Kegerator troubleshooting help.

I've been trying to figure out my "head" issue for a while now.

The problem I am having is that when I pour a glass of beer, I get about 1/2 to 3/4 of a glass of foam. However, this always seems to be the first glass, the second glass poured within a short time period has less foam, and by glass 3 or 4, I am usually pouring with a nice 2 fingers of head on top. My initial thought was that I needed to make my hoses longer to cut back on the head, but that wouldn't explain why it pours correctly after a few glasses, and if I do that, would I have no head by the time I get to glass 3 or 4?

Im tempted to just increase the line length, since I usually pour 1 or 2 glasses anyway, unless of course I have people over. However, if I wind up with no head after 3 glasses, I don't think that would be good either.

Any thoughts on what might be going on here?


My setup is as follows:
Converted refrigerator with 2 taps going through the front door.
2 corny kegs inside.
The taps are about the same height as the tops of the kegs, maybe an inch higher.
running about 5-6ft. of hose(been a while since I installed them and can't remember exactly what it was, but looking at them now, it seems like 5-6)
40 degree temp
usually running about 10-12PSI
3/16 tubing

Typically this is due to higher temp beer in the lines at the tap. Since CO2 comes out of solution more quickly at higher temps. That being said, that is typically the case with towers. Maybe pour a glass and take the temp. Then take the temp when it is pouring good. If there is a differential or the first pour is warmer then maybe you need a fan to blow on the line in your shanks.

ozzy1038 said:

Typically this is due to higher temp beer in the lines at the tap. Since CO2 comes out of solution more quickly at higher temps. That being said, that is typically the case with towers.

Click to expand...

I was thinking that too, however the entire line is in the fridge, and the taps are generally cool to the touch too.

The only thing that is changing between pours would be the lines/shank/faucet cooling down to serving temps. That logically seems to be the only possible culprit to me. That being said a fan recirculating would help the issue, but your lines being in the fridge confuse me. I have a tower and have that problem but it makes more sense. If the door of the fridge you are running the lines through is thick and therefore your shank is really long, and warm, then that could be a source of warming the beer