Naturally carbonated keg issues with foaming, flat beer

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Fuqyu

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Hi guys, new subscriber to the site but I've been coming here for advice since I started homebrewing 4 batches ago. I didn't see anything on here that gave me a good answer to my question, but I honestly didn't look too hard, so if this has been asked before, my bad. So, without further adieu, I present to you the question:

I made my first attempt at kegging with my last batch, and IPA. I do not have the system yet to force carbonate, so I naturally carbonated with....1/4 cup of table suger, I think. I have it written down at home, but I am not there ATM. I left it carbonating for 15 days and drew a couple pints last night. There was clearly a lot of CO2 in the keg, evidenced by the foamy mess I got in my glass. I would fill a glass with about 1/5 beer, 4/5 foam. When I let the foam settle in the glass, the leftover beer was essentially flat. This begs the question:

Is my beer undercarbonated or overcarbonated? At first I thought I just needed to let the keg sit longer to allow the CO2 to absorb, but I am not so sure that is the issue after doing a bit of reading. Is it possible that my beer is carbed just fine, but when I spit it out in a foamy mass it loses its CO2? If I drop the CO2 level to a more serving friendly pressure, is it possible that will also resolve the issue of having flat beer?
 
No, I kept the beer warm in case it hadn't carbonated enough. I drank more than one of my bottled beers warm, and don't recall them coming out flat. That being said, I can barely remember what I had for lunch, so my meory may not be the most trustworthy resource. Does cooling the beer help it absorb the CO2?
 
I have a 10 foot line I plan on hooking up to it anyways, the current line is only 5 or 6 feet. I will cool the beer and try the new line and let you guys know if this helped. In the meantime, any more advice from homebrewers familiar with this system, I am all ears.
 
I have a 10 foot line I plan on hooking up to it anyways, the current line is only 5 or 6 feet. I will cool the beer and try the new line and let you guys know if this helped. In the meantime, any more advice from homebrewers familiar with this system, I am all ears.

A naturally carbed keg at room temperature will be 25+ psi. Your system is horribly unbalanced with a 5 foot line at this pressure, that's why it's foaming. Chill it then use the 10 foot line.
 
In my opinion, you pretty much need a gauge on the keg to monitor the pressure when you naturally carb, otherwise you're shooting in the dark. Check out this thread, this is what I do when I naturally carb in the keg (third post in the thread). I use that bleeder valve that I mention.

You have to chill the beer to get the CO2 properly in solution, before you chill it you need to know that the carbonation is done and at the right level.
 
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