Carbing and serving

I kegged a brew not too long ago (force carbed-5 days with shaking, 22psi @ 45 degrees F for 3.02-3.11 parts) and I served at 5 psi. Do I crank the co2 back to the carbing pressure or can I leave it at 5psi? Im afraid of losing the carbonation and the beer going flat. I have half of a keg left.

Also, I have been having a problem with serving at 5 psi. The head is half a 3/4 of the glass and the other 1/4 is beer.

Any tips?

I've kegged one beer so take what I say with a grain of salt. I had the same dilemma. What I figured is that even though I cut the psi to serving temp, my first couple servings are going to be coming out at the force carb psi (25).

What I did was close the CO2 valve and then blew off the CO2 in the keg by pulling the ring on the release valve on top. I don't think that I let it all go but it was most of it. Then I turned my CO2 back on bringing it up to 5 psi. My first beer poured perfect.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

How long is your beer line? If it's really short, then even 5psi might be too much.

Those two are right on the money. Length of your line is one potential factor. At least 5 feet is generally best. If you're using a short (3') picnic tap, I'd dial it down to 3-4psi. Otherwise, make sure you close your CO2 line, purge the headspace in the keg via relief valve, then open the CO2 supply back up at the lower pressure.

I have never kegged my own beer yet... but i spent over 10 years of my life so far bar tending and working in restaurants. the too much foam(head) problem happens with commercial keg equipment too if the people operating it don't know what they are doing.

most of the time the psi the beer was carbed at is good from commercial places... but some microbreweries can have an over carbed beer keg here and there.

if you let your beer sit for a week like that at a high psi like you said...you essentially overcarbed you beer in my opinion. every chart and person i have talked to says that beer is proper carbed when it is hit at a high psi for a day or 2 and then lowered down to a lower psi for another few days to finish it off.

so to fix your problem.... just shake the keg up and pull the release valve a few times to get some of the pressure out... then go back to drinking

Also a hotel bar i worked at had a few people that liked to turn the tank pressure up to like 20-24 psi all the time for serving pressure for some reason even though the hose was only like 5-6 feet from keg to tap. so when the kegs would sit for a few days at that high pressure before they were kicked they were being force carbed even while being served. so we had the super head problem all the time and i had to keep turning it back down and telling them to leave it the hell alone.