a slow foamy pour, flat beer in the glass.

I just discovered that the culprit was the plastic ball lock connectors. Two of the four I bought were defective. I'm sure if they can be fixed or if they should be replaced.

Try swapping the connector from your working picnic tap to your draft line.

It could be the inside of the tap has rough spots, or the line isn't as smooth (or is too smooth so it offers less resistance)...could be the poppet causing it.

I used to run longer lines, but I switched to inserting the epoxy mixer sticks in my dip tubes instead.