Foamy pours

I have my keezer up and running. Its a 5.o cuft Haier. Fits two corneys nicely on the bottom and will be making some minor adjustments to get a third to fit on the hump. Since this freezer is so small the runs for the beer lines were very short, less than 3 ft. I have seen where people suggest at least 6 ft runs but that makes a big mess of the keezer. Is it the longer runs that keep the beer from foaming so much or do I need to keep playing with the CO2 pressure. I have noticed that my cream ale foams way more than the IPA I have in there now, will longer runs help with that?

johnsonbrew said:

Is it the longer runs that keep the beer from foaming so much or do I need to keep playing with the CO2 pressure.

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Both will affect the "foaminess" but CO2 pressure will also change how carbonated your beer is. Longer lines slow down the pour, but won't affect carb level.

Set the regulator to the correct pressure based off a carbonation chart/calculator and increase the line length to properly balance the system. If the longer line length bothers you visually, you can coil them neatly w/ zip ties.

I wasnt so concerned about the length of the hose and looking bad, just having a hard time getting kegs in and out because of the spider web of hose, the coiling idea would help with that. Is 6ft the ideal length for hose?

The ideal length is dependent on your keg pressure and line ID, basically the line is providing resistance to the flow so a narrower/longer tube will give you more resistance. It helps to understand other sources of resistance too (shanks, height changes, etc)

Check this out: http://***********/stories/techniqu...-balancing-your-draft-system-advanced-brewing



Remember the only downside of a too-long line is a slow pour, not a big deal for a home kegorator.

search the forum for 'epoxy nozzle'...it should be in the kegging section under 'the cure for your short hose troubles'.

your system is not balanced...not enough resistance for the psi. solutions include longer tap lines, OR more resistance inside the tap lines, which is where the epoxy nozzle comes in.

its just a plastic insert that goes in the dip tube (you can fit 3 or 4 in there, maximum) and it just slows down the beer as you pour a pint, allowing you to keep short tap lines.

If the foam is limited to the first glass then you need a Beer Tower Cooler to keep the beer shank inside the tower cold.

The professional fix is called a pigtail. You can look it up but it is essentially a tight coil of SS which causes the flow to slow to a point where the bubbles cease to come out of soluton. You can also use what is called a choker behind the beer faucet attached to the shank for shorter runs. Zachattack is correct in that it is not about the length of the lines as much as the resistance. When you don't have enough resistance to the pressure, the co2 will come out of solution and then messes up your pour. It sounds like the epoxy thing might work as well but I don't have experience with that. If you can't find the SS versions which I can't at the moment, you can try to make a very tight coil of your beverage line about 6 rotations high in a spiral. Use zipties to latch it all together and it will serve the same purpose. As the beer passes around the tight curvature of the line, flow will slow so that by the time it hits the faucet, it is not going too fast. I will see if I can find some pictures. Also do you know what inside diameter beer hose you are using?

Out of curiosity, what is your temperature and the pressure on the kegs?

More Info and some good information: http://www.kegworks.com/faqs/Draft-Beer-Quality-Manual.pdf

What size inner diameter beer line are you running? Like you already mentioned, three feet is not enoigh ko matter ehat size it is. The general rule of thumb on here for home brew set ups is to use 3/16 inner diameter line of at least ten feet. Some even suggest one foot for every psi that you serve at. You can always start longer and cut them down shorter but it is hard to add on more line. The worst thing that will happen with long lines is you will get a slow pour. With short lines you get foam.

10ft of 3/16" Beer line with 12PSI of CO2 @ 38-40degF is what works for me (for most ales). But its dependent upon temperature and desired volumes of CO2 in the beer.

3' is way too short.

malkore said:

search the forum for 'epoxy nozzle'...it should be in the kegging section under 'the cure for your short hose troubles'.

your system is not balanced...not enough resistance for the psi. solutions include longer tap lines, OR more resistance inside the tap lines, which is where the epoxy nozzle comes in.

its just a plastic insert that goes in the dip tube (you can fit 3 or 4 in there, maximum) and it just slows down the beer as you pour a pint, allowing you to keep short tap lines.

Click to expand...

This is the easiest fix to this problem.

You can use 3 foot lines with cobra taps at 10-12psi with perfect pours every time if you use this method. Having 10-12ft of lines for each keg, while it will work, is a PITA when you have limited space in a smaller keezer.

I had to go dig for the thread on the epoxy inserts.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/cure-your-short-hose-troubles-100151/

I bought a dozen at once, and have at least 2 in every keg now and 5' tap lines. The ones with 3 inserts pour the best, at least in my setup.

I am using 1/4 inch inside diameter and try to keep my keezer between 35-38 degrees F. I like cold beer not matter what I am serving. I have about 12 ft or so of hose left over and am going to to try 6ft of hose for each and serve at about 8 psi or so. I think 12 ft of hose would make a tremensous mess of my 5 cuft. keezer especially when I add the 3rd keg. I am holding the kegs at about 10 lbs of pressure, purging the keg before serving and then pouring at a low pressure rate of about 6 lbs or less. Slow pours but not too much head and the beer seems to be well carbed.

If you switch out that 1/4 inch line for some 3/16 you can keep proper carb pressure on the kegs without the need to lower and purge the keg before you pour. 1/4 inch line only has a resistance of about .85 psi/ft. 3/16 has just under 3 psi/ft. That means you need to use almost three times as much 1/4 inch line to balance your system than if you were to use 3/16 line