too much foam, done everything i can think of

i recently setup a kegerator and a buddy bought me a keg of quilmes since there is no homebrew at the moment.

bought this a little while back
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/towers/t-style3/D7743PSS.shtml

changed the lines to 7' because i thought 5' might have been the reason.

cleaned everything else that comes in contact with the beer and i have the regulator set on 12psi. fridge set at 44F

all i get is foam and a little really flat beer. what gives?

Sounds like it could be warm beer lines. Unless you're actively cooling the tower the lines running through the tower are going to be much warmer than the 44 degrees in the kegerator, which can cause excessive foaming even if the rest of the system is balanced. Have you tried pouring a few beers in a row? If this is the case then you should begin to get good pours after the cold beer running through the lines cools it down.

so your getting too much foam but also really flat beer, seems like a catch 22 to me

considering your new tower your lines may be getting warm which would explain the foam, but I think the real problem would still be the flat beer, you may want to drop the temp on your fridge a few degrees(38-40F) and see what happens or keep the current temp and pick up the pressure to about 15 or 16 psi considering the lager(i'm assuming its a light lager)

i had the temp set at 39-40 at first and was getting same results.

tried playing with the psi and no luck.

lines are cold, i have a small computer fan blowing into the tower.

every pour is the same no matter what i do.

what makes me wonder is that every bar here that sells draught beer is foamy and flat. (quilmes in the bottle is like a typical pils)

jordanpace said:

i had the temp set at 39-40 at first and was getting same results.

tried playing with the psi and no luck.

lines are cold, i have a small computer fan blowing into the tower.

every pour is the same no matter what i do.

what makes me wonder is that every bar here that sells draught beer is foamy and flat. (quilmes in the bottle is like a typical pils)

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What is the inside diameter of your beer line. It should be 3/16" to provide sufficient resistance for a reasonable balance. The computer fan blowing into the tower might not be doing a good job of circulating the air. Your taps should feel cold or at least very cool if it's working right.

the former 5' lines were 3/16 ID x 7/16 OD

new lines are metric and appear just a tad bigger.

tower is very cold to the touch, and i can pour pour pour and its always the same.

something i have noticed is the first split second of the pour looks clear, then you can tell the rest has bubbles in it.

i am using this style of shank...
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/faucets/shanks/4331A-3_Shank_Assembly.shtml

before i have alwayed used the style with the nipple already attached, like this..
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/faucets/shanks/SHANK2.shtml

from what i can tell, it looks like its the area where the line meets the shank where i am having problems.

i have cleaned this connection but to no avail.

anyone else using this style shank with positive results?

I would assume that you are using a barbed tailpiece and coupling with that shank like these:

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/beer-fittings/ss-tailpieces/526BS.shtml

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/hoses/nutswashers/coupling/525_coupling_wing_nut.shtml

the above tail piece and winged coupling require a gasket like this:

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...s/coupling/759_neoprene_coupling_washer.shtml

I'm pretty sure you have that stuff hooked up correctly. I think it would be leaking badly if you don't have the gasket installed.

So, it appears that you have everything connected properly, the tower and tap is cooled OK and the beer line is the right type. About the only thing left is the possibility that the beer is over-carbonated. Frequently, over-carbed beer will foam like crazy when you pour it, but little CO2 is retained and it will appear more or less flat in the glass. I'm not sure why this happens, but it does. You would think that only the excess CO2 would be released with the foam, but that's not what happens. I think it's because when the beer is all foamy, it does release most of the CO2 very quickly and when it settles down there is very little gas left in solution. So, I would try to rid the beer of the excess CO2. You can do this by repeatedly releasing the gas through the pressure relief valve and shaking the keg between releases. This may take a while to do. Wait for the beer to settle down a few minutes between releases before sampling. Once you get it to the proper carbonation level, try pouring at slightly less pressure than storage pressure to reduce foaming for a few days until you can get everything balanced. Bring it up to the normal storage pressure (12-13 psi) at the end of the session. Also, be sure that the beer line is real beverage line and not just ordinary plastic tubing of some kind. I think you have the real thing judging by the dimensions you provided above for the tubing.

Bottom line: My conclusion is that it's an over-carbonation problem and nothing else but.

Try going with 12' of 3/16" draft line and keep the beer around 38°. You should have better luck with that. You can look up tables to see temp vs CO2 volumes with respect to psi to fine tune it, but I noticed that the extra few degrees cooler and the longer line make all the difference.

thx for the replys, i will try these recomended steps and go from there.

only question is why a comercial bought keg would be over carbed..

jordanpace said:

thx for the replys, i will try these recomended steps and go from there.

only question is why a comercial bought keg would be over carbed..

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I have no idea why a commercial keg would be over carbed, but I've encountered more than a few that were. It may have become over carbed after you hooked it up. There's always the possibility that the regulator gauge may not be accurate and you could be applying more pressure than you realize. I don't really know for sure, but the symptoms you describe certainly point to over carbonation IMO.

PaulB said:

Try going with 12' of 3/16" draft line and keep the beer around 38°. You should have better luck with that.

Click to expand...

thats my setup. with an uncooled tower, the first pint is 50/50 foam/beer and all subsequent pints have a 1-2" foam head.

update, beer is pouring better with a lot less head but still flat. going to keep monitoring the situation.

thx for the help again!