Odd foaming...

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Homercidal

Homercidal

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I made an IPA and kegged it up. It was kind of foamy, so I took it off the gas and let some out, hoping it would settle down. After several days it was still foamy, but the pressure was still kind of low.

Then I noticed that it's only foamy for the first few seconds. After a while the whole liquid line is nearly all gas, and I have to wait for the whole thing to fill with fresh beer before I get nicely carbed beer to come out.

I then changed taps and the problem continued, but on the other tap.

So now I have to assume that the beer, or the keg is the problem. My mind tells me that if the QD is open and allowing the beer to reach the tap, then the pressure on the beer in the line should be equal to the pressure of the beer in the keg and it should keep the gas in liquid state for the most part.

Any ideas?
 
There are a lot of factors you have to account for. If you have too low pressure on the CO2, that can cause foaming just as much as too much pressure. The beer line length should be at least 5 feet, according to what I have read. (Disclaimer: This is not a hard/fast 5 feet).

Other factors would include beer temperature, tap temperature, internal keg pressure without load... I could go on.

What I do, usually, is start VERY low on the CO2 input. I then gradually increase it until there is little foam and then see what happens. This works well for me and you may want to try it... or not. It does sound like you may have too much CO2 in the beer... perhaps.
 
there are large pressure drops as the beer flows out of the keg and down the tap line. This is why it's important to balance your draft system so you don't get a bunch of foam in the glass. That usually happens with the tap lines are too short.

But, your problem sounds like something different.

What's your set-up? kegerator or keezer? is there a tower on it?
 
liquid tube partially obstructed? slow leak?

I'd release the keg pressure, remove the liquid out post/poppet/dip tube and check all those parts and reinstall.
 
The lines are about 10' I think. I didn't have this problem on my other kegs. I've served at anywhere from 10 PSI to 20 PSI and the only problem I've had with the other kegs was pouring too fast. This is not turbulance, it's more like VOIDS in the beer line, causing foam. Once the line fills up again, it's ok, but shortly thereafter the line shows large areas where the beer is gone.

I think it must be the keg, because I swapped lines and both do it on that keg, but the brown ale is fine on either line.

I remember having an issue a while back, which may have been this keg also. Hard to know for sure. I take everything out of the keg and wash well and sanitize and relube each time I add new beer. I suppose it *could* be a blockage in the keg, like the poppet isn't working right, but I'm not sure what exactly could be the problem.

Maybe the poppet is too tight, and the QD is not opening it up far enough??
 
Homercidal said:
The lines are about 10' I think. I didn't have this problem on my other kegs. I've served at anywhere from 10 PSI to 20 PSI and the only problem I've had with the other kegs was pouring too fast. This is not turbulance, it's more like VOIDS in the beer line, causing foam. Once the line fills up again, it's ok, but shortly thereafter the line shows large areas where the beer is gone.

I think it must be the keg, because I swapped lines and both do it on that keg, but the brown ale is fine on either line.

I remember having an issue a while back, which may have been this keg also. Hard to know for sure. I take everything out of the keg and wash well and sanitize and relube each time I add new beer. I suppose it *could* be a blockage in the keg, like the poppet isn't working right, but I'm not sure what exactly could be the problem.

Maybe the poppet is too tight, and the QD is not opening it up far enough??
Click to expand...

Since it's an IPA, is it possible that the poppit has some hops debris? I'd depressurize (important!- I shouldn't have even told you and hoped you forgot!) and then pull out the "out" post and check it and the dip tube for debris. Sanitize and reassemble. It definitely sounds like you've got something stuck in there. Just like pinching a garden hose will cause a different stream, so will a piece of particle in the poppit.
 
I really doubt there is any hop debris, but it doesn't hurt to check. I do wonder if the O-ring got squashed, thereby causing the poppet to sit lower in the QD and making the opening narrow.

Or there is something in there. Had a Band Boosters meeting tonight, but perhaps tomorrow I'll depressurize the keg and recheck the posts.
 

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