Nothing but foam and I can't figure out why

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ThorGodOfThunder

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I have a keg of cider that dispenses nothing but foam. The pressure is set at 12psi and I have 13 feet of 1/4" line that is supposed to balance out 0.85psi per foot, or ~11psi. I have the keg about 2 feet below the spout. Every pour is nothing but foam, and it looks like it is starting in the lines. I tried lowering the serving pressure all the way down to 3psi and I still got a foamy mess.

What am I doing wrong?
 
Sounds like it's overcarbed to me, if it's overcarbed you are going to get a ton of foam regardless of what the pressure drop in the line is. I think 12 psi is probably too much CO2 to put on it. If you can still push it out with 3 psi, try lowering the pressure to like 7-8 psi and waiting a few days.

If you can't push it through the lines with a lower pressure, you might have to get mixed gas (N2/CO2) which is what they do in a lot of bars.
 
I agree with Yooper about the beer line. Were there bubbles forming in the line at 12 psi, or just when you turned the pressure down? If that was happening at 12 psi, then the cider is also overcarbed.
 
Pivovar_Koucky said:
I think 12 psi is probably too much CO2 to put on it. If you can still push it out with 3 psi, try lowering the pressure to like 7-8 psi and waiting a few days.
Click to expand...

Ciders typically have med-high carb levels, so 12 psi seems perfectly reasonable to me, especially if it's not being stored ice cold. I keep all of my beer at 12 psi and 41°, which equates to only 2.4 vol. If it is overbarbed, just reducing the pressure won't help. It needs to be repeatedly vented so that the excess gas has somewhere to go.
 
Yooper said:
Those calculators don't seem to work in "real world" issues. I can tell you from experience that the issue is right there where I "quoted" you. Switch to the same length of 3/16" line, and you'll be all set.
Click to expand...
I think I have some 3/16 line around here somewhere... But my corny keg out adapter has a 1/4 barb on it, and it was tight getting my 1/4 line on. Theres no way I can get 3/16 on it.


JuanMoore said:
Ciders typically have med-high carb levels, so 12 psi seems perfectly reasonable to me, especially if it's not being stored ice cold. I keep all of my beer at 12 psi and 41°, which equates to only 2.4 vol. If it is overbarbed, just reducing the pressure won't help. It needs to be repeatedly vented so that the excess gas has somewhere to go.
Click to expand...
I think my fridge is a little over freezing, so i'd guess ~35 F. I've read that ciders are often carbonated more than other drinks, but 2.4 sounds rather average. I suppose I can try it.
 
Another question is.. what kind of faucet are you using? Party tap or commercial Perlick type? Not sure that makes any difference if carbed properly.. but.. if you don't hold the faucet fully open.. vs just cracking it.. you will get a lot of foam/head.
 
Its completely open when I pour, its just a mess.

I burped my keg and dropped the pressure to ~7psi. The weird thing is that a large amount of CO2 bubbled into the keg (it was on its side) when I did this. It sounded like it does when you just start carbonating. I'm kind of really confused. It shouldn't be absorbing co2 at that pressure unless it was terribly under-carbed to begin with.

According to the kegerator chart, I should have about 2.6 vols in this cider. I carbonated it at room temperature because I have limited fridge space. At 65F I put about 28psi on the keg and shook it like a crying baby for about 10 minutes total. At that point the co2 stopped bubbling into the keg. I let it sit with pressure on for a few days, then disconnected and moved to my fridge. After a few days I released the pressure in the keg, hooked up my tank at ~12psi, and attempted to dispense.
 
nosmokingbandit said:
Its completely open when I pour, its just a mess.

I burped my keg and dropped the pressure to ~7psi. The weird thing is that a large amount of CO2 bubbled into the keg (it was on its side) when I did this. It sounded like it does when you just start carbonating. I'm kind of really confused. It shouldn't be absorbing co2 at that pressure unless it was terribly under-carbed to begin with.

According to the kegerator chart, I should have about 2.6 vols in this cider. I carbonated it at room temperature because I have limited fridge space. At 65F I put about 28psi on the keg and shook it like a crying baby for about 10 minutes total. At that point the co2 stopped bubbling into the keg. I let it sit with pressure on for a few days, then disconnected and moved to my fridge. After a few days I released the pressure in the keg, hooked up my tank at ~12psi, and attempted to dispense.
Click to expand...

What do you mean it's on its side?
 
Heat up the tubing a little bit (heat gun or boiling water), it'll go right over that barb.
 
Yooper said:
What do you mean it's on its side?
Click to expand...

The keg itself was laying on its side, so the gas-in post was below the liquid, which is how I could hear it bubbling in.

I'm wondering if I should just vent all of the gas out of my keg until the cider is flat and just start over from a still cider. I hate to waste the CO2 though.
 
ThorGodOfThunder said:
The keg itself was laying on its side, so the gas-in post was below the liquid, which is how I could hear it bubbling in.

I'm wondering if I should just vent all of the gas out of my keg until the cider is flat and just start over from a still cider. I hate to waste the CO2 though.
Click to expand...

Oh, well, if it was on its side, that makes more headspace since it's longwise, if that makes sense.

You can definitely keep venting, and not put more co2 in, until it pours the way you'd like. That won't fix it, but it will make you able to drink it!
 
What I did for now is set my tank to ~8psi and put everything back in my fridge. I have a T going to a separate ball valve after my regulator, so i open that for about 10 seconds to make sure there wasn't more than 8psi in the keg before I opened the tank's valve. So now I at least know there is 8psi in everything. I'll try a glass tomorrow. If I can't pour something drinkable I'll probably just vent all of the co2 out of the tank and start over. I don't want to do that, but this is being a giant PITA.

Oh, and I'm going to connect my 3/16 line as well. Its pretty thick-walled, but it might stretch enough to fit. If it is super tight I'll just lube up the barb with keg lube.

Wish me luck! This stuff tastes pretty good flat, I really want to try some carbonated!
 
I had a lot of problems with this with sodas I kegged. It turned out they were over carbonated because I kept forgetting to account for fridge temperatures when setting the pressure... Doh!

If I tmerely urned the pressure down it wouldn't help reduce the foam. I finally found I had to turn the pressure down, burp the keg, and then let it stabilize over a few days at the new pressure. That helps my foam troubles!
 
Yooper said:
Oh, well, if it was on its side, that makes more headspace since it's longwise, if that makes sense.
Click to expand...

It doesn't make more headspace, just increases the surface area between the gas and beer. The volume inside a corny is fixed, regardless of orientation, and the gas headspace is always going to be corny volume - beer volume.
 
I put my 3/16 line on and as soon as the hose was full of cider I could see bubbles forming. I'm guessing its just over-carbonated, so I'm going to release the pressure every time I walk by the keg and hopefully in a few days I can get it as un-carbonated as possible so I can start over.
 
Alright, I got the cider as still as it is going to get for now. I stirred it up with my degassing wand I use for wine and it sped the process up quite a bit. Now I'm back to the beginning of the carbonation process.

Everything I read tells me to do it a different way, and the instructions I followed last time didn't work out so well.

My plan now is to be as fool-proof as possible.

I want to get everything down to temperature (35ºF), then hit the keg with 10psi, which should get me to 2.5 volumes of co2. I'll rock the keg at that pressure for a few minutes, then into the fridge it goes for a few days. Since I won't be applying and pressure over 10psi it shouldn't be able to over-carb.

What do you think?
 
Maybe its just me, but everytime I rock my kegs I get foam. So I try to keep them as still as possible. I say you should try it though. Maybe you're better at rocking kegs than me. ;-)
 
We'll find out, I guess. I didnt have much luck the first time around.

How long does it take you to fully carbonate without rocking the keg? I'm not in a hurry to get this stuff ready.
 
ThorGodOfThunder said:
We'll find out, I guess. I didnt have much luck the first time around.

How long does it take you to fully carbonate without rocking the keg? I'm not in a hurry to get this stuff ready.
Click to expand...

10-14 days.
 
If I turn the pressure up to 35 psi and leave it there without rocking it will be carbed in a day or two. I always check it after 24 hours by turning down the pressure, burping it, and then pouring a glass.

Once its ready I turn the pressure down to serving pressure and burp it. Then I enjoy it a lot!
 

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