Ventmatics' Initial Beer Stream "Misshapen"

I don't know how else to put it. I'm planning on cleaning my beer lines this weekend, so that might fix it, but I have this weird thing where as soon as I open up the tap, the first 1 or 2 seconds of the liquid stream is "misshapen", like someone was crimping a hose or something. After about a second (which is maybe a couple ounces of beer), it turns cylindrical like it's supposed to. Is this just an issue with latent CO2 in the beer line? I wouldn't care so much except that with high-carbed styles, it tends to throw a ton of foam.

How long are your lines? Mine do this as well, but I have long lines so it pours a little slower. I still get a good amount of head with the pour. Low carbonation beers like Porters pour very slowly. But most of my beers are belgians so I don't mind.

jdoiv said:

How long are your lines? Mine do this as well, but I have long lines so it pours a little slower. I still get a good amount of head with the pour. Low carbonation beers like Porters pour very slowly. But most of my beers are belgians so I don't mind.

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Whatever the AHS lines were when they arrived. 5' I believe. I'd change them out if it wasn't such a PITA to get inside that tower and remove the lines from the little elbows coming off the faucets.

I have that same problem with my ventmatic, I usually just shut it off and turn it back on quickly and the pour fixes itself, kinda a PITA though.

According to this thread http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=43426&st=0

The proper term is "waverly faucet pour." I notice the same problem on my regular faucets on my sanyo tower. Sounds like you can try getting a different sized spout for ventmatics. But I'm going to lengthen my beer lines to 8', already got the tubing, just need to install it. In the mean time, I typically open the faucet, pour some foam, then close the faucet and take a gulp of foam ("Don't fear the foam" ) and then fill up the rest of my glass.

I had a problem similar to this and the trick was to coil the beer line atop the keg. The idea is to have the line only travel upward from keg to faucet with no dips or downturns. This eliminated any pockets of foam/gas bubbles from settling in the line. The pour becomes "proper" almost instantly, now.

MrFebtober said:

I had a problem similar to this and the trick was to coil the beer line atop the keg. The idea is to have the line only travel upward from keg to faucet with no dips or downturns. This eliminated any pockets of foam/gas bubbles from settling in the line. The pour becomes "proper" almost instantly, now.

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Awesome idea. Thanks! I'll try it.