Kegging. What am I doing wrong?

Hello all. Why am I getting 100% foam from my keg? This is exactly what I have done so far. Keg is a 2 1/2 or 3 gallon keg with an Irish Red Ale in it. I chose to carbonate it with priming sugar. Deal with it. I have my reasons why. Been carbing at room temperature for three weeks. I put it in the fridge this morning and left it there all day. Thermometer is showing 36F. I hook up gas line. I hook up beer line. I release all pressure in keg. I turn keg up to about 10PSI to start. Pull tap handle and get about 4-5 glasses of foam, all foam. Turned psi down to about 5 PSI. Same result. What am I doing wrong?

Priming with sugar....

Perhaps you used too much sugar.

Iceman6409 said:

Kegging. What am I doing wrong?

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Posting in the All Grain section instead of the Bottling/Kegging section

How long and what ID is your beverage line? How much priming sugar did you use?

I'd suggest at least a 10', 3/16" ID vinyl line. Use a carbonation chart or calculator to determine the proper pressure for your beer based on your temperature and desired carb level, set the regulator at that pressure then don't touch it. There is a good chance that the beer is currently overcarbed, and you'll have to disconnect the gas and vent it a few times over the next couple days.

I did post in the other section but got one response. I am in kind of a hurry because I would like to serve this beer on St. Pattys Day if possible so I do apologize for posting here but I knew it would get a lot faster response time.

Right now I think my beer line is about 5 feet if I remember correctly and I think it is 3/16ID. I did follow a priming sugar chart and always do. So you are saying hook up the gas and turn it on for awhile? Honestly last night I pulled the keg from the fridge, hooked it up and turned on the gas and started pouring right then. I knew it was carbed from the sugar so I didn't think I would have to leave the gas on for awhile. Is that something I should be doing? Also I will get longer line today. Does the gas line length have anything to do with it? Gas line is maybe 2 feet or so.

How many volumes of CO2 did you aim for and how did you calculate the sugar needed? I always force carb so no direct experience but it sounds like a lot of folks say you need less sugar carbing in a keg than bottles. At any rate, 5 ft is probably too short for anything but very low carb levels. I have 10ft lines for my system which is at about 2.6 vols (14 psi at 40 deg).

I'm referring to a carbonation chart specifically for kegging, something like this:

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Naturally priming a keg is a bit tricky to nail, for a 5 gallon batch most people add about 1/3 or 1/2 the priming sugar they'd use if they were bottling. If you added your normal amount, it's most likely overcarbonated.

Given that you want to serve the beer on Sunday, here's what I'd suggest:

1) Swing by a LHBS and get a 10' line
2) Disconnect the gas and leave it disconnected.
3) Vent the keg, and repeat every few hours. Vent it again tomorrow every few hours.
4) Tomorrow night, reattach the gas and set the pressure to whatever that kegging chart tells you. Hopefully you've removed the excess CO2, and can now get a foam-free pour. You may be slightly undercarbonated at that point (depending how overcarbonated you currently are), but it may pick up some more carb overnight on Saturday.

I use 4' of 3/16" ID at 12psi and that works fine. So you should be fine with your lengths and close to the right pressure.

The gas line length is not important.

There might be a blockage in the line or the faucet or in the keg dip tube. I had a problem with an oak chip or dry hop fragment (I forget which) getting stuck in the ball lock once that had a similar result.

There are some calculators and formulas out there to determine beer line. Here is a link of the first one I found.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/0...our-kegged-beer-co2-line-length-and-pressure/

I have never carbed kegs with sugar, but I have had kegs over carbonated by some of my clients who don't follow simple carbonating instructions. I am pretty damn sure your lines are MORE than long enough and having longer lines will not cause foam unless they are going through are warm/hot and causing the beer to warm (and therefore releasing CO2). You don't have any section of beer line outside the kegerator do you? Assuming non of the above applies, I think your keg is just overcarbonated.

When you dropped the CO2 down to 5 PSI, did you bleed the keg again? If so and you still have foam at 5 PSI, I would shut off your CO2, open the pressure release valve and leave it for an hour+. Then come back, close it, turn CO2 back on at just 5 PSI, and try a poor. Just keep doing this until the keg is decarbonated to the level you desire.

If it's over carbed, the only thing that is going to fix it is to purge it. Take it off the CO2, purge the keg, shake it a little, purge again, shake, let it sit, purge.... you get the idea. If there's too much CO2, you have to get it out of suspension.

KegWrangler said:

I use 4' of 3/16" ID at 12psi and that works fine. So you should be fine with your lengths and close to the right pressure.

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4 feet may work for you (I'm not saying it doesn't!) but most of us have found that the standard 5' of tubing is not nearly enough. So while I'm glad it works in your system, most of us don't share the same experience

The line length calculators make a lot of assumptions that generally renders them useless for home kegerators.

Most people I've talked to find 10 ft to be about right and 5ft to end up with a ton of foam. I know that is certainly what happened to me.

A quick test for overcarbonation - drop the PSI to 1 or so - just enough for the beer to trickle out. If you still pour a pint of foam, you are way carbed.

Also, just like bottling, it you just toss the bottle in the fridge until it is cold, you end up with foam. If you leave it there a couple days, the CO2 stabilizes and you get much more consistent carbonation and pour. It probably took most of the day for the keg to go from room temp to fridge temp and definitely isn't going to reach equilibrium in that time frame.

zachattack said:

4 feet may work for you (I'm not saying it doesn't!) but most of us have found that the standard 5' of tubing is not nearly enough. So while I'm glad it works in your system, most of us don't share the same experience

The line length calculators make a lot of assumptions that generally renders them useless for home kegerators.

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I started with 5 feet but every now and then I'd shift things around and cut off an inch from each end...thus the four feet. At some point I'll be too short and spring for some new lines, but for now I'm cheap.

Balancing the system is a bit of an art, depending on the line type, size, faucet, pressure and probably the alignment of the starts/planets (I think the age of aquarius is over now so factor that in as well), but once you get it working it's a sweet thing for sure.

iceman6409 said:

deal with it.

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lol

I've found that using a cobra picnic tap is more forgiving for line length. If that's what your using, 5' is probably OK.
If your using a beer faucet, that's a different story... you'll definitely need 10' of 3/16 for that.

Like others have said, purge the Co2 (you over carb'd it) use the correct beer line diameter and length.