Cant stop the foam...

Ive been reading online for weeks, trying to find every possible reason why my beer is 90% foam when it comes out of the tap.

Originally, I had a simple picnic faucet on a 5' hose line (3/16") sitting in the fridge. I had my beer at 10 PSI, and tons of foam. Tried backing it off to 5PSI and exact same result.

So I figured maybe if I try a 10' hose line (3/16") with my new kegerator setup, I will get a different -- better result. So I hook it all up, its dialed in at 8PSI or so and the beer barely dribbles out of the beer tap handle and creates the exact same problem... too much foam.

Temperature has been around 35-38 degrees in both cases.

Any suggestions?

All my equipment is ball lock, corny keg, 5/16" gas line with a 3/16" beer line. Bought everything from kegconnection.

How did you do the initial carbing? Could be over-carbed. 10' of 3/16th should be a near perfect pour at your temps.

Certainly sounds seriously overcarbed. How confident are you wrt the accuracy of the regulator you're using?

Cheers!

samc said:

How did you do the initial carbing? Could be over-carbed. 10' of 3/16th should be a near perfect pour at your temps.

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I did the 20-25PSI shake method intially. But its been sitting for the past 4 weeks or so at about 8-12 PSI. Either way, its a ton of foam.

All the seals are brand new on the keg. The beer tastes like it has the right amount of carbonation once the foam dies off. Its just that initial foam is terrible. Although I noticed that if I pour a glass, and then immediately pour another glass, the second has less foam.

day_trippr said:

Certainly sounds seriously overcarbed. How confident are you wrt the accuracy of the regulator you're using?

Cheers!

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Its brand new, if I turn the psi down low, it hardly pours out. So im assuming it works fine.

Turn off the gas or disconnect the QD, bleed the pressure with the valve and repeat this every few hours. After a day of doing this you should notice a difference. Not sure how long the process will take since I've never done it. Consider doing set & forget in the future or a modified version by high pressure for the first day or so and then lower to serving psi. Skip the shake and bake, leave that for chicken.

samc said:

Turn off the gas or disconnect the QD, bleed the pressure with the valve and repeat this every few hours. After a day of doing this you should notice a difference. Not sure how long the process will take since I've never done it. Consider doing set & forget in the future or a modified version by high pressure for the first day or so and then lower to serving psi. Skip the shake and bake, leave that for chicken.

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agree 100%...you are over carbed and leaving it at serving pressure is not solving the pressure problem (it's already there). time will fix this. your system seems perfect.

i would give it a little shake every once in a while to speed the process...either way try the set it and forget it method next time....it makes a much better beer. even if i carb at 30psi for 36hrs the bubbles are not the same and it takes another week plus for the beer to smooth out....i do this only in emergencies. you should have no foam with 10' cool beer lines.

samc said:

Turn off the gas or disconnect the QD, bleed the pressure with the valve and repeat this every few hours. After a day of doing this you should notice a difference. Not sure how long the process will take since I've never done it. Consider doing set & forget in the future or a modified version by high pressure for the first day or so and then lower to serving psi. Skip the shake and bake, leave that for chicken.

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never read all the way through...sorry for the repetitiveness...cheers

samc said:

Turn off the gas or disconnect the QD, bleed the pressure with the valve and repeat this every few hours. After a day of doing this you should notice a difference. Not sure how long the process will take since I've never done it. Consider doing set & forget in the future or a modified version by high pressure for the first day or so and then lower to serving psi. Skip the shake and bake, leave that for chicken.

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Do I bleed it dry? Then add the gas back? Or just a couple puffs out?

just a few then test. then a few more then test again until happy. once happy leave at 10-11 psi and it will get better by the day eg.. (the bubbles will get smaller and the head will retain)

just know only time will smooth it out. quick carbed beer have a "zip" to them and will soften over time.

goose1873 said:

just know only time will smooth it out. quick carbed beer have a "zip" to them and will soften over time.

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I feel like I have been bleeding it a lot since I did the force-carb. That was back in early July. But I haven't had a lot of it because it irritates me every time I pour. So maybe I just haven't bled it enough over time. I'll give it a go and let you know

dont get frustrated. you system is perfect. you just need to get a couple kegs under your belt and it will be smooth sailing...100% sure...let me know how it turns out.

My keg ran dry while I was fixing it. Haha. So now I need to wait a week or so until the next brew is done so I can try the "set and forget" method.

Brak23 said:

My keg ran dry while I was fixing it. Haha. So now I need to wait a week or so until the next brew is done so I can try the "set and forget" method.

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Need to work on your pipeline, should have 1-2 sitting in fermenters...............my.02....