Frustrated with foam issues

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jmark

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Okay, I've read about everything I could find on solving foam issues but nothing has worked so far... so here are the facts as they stand today.


  • I have a 3-tap tower kegerator set at 38F.
  • I've replaced the lines with 10ft Ultra Barrier Silver Antimicrobial tubing so they're all clean and a reasonable length for most regular beers
  • I have 3 flow control Intertap faucets, all soaked and cleaned
  • I have a CoolTower fan blowing air up through the tower
  • I have my lines going through a 2 inch PVC pipe that I put in the tower and insulated around it using spray foam (that was fun!)
  • I'm using the Adventures in Homebrewing new Corny Kegs ($75) and all seals look okay to me.
Regular beers carbed and dispensed under 10-11PSI run perfectly fine, albeit a little slow, but still acceptable, for my English beers.

My higher carbed beers foam no matter what... the flow control faucets do nothing to help. Right now I have a Belgian tripel on tap, of which I'm sure I've lost 1/2 a keg due to foam. That's carbed at 22PSI... I even put 2 of those plastic mixer sticks down the liquid tube to help provide restriction, but even then no dice... I tried a longer line of ~22 feet and that didn't help either. Before that I had a hefeweizen, one of my best beers to date too, and that foamed ridiculously too.

I'm thoroughly frustrated with this entire thing and I'm open to even pay someone to help solve my issues. I've got a batch of saison coming soon and don't want to end up losing that to foaming too.

I need some help!!!! :mad:
 
What's the ID of your lines?

One of the things that comes to mind is the accuracy of your regulator. Have you checked that?
 
jmark said:
Okay, I've read about everything I could find on solving foam issues but nothing has worked so far... so here are the facts as they stand today.


  • I have a 3-tap tower kegerator set at 38F.
  • I've replaced the lines with 10ft Ultra Barrier Silver Antimicrobial tubing so they're all clean and a reasonable length for most regular beers
  • I have 3 flow control Intertap faucets, all soaked and cleaned
  • I have a CoolTower fan blowing air up through the tower
  • I have my lines going through a 2 inch PVC pipe that I put in the tower and insulated around it using spray foam (that was fun!)
  • I'm using the Adventures in Homebrewing new Corny Kegs ($75) and all seals look okay to me.
Regular beers carbed and dispensed under 10-11PSI run perfectly fine, albeit a little slow, but still acceptable, for my English beers.

My higher carbed beers foam no matter what... the flow control faucets do nothing to help. Right now I have a Belgian tripel on tap, of which I'm sure I've lost 1/2 a keg due to foam. That's carbed at 22PSI... I even put 2 of those plastic mixer sticks down the liquid tube to help provide restriction, but even then no dice... I tried a longer line of ~22 feet and that didn't help either. Before that I had a hefeweizen, one of my best beers to date too, and that foamed ridiculously too.

I'm thoroughly frustrated with this entire thing and I'm open to even pay someone to help solve my issues. I've got a batch of saison coming soon and don't want to end up losing that to foaming too.

I need some help!!!! :mad:
Click to expand...

22 psi at 38F is 3.5 CO2 volumes, which is appropriate for style but pretty high to begin with - especially if your temperature or pressure is a bit off and beer is actually overcarbed. Do you force carb at that pressure the entire time or do you force carb/shake at higher pressure?
Did you try lowering the pressure on regulator just for serving and see whether it makes any difference? Did you try serving through a picnic tap which stays cold in the keggerator? What is the temperature of liquid coming out?
 
Did you try the longer lines without the sticks in the dip tube? Providing a restriction and then an opening would increase foaming.

Have you checked out the kegs? The one beer I had excessive foaming issues with had a CO2 leak around the oring at the top of the out dip tube. Lubing it up stopped the leak and stopped the foaming.
 
Thanks guys... some more info based on your questions.

LBussy said:
What's the ID of your lines? One of the things that comes to mind is the accuracy of your regulator. Have you checked that?
Click to expand...

3/16" lines. I have a three-regulator setup in the kegerator that feeds off of the main regulator attached to the CO2 bottle. I'm assuming it's accurate solely based on the fact that the max reading on the kegerator regs matches that on the source regulator. Not sure how else to check though.

55x11 said:
Do you force carb at that pressure the entire time or do you force carb/shake at higher pressure?
Did you try lowering the pressure on regulator just for serving and see whether it makes any difference? Did you try serving through a picnic tap which stays cold in the keggerator? What is the temperature of liquid coming out?
Click to expand...

I force carb my beers on a set-and-forget basis. I pressurize at 30PSI to ensure no leaks, then after about 15 mins drop to carbonation pressure. I did try dropping the pressure to 5-6 PSI for the tripel but still was quite foamy (not as bad though I'll admit - only 2-3 pints to get 1 pint of liquid as opposed to 5-6 pints!). I haven't tried the picnic tap approach... could try that - thanks! Let me check the temp of the beer coming out as well.

jddevinn said:
Did you try the longer lines without the sticks in the dip tube? Providing a restriction and then an opening would increase foaming.

Have you checked out the kegs? The one beer I had excessive foaming issues with had a CO2 leak around the oring at the top of the out dip tube. Lubing it up stopped the leak and stopped the foaming.
Click to expand...

I did try a 22 foot line without the sticks... nothing but foam. I'll check the keg again, but didn't see any issues with the o-ring before but worth a second look.
 
I replaced a 'visually' perfect looking, but otherwise old, beer connector once and the foaming issue I had just went away.

It may not be easy to tell on your setup but, I recently had a keg of wheat beer carbonated at 15psi that foamed using a 12 foot length of 3/16 inch beer tubing. After each pour I watched as the beer inside the clear line retreated back into the keg. I think it was because the temperature in my garage was 85F and that warmed the taps up, which then released Co2 from the beer and pushed it back into the keg.
 
At 22 psi you probably (I don't have all the dims for your setup) need something in the ballpark of 20ft of line. That said, I would remove the swizzle sticks and really consider checking the orings on the kegs, I know they are new, but they are cheap and easy. Also clean your poppets, if you have any hop particles restricting the flow there it can create a pressure drop and might give you foaming issues. Good luck, and keep at it, you will find out what is causing it eventually.
 
One other thing... the kegs came with universal poppets; I assume those aren't going to be a source of problems?

Sounds like the o-rings are a good thing to revisit, even if these kegs have very few cycles through them (they were bought brand new last fall). I don't think hops are an issue here since this has happened on the Tripel on tap now and a Hefe that was on before - neither had any hop matter around by kegging time. I did try a long line (~22 ft) at one point and that didn't help.
 
TX_Brewing said:
At 22 psi you probably (I don't have all the dims for your setup) need something in the ballpark of 20ft of line. That said, I would remove the swizzle sticks and really consider checking the orings on the kegs, I know they are new, but they are cheap and easy. Also clean your poppets, if you have any hop particles restricting the flow there it can create a pressure drop and might give you foaming issues. Good luck, and keep at it, you will find out what is causing it eventually.
Click to expand...

I agree - but since he says that the beer still foaming while serving at 5-6 psi, it's not the line resistance. Most likely a clogged dip tube or poppet (at least my first suspicion). It's also possible the beer warms up too much in the line and most CO2 precipitates as foam. But a clog (hop particles or else) would be my top guess.
 
55x11 said:
I agree - but since he says that the beer still foaming while serving at 5-6 psi, it's not the line resistance. Most likely a clogged dip tube or poppet (at least my first suspicion). It's also possible the beer warms up too much in the line and most CO2 precipitates as foam. But a clog (hop particles or else) would be my top guess.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
 
Not trying to hijack - but problem solve...

I'm having a similar problem. Background, I've been running this keezer for several years now with no problems. I have a batch of IPA that foams like a SOB. Things I've tried:

- Changed gaskets on out post (inside post and out)
- changed poppet
- remove out post and cleaned (looked clear, but just in case)
- increased psi (bad), reduced psi (no change)
- attached line from other faucet
- used new ball lock tap

Foam looks to start coming out of solution as soon as it leaves the keg. Keezer is at 3 degrees C. Fan installed inside for air circulation. Once the beer enters beer line, foam appears. Once in the glass and sits for a few minutes, the beer is definitely not fully carbed. Assuming it looses carbonation with all of the foam escaping.

Could it be overcarbed?
 
Definitely carbed at 22... Checked with another regulator.

Tried changing the liquid o-ring tonight and I could def see foam around the post AFTER changing so I'm guessing that could have been one issue. So added a second o-ring (both lubed) and that solved the foam around the post. Still foam at the faucet though, but not as bad...

Checked the temp inside the tower and I think that may be another culprit... It was 55 even with the cool tower fan blowing... Will see if it gets colder over a couple of hours now everything is closed up again.
 
Alrighty... so I think adding the second o-ring can be deemed a success. Yes, the post was a little harder to attach, but there was definitely foaming occurring around the post with just the one (brand new) o-ring which disappeared when I added a 'backup'! Looking a bit closer at the dip-tube, it seems like they're not quite round at the top so that may make it easier for gas to get by at higher pressures (I've not had issues with 'standard' beers at 2.3-2.5 vols). The tower fan is now doing the trick as well - temp inside the tower is ~40 degrees.

So now I have my tripel carbed at 22PSI on a 10 foot line... the flow control faucet is 'okay' but doesn't really help a whole bunch, so rather than switch out lines every time I'll just lower the serving pressure to 7-8 PSI and deal with it that way. At least I'm not dealing with 5 pints of foam!

Thanks for all the help gents!
 
The Out diptubes on most of my kegs do have keying, but that's never affected their seal.
I wonder if perhaps you have the wrong size o-ring, or they're being damaged.
Are you lubing them, or at least wetting them, before installing them?

Cheers!
 
I was lurking for a answer as well. I've heard on good word that these o-rings are great for sealing and don't suffer from the issues we had here.

Exact part is 90025K368
 
boasist said:
I was lurking for a answer as well. I've heard on good word that these o-rings are great for sealing and don't suffer from the issues we had here.

Exact part is 90025K368
Click to expand...

How did you determine this to be the right ones? I think MANY people have this issue and could benefit from this solution.
 
jmark said:
Alrighty... so I think adding the second o-ring can be deemed a success. Yes, the post was a little harder to attach, but there was definitely foaming occurring around the post with just the one (brand new) o-ring which disappeared when I added a 'backup'! Looking a bit closer at the dip-tube, it seems like they're not quite round at the top so that may make it easier for gas to get by at higher pressures (I've not had issues with 'standard' beers at 2.3-2.5 vols). The tower fan is now doing the trick as well - temp inside the tower is ~40 degrees.

So now I have my tripel carbed at 22PSI on a 10 foot line... the flow control faucet is 'okay' but doesn't really help a whole bunch, so rather than switch out lines every time I'll just lower the serving pressure to 7-8 PSI and deal with it that way. At least I'm not dealing with 5 pints of foam!
Thanks for all the help gents!
Click to expand...

Glad you got the o ring fixed But serving a beer at 7psi for beer carbed at 22 psi will cause foam.
 
So let me get this straight - I've not had this issue but now that I have read about it I will have jinxed myself:

The o-ring that sits under the flare of the dip-tube leaks, allowing CO2 from the headspace to pass into the liquid line?
 
Yes... At least that seemed to be the case with me.

As for serving at 7psi of a 22psi beer, you're prob right, but it's nowhere near the 5 pints of foam I was getting before to serve a single pint. I guess I should really just get a long line for my high carbed beers and do it that way.
 

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