Lots of Line and Still Foam

I have spent the past two days searching around for a solution to this problem and have yet to find a fix so I thought I would make a post about my specific problem.

I have a keg of root beer that at ~38F and set at 40psi to carb up.

In an attempt to balance out the system so I can serve at these pressures, I tried 20' and then 40' of line but I am still loads of foam.

The soda still shoots out and there are large gaps in the fluid to the point where the coils of line quake when I try to pour.

The end result is that I get half a glass of foam that dissolves away, leaving basically flat root beer.

I am beginning to wonder if I merely have too much line at this point since turning down the pressure, purging the headspace and serving at a lower temp seems to make the foam even worse.

Any suggestions welcomed to this increasingly frustrating endeavor.
Thanks in advance,

Riley

so you are trying to serve at 40psi?

That is way too high knock that pressure down to at most 15psi.

it sounds like you are a small diameter line as well. 1/4" (6MM) at that length is a bit too small. I would try a 5/16th" (8MM) line. I would double check that Keg as well you may have a leaky o-ring letting gas in to your outbound line or a faucet that is not sealing correctly

I could understand dropping the pressure if this was beer. Correct me if I am wrong, but if I want to keep the root beer at around 4 volumes of CO2, dropping the pressure to 15psi would make the CO2 slowly come out of solution. This was the impression I was under anyways

Thus, serving at ~35psi would enable the C02 to stay in solution without having to always vent the keg when you want to serve.

As for a leaky o-ring, I hadn't thought about that. I haven't noticed any external leaks, but I suppose it would be the dip tube oring that was leaking. I will have to check that. Thanks for that idea.

i've made root beer carbed at 30psi and served thru 20' of 3/16" line with no problems. root beer can be very tricky to serve, especially if it has a lot of honey or brown sugar in it..

Right, you didn't mention the diameter of the tubing. If it's not 3/16", you're losing there. Also, the reason CO2 comes out of solution in the lines is that you have a temperature differential between the keg and where the line is coiled up. A small computer fan in the fridge just moving the air around will help a lot.

Cheeto said:

so you are trying to serve at 40psi?

That is way too high knock that pressure down to at most 15psi.

it sounds like you are a small diameter line as well. 1/4" (6MM) at that length is a bit too small. I would try a 5/16th" (8MM) line. I would double check that Keg as well you may have a leaky o-ring letting gas in to your outbound line or a faucet that is not sealing correctly

Click to expand...

If you're using 3/16" line, 30-40 psi is about right. I use that pressure, and I use a rigid line of about 30 feet.

As Bobby_M said, the line needs to be as cold as the keg. I have mine would up and twisty tied around the keg.

Ditto on 3/16ths. I use 40 psi and 20' of 3/16ths. I also have it coiled to fit on top of the cornie.

I am using 3/16th hose and it is all coiled on top of the keg.

I will have to try it this morning to see if letting the hose cool over night since messing with it helped.

Yooper, wrapping around the keg sounds like a good way to handle the excess line.

We will see what some testing yields this morning.

Cheers,
Riley

Alrighty, I think I got the problem sorted out.

Seems it was probably a bit of both the line temp and a leak around the diptube o-ring.

My first test it poured much better than last night but there were still some air gaps and a bit too much foam.

I took off the out post on the keg and changed the diptube o-ring and that seems to have solved the problem completely.

Well this was educational.....

I have my setup as 3/16 hose @ 6' length. I kegged the rootbeer and pumped it up to 50 psi @ 40F. I served it Xmas eve @10psi and had a foamy mess. I have it in my Garage right now which is at about 20F still @10psi. When I started reading I was planning to buy a 20' then just now i got myself a glass and it was the best pour yet! Nice carbonation Bite so I know its not loosing carbonation, and I am plain confused.

No question just felt like Sharing

aussieskier said:

Alrighty, I think I got the problem sorted out.

Seems it was probably a bit of both the line temp and a leak around the diptube o-ring.

My first test it poured much better than last night but there were still some air gaps and a bit too much foam.

I took off the out post on the keg and changed the diptube o-ring and that seems to have solved the problem completely.

Click to expand...

That's good news. I'm having the same exact problem you described with my first keg of root beer. I've had my line coiled next to the keg for a week now, so I'm thinking maybe the diptube o-ring is a problem? All I need to do is purge the headspace before I take off the post right? No need to empty the keg?