Anybody else kegging w/ the picnic taps?

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GIusedtoBe

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This setup is getting really old for me. Everytime I want to draw a pint, I have to turn down the regulator to practically off and vent the keg almost completely just to avoid a glass of foam. One of the kegs also loses its seal as soon as you vent it which is a complete PITA:mad:

Anybody else manage to make this system more palatable or is everyone else using real taps?

Regards,
Al
 
How long is the line between the tap and the keg? I'd suggest a minimum of six feet, a little more would probably be better.

Also, make sure you're opening the tap all the way...anything between closed and wide open will generate tons of foam.
 
I am still using the picnic taps also, until I can get my "brew pub" finished in the basement, and then I will look for real taps. As to your question, yes, I have the same problem, I just pour the first glass, set it off to the side, and then come back to it in a few minutes after the foam dies down. One thing to try is cut yourself some longer tubes. If you are using 3/16th inch line, cut them at about 6 - 7 feet and it will help a lot. I made the mistake of cutting my last one at about 5 feet, and that bugger foams like crazy.
 
How are you carbonating? Force, or with sugar?

I noticed that when I carbed with sugar, I could never get consistent pours. Then, I took to carbing using just CO2. I now rack from my secondary to my keg, set the keg to ~10-11 psi (depending on beer style), and let it sit in my kegerator for about 2 weeks.

I get a perfect pour everytime now.
 
I used picnic taps for a while - got perlicks on my kegerator now. :D

One thing I noticed with them is you have to open them up all the way or they foam really bad. It's backwards from what you would naturally think would cause the most foam.
 
After balancing your system, you may also want to check out your poppets. I had one that got gunked up, was sticking, and caused foam like you're describing, so keep that in mind too and disassemble the keg or run plenty of hot PBW through them.

:)
 
I use picnic taps and have a serving pressure of about 10psi. I also use 6' runs of 3/16th bevline and don't have any issues.
 
I use about 10 feet of 3/16 to a picnic tap with my 3 gallon kegs that I drag around. No problems as long as it's cold. I second the point about throttling the tap causing foam - the small restriction seems to cause the CO2 to come out of solution. Needs to run wide open.
 
+1 to all the great replies. I've had my kegerator on picnic taps for a few months, and aside from my buddy who never learned how to properly pour a beer from a cobra tap (poor guy missed on college I guess), I've never had any major problems.

Mine's ~6ft at 10-12 PSI and it comes out gushing with very litle over foaming as long as you don't try to open the tap halfway to 'slow it down.'

Guess the thing for people to remember - smaller opening results in higher pressure. It's what happens when you put your thumb over an open garden hose. Same amount of water comes out, just sprays out farther because you are causing pressure. You aren't actually making the water (or beer from the cobra) come out any slower by forcing the same amount of liquid through a smaller half-opened opening.
 
jezter6 said:
Guess the thing for people to remember - smaller opening results in higher pressure. It's what happens when you put your thumb over an open garden hose. Same amount of water comes out, just sprays out farther because you are causing pressure. You aren't actually making the water (or beer from the cobra) come out any slower by forcing the same amount of liquid through a smaller half-opened opening.
Click to expand...
Close but not quite true. It is like a garden hose with your finger over the opening but it is not true that the same amount of water comes out. What actually happens is that wide open, thumb removed/tap fully open, the pressure from the keg to tap is dropped due to resistance in the hose. The pressure difference between the end of the hose and the atmosphere is minimal. When you reduce the flow by restricting the opening the resistance is reduced and the pressure differential at the nozzle increases closer to the pressure on the keg. Its the high pressure at the nozzle that causes the hose to spray a hard stream or your tap to foam. A longer hose increases the resistance and the pressure drop at full flow. If your hose is longer than needed to balance then the flow is reduced such that the resistance balances with the pressure change between keg and tap.

Craig
 
CBBaron said:
Close but not quite true. It is like a garden hose with your finger over the opening but it is not true that the same amount of water comes out. What actually happens is that wide open, thumb removed/tap fully open, the pressure from the keg to tap is dropped due to resistance in the hose. The pressure difference between the end of the hose and the atmosphere is minimal. When you reduce the flow by restricting the opening the resistance is reduced and the pressure differential at the nozzle increases closer to the pressure on the keg. Its the high pressure at the nozzle that causes the hose to spray a hard stream or your tap to foam. A longer hose increases the resistance and the pressure drop at full flow. If your hose is longer than needed to balance then the flow is reduced such that the resistance balances with the pressure change between keg and tap.

Craig
Click to expand...

Damn you and your science!
:)

I was close....sorta...in a round about, not quite correct manner.
 
I really need to lengthen some of my lines, as i have a couple that are less than 3 feet, i just keep the pressure low, and remember to wide open it when serving.
Norm
 
CBBaron said:
Close but not quite true. It is like a garden hose with your finger over the opening but it is not true that the same amount of water comes out. What actually happens is that wide open, thumb removed/tap fully open, the pressure from the keg to tap is dropped due to resistance in the hose. The pressure difference between the end of the hose and the atmosphere is minimal. When you reduce the flow by restricting the opening the resistance is reduced and the pressure differential at the nozzle increases closer to the pressure on the keg. Its the high pressure at the nozzle that causes the hose to spray a hard stream or your tap to foam. A longer hose increases the resistance and the pressure drop at full flow. If your hose is longer than needed to balance then the flow is reduced such that the resistance balances with the pressure change between keg and tap.

Craig
Click to expand...

That's also close but not quite right. With regard to the tap not being open fully.

It's the venturi principal. When a restriction is placed in the way of a moving fluid the pressure actually drops but the speed of the flow increases. That's why the water from a garden hose flys further when you put your thumb over a portion of it, its speed is increased. Just like a baseball will fly further the faster you throw it, if the trajectory is the same.

And one of the reasons the beer foams is because the fluid goes from moving slow to moving faster. This causes an increase in turbulance which contributes greatly to the beer foaming.

Turbulance causes beer to foam. Try pouring a beer down the side of a glass then try pouring it straight into the bottom. The second method increases the turbulance and also the foam.

Also try pouring into cold glasses that helps.
 
I use picnic taps with 5' of tubing and keep a constant pressure of around 11 psi. If I pour just like that, it comes out too fast and causes a lot of foam. However, if I bleed the keg for just a second or two and then pour, it pours just about perfectly. Bleeding is a PITA and a waste of CO2, but it is worth it for now. Eventually I plan on getting some taps and will connect those with at least 10' of tubing.
 
Eh, I have picnic taps and do admit that the first couple pours are foamy from a new keg. However, once the pressure is lowered I set the PSI to about 6-8 and it pours nice and steady. I don't bother to vent because it's a waste of CO2 and I can wait 5 mins for my beer to settle before I drink it on the first few pulls.
 
Jekster said:
Eh, I have picnic taps and do admit that the first couple pours are foamy from a new keg. However, once the pressure is lowered I set the PSI to about 6-8 and it pours nice and steady. I don't bother to vent because it's a waste of CO2 and I can wait 5 mins for my beer to settle before I drink it on the first few pulls.
Click to expand...

If I pour my beer with a lot of foam and let it settle, a lot of the carbonation comes out. I don't like my beer like that. Also, I don't lower my PSI because I serve and carb from the same regulator; and I am constantly carbing a keg.
 
I am glad to see this, because I was beginning to feel retarded. I used to have this same problem, but hadn't seen anyone else who knew what I was talking about. I would walk into the garage to the ol' kegerator to pour my buddies a brew, and I'd be almost too embarrassed to walk back in because I had either poured a nice tall glass of head, or a flat beer. Thinner hose=muuuch better.
 
Phideaoux44 said:
I'd be almost too embarrassed to walk back in because I had either poured a nice tall glass of head, or a flat beer. Thinner hose=muuuch better.
Click to expand...

oh the things that can be done with this one, out of context :D
 
I use picnic taps still. I'm still using them longer than I wanted to, but it's just too easy to just open the door and pour a glass. One of these days, I'll convert to a real kegerator, but probably not for a few more months.

I've also found that if your pour is very close, with just a little too much head, raise your arms and fill the glass over your head. Gravity will add some more resistance to the pour and you'll end up w/ a perfect pour.
 

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