Foamy keg

Just got a kegerator last month, and am ready to start kegging.

Tried a keg from the store, and this thing is amazing!

Bought a Perlick 525SS double tower, and made a slight modification. I cut the hoses coming from the tower and inserted a double sided hose barb, so i can easily swap from home brew back to store bought couplers without that $40 wrench, and a lot of tubing to keep up with. It turned out nice

Bought a second keg from the store (FIRST one on new tower), and it is SUPER foamy. there is no beer leaking from line connections, and no air is excaping. I have tried it from no PSI to 30... and it it’s just pure foam.

I’m ready to keg my homebrew, but refuse to waste it on a flawed system.

Any ideas on how i can trouble shoot this? I’d like to avoid buying another keg too... but would rather do that than test on MY stuff.

Thanks

I checked the seal on the coupler... looks good... and I cleaned with BLC, flushed it with water, and sanitized lines


No change

I put my old tower back on, and it works fine now. It is either something with my new tower, or my double ended hose barb. I’m guessing the barb, but since i cut the line, I can’t attach to the coupler without it. It’s made of brass.... Can Brass cause foam in beer?

The usual suspects are the beer line being too short, pressure too high or big temperature changes. Is there any way the beer is somehow able to stay cool in the old tower, but not the new one? Maybe better insulation? Going from cold->warm will make beer foam up bad.

If you're sure there's no way it's any of those, could you post a pic of the coupling thingy? I have not heard of brass causing foam.

I actually hooked the old tower up after pulling it from a closet, and installed it with the door to the fridge open, because my new one was still screwed in up top (new one feels cool to touch, and faucets are cold and foggy after they pour). I am also rocking 5’ of beer line, and my pressure is now at 13psi, bumped up from 10 due to CO2 visible in the line.


I know i should have clamps on both sides, but after swapping back and forth with no new results, i didn’t replace them yet. Also these photos were taken when i swapped out the tower, the line is now FULL of beer, and the temp is back to “coldest” (i need a thermometer)





Thanks for the help!

I had horrible foaming issues with 5 feet of beer line at 12 psi, I changed out my hose to 10 feet and it is perfect at serving.

That doesn't describe why you have foaming problems on 1 tower but not the other but are you using the same Perlick 525's on both towers or just the new one? The difference could be the faucets maybe.

Make sure you are opening your faucet all the way when your pouring. Some people try to pour with them half open and this results in foam. Is your kegarator air blown?

I might try that hose increase... cheap and easy! I have changed the coupler connector, and the double sided barb.... no luck.... I tried the old tap again, and it does give quite a bit of head, but it is MUCH better (not quite acceptable... maybe the keg?), and is carbonated as opposed to flat FOAMY FOAM. I have two terrible videos to show the difference. And you’ll see Perlick on the new double tap, and the worst of the worst on the plastic chrome junk one.

As for the air... i know nothing about what I’m doing... but if it were blown, could it consistently stay at the same pressure?.... I think it’s ok... but don’t have a scale, or the gauge that tells you.

As for the temp... i bought this thermometer today, and it says my fridge is at about 50... sounds kind of high... but is still pleasant.... Is this an issue?

NEW TOWER:



OLD TOWER:



THANKS FOR THE HELP GUYS!!! keep it coming... I just want to drink some beer

Do you know what the internal diameter is of your beer line vs the barb? if it's reducing the flow then when it comes out the other end it could very well foam.

Another thing i'd try (not sure if you've done this yet) is to pour two beers in a row through the bad tower. If the second one comes out good (or any better) then you are probably looking at a beer line length or tower cooling issue.

Also if you haven't removed the faucet and disassembled/cleaned it yet, i'd try that as well. I had some gunk in one of mine a while back that was causing it to foam a little bit by disrupting the flow too much.

Just by lookin at your pics and your vids I think is the combination of the fitting and the temp. The fitting cuz it is smaller in diameter than the beer line causing the pressure to change in the lines. As far as the temp goes 50 is to warm to pour a beer especially if your pouring it into a frosted mug. The temp changes are gonna cause instant foam. As far as a air blown system. It is a unit that comes with a small fan in it similar to one you would use to blow up tubes on ya boat with. It will have a hose connected to it that goes up into the tower so that cold air is blown up into it so there is very lil temp change. Remember that beer is very temp and pressure sensitive. Hope this all makes sense and gets ya goin in the right direction.

got a new barb set up to have the same internal diameter... no change... but when i removed the barb completely, AND got a new coupler connector, and bled the CO2 completely, and krept up the psi.... it works now at 4 psi....

Concerned about my temp... I am at 48 degrees in a kegerator (mini fridge style)....

is there anything i can do to help drop the temp?

Thanks for the help guys!

got a new barb set up to have the same internal diameter... no change... but when i removed the barb completely, AND got a new coupler connector, and bled the CO2 completely, and krept up the psi.... it works now at 4 psi....

Concerned about my temp... I am at 48 degrees in a kegerator (mini fridge style)....

is there anything i can do to help drop the temp?

Thanks for the help guys!

I know on certin models of kegarators there is a way to access the area behind the dial that controls the temp allowing you to turn the temp down a lil more. But I would research your brand and model on the net before doing this.

Also, for the temp, to get an accurate temp you should put a glass of water in the fridge and measure it's temp. That's the most accurate way to get a liquid temperature of the fridge.

I moved my thermometer yesterday. I had it clipped to the wired coming from the temperature control unit, and it was reading 50, now i have moved it to the back where the false back is, and it reads 40. I think I will give the water a try.

Thanks for suggestion budman, i’ll see if i can find anything