New Perlick Faucets Foamy

I built a keezer last year, and the kegs were well balanced, with 7ft of 3/16th beverage line hooked to picnic taps, pressurized to 14-15psi at 35 F. For my birthday I just got three new perlick 525ss and new 10ft lines so I can switch back to picnic taps when needed. I hooked the perl's up on my collar and now my beer is 90% foam and seems to rush out faster than before. The lines are 10ft and 3/16th also, so i figured 10 ft at 2psi per foot, I should pressurize to 20psi. I cranked it up and left it overnight and there is no change. Still foam. I've got a party in a couple weeks to show off my new keezer. HELP!

20 PSI at the keg at 35F is too much CO2. Your beer will over carbonate and will be foamy at this pressure. Even 14 PSI is too much carbonation which is why you were at 7' originally. You need to be at 12 PSI then your line lengths need to be taylored for good flow and no foam.

Rule of thumb is 1 foot of beer line per 1 psi of pressure (CO2).

Use this chart to figure out how much pressure, at temperature, to properly carbonate the beer. At 35F, unless you're going for highly carbonated Belgian's (or other very highly carbonated beers) you're seriously over carbonated. Even at 14psi you're around 3 CO2 volumes.

This site has a good formula for balancing it out...
http://web.archive.org/web/20080215.../clubs/franklin/public_html/docs/balance.html

I know that its highly carbed. I prefer really carbed beer, more like soda. I should still be able to balance it at a higher pressure. According to the formula on that site I should only need 7 ft of line. Ive got 10 and its still running out fast. How would you dispense soda? Most soft drinks are carbed at like 35psi. What happens if my lines are longer than the recommended length?

Turn pressure down to 10 psi. If your perls are in the hot garage, that could cause foam right at the beginning, but should clear up on the second pour. What's the temp of your kegerator? Are your lines cold enough?

jinjosavior said:

I know that its highly carbed. I prefer really carbed beer, more like soda. I should still be able to balance it at a higher pressure. According to the formula on that site I should only need 7 ft of line. Ive got 10 and its still running out fast. How would you dispense soda? Most soft drinks are carbed at like 35psi. What happens if my lines are longer than the recommended length?

Click to expand...

Those formulas aren't always right, since they don't take all the variables into account. They rely on fixed resistance figures for various beer line sizes, but unfortunately those figures are actually variable.

The ONLY side effect to lines that are too long is a slightly slower pour. I always suggest getting lines that are much longer than you need. If I have time to drink a beer, I have an extra few seconds to wait for it to pour. If the pour really is too slow, it's super easy to trim a couple feet off. If the line's too short, getting it to grow a few feet longer is much more difficult.

For dispensing soda, you need really long lines (like 30'+), or other devices to increase resistance and slow the flow down. I use the epoxy mixer sticks in the diptube in conjunction with 20' lines for serving soda.

And even with longer lines you may experience a little foaming on the first pour since you left the keg on 20psi overnight. This surely increased the carb level some. When the carb level exceeds the serving pressure, CO2 likes to come out of solution slowly over time and form gas pockets in the lines, which often causes the first pour of every drinking session to pour foamy.

Another cause of a foamy first pour is the faucets/shanks being significantly warmer than the beer. As mentioned, if the faucets are located in your hot garage, they'll need a pint poured through them to cool them off before they'll pour well. Either that or some way to keep them chilled.