Tapping and pressurizing a Store bought keg?

I know everyone is bias to home brew. I do plan on home brewing after i upgrade. But the little woman drinks Bud lite and I have to get this straight first.
I had a kegerator 20 years ago and just rebuilt it and was lost on how to tap it. <I know how to tap it, but adding the co2 is the hard part>

I searched and found this from chuggs:

1) Let the keg settle a while, and get it nice and iced down.

2) Find a volunteer (never had a shortage of these at a kegger)

3) Now connect your Sankey Coupler and pull the split ring on the pressure relief valve...and let most all of the CO2 out...but not completely.

4) Set your regulator down to 0 psi...but have a screwdriver on it ready to go.

5) Now, give your volunteer a really big mug, or a pitcher and have them start pouring a beer.

6) Watch the flow, as you dial up the PSI on your CO2 regulator. When the pour flows smoothly...you're set.

7) Important!! When you're done serving...Be sure to dail up the CO2 pressure in the keg to 12-14 psi to keep your beer from going flat. Then disconnect the Sankey Coupler.

***
1. Is the Coupler the Tap? If so I have a D System for North American Beers

2. My question is on number 7:
I don't have a sankey coupler and does this matter I have a standered D System. so the pressures always on. If i dial up the pressure in the end... why am i adjusting it to a good beer flow? why not just set it at 12-14?

3. Whats the difference between a sankey and a D system?

4. 24 hours after tapping it's still mostly head. Although Ive only poured about 6 mugs of it so far. The lady at the bar said just run it for 3 minuets till it runs clear then your good. I don't really want to waste all that beer. Will it calm down on its own?

Thanks

20GT said:

I know everyone is bias to home brew. I do plan on home brewing after i upgrade. But the little woman drinks Bud lite and I have to get this straight first.
I had a kegerator 20 years ago and just rebuilt it and was lost on how to tap it. <I know how to tap it, but adding the co2 is the hard part>

I searched and found this from chuggs:

1) Let the keg settle a while, and get it nice and iced down.

2) Find a volunteer (never had a shortage of these at a kegger)

3) Now connect your Sankey Coupler and pull the split ring on the pressure relief valve...and let most all of the CO2 out...but not completely.

4) Set your regulator down to 0 psi...but have a screwdriver on it ready to go.

5) Now, give your volunteer a really big mug, or a pitcher and have them start pouring a beer.

6) Watch the flow, as you dial up the PSI on your CO2 regulator. When the pour flows smoothly...you're set.

7) Important!! When you're done serving...Be sure to dail up the CO2 pressure in the keg to 12-14 psi to keep your beer from going flat. Then disconnect the Sankey Coupler.

***
1. Is the Coupler the Tap? If so I have a D System for North American Beers

2. My question is on number 7:
I don't have a sankey coupler and does this matter I have a standered D System. so the pressures always on. If i dial up the pressure in the end... why am i adjusting it to a good beer flow? why not just set it at 12-14?

3. Whats the difference between a sankey and a D system?

4. 24 hours after tapping it's still mostly head. Although Ive only poured about 6 mugs of it so far. The lady at the bar said just run it for 3 minuets till it runs clear then your good. I don't really want to waste all that beer. Will it calm down on its own?

Thanks

Click to expand...

See if I can help you:
1. The coupler is the D System connection to the keg itself. The tap connects to it.

2. Sounds like you have what you need to connect to the keg. The coupler should have a pressure relief value. The keg is already carbonated so you need to adjust the co2 pressure to get the right pour.

3. They are the same. Did a quick search for a picture: http://www.homebrewing.org/American-Sanke-D-Coupler_p_764.html

4. This part I'm not sure why but that's what I was told to do when I got a few kegs for a party.

Hope I am right on these, I am sure someone will correct me if not. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply
now i just have to figure out questions 2.5 and 4.

Also on your #4 you were told to run it clear? if so, that's cool because that would mean eventually it will settle on its own once i run it clear after 50 mugs or so
(it's just me and my wife so it might take awhile, just didn't want to waste all that beer)

2. If i dial up the pressure in the end... why am i adjusting it to a good beer flow?
why not just set it at 12-14?

In theory, if you balanced your system, you should be setting it at 12-14 so it doesn't go flat AND you have perfect pours. To do this, add beer line length. That ups the resistance and slows the flow so that you have smooth pours.

Thanks for the reply Brewnoob. I'll try it.
I got about 4 feet in line, how much should I add?

We've only had about 15 mugs out of it so I might be rushing things

in theory wouldn't the extra resistance/friction cause more foam. lol

20GT said:

Thanks for the reply Brewnoob. I'll try it.
I got about 4 feet in line, how much should I add?

We've only had about 15 mugs out of it so I might be rushing things

in theory wouldn't the extra resistance/friction cause more foam. lol

Click to expand...

Most folks around here are using 10' 3/16" line. The longer the line the slower the poor the less foam you have. So if you want to play around go ahead and get about 20' of line and trim it down little by little till you get the poor you want.

I'm doing this tonight with my keezer until my beer is in production.

Although I am counter-pressure transfering it to another keg because I don't plan on attempting to get my friends to help me lift it over the collar of the keezer.

Once transfered using sanke taps, I plan to just pressurize 10-12 psi and leave it hooked up like I would a normal keg. I'll play around with the settings to see what I need, but I'm just going to use a simple picnic tap on the beer out port. (faucet not installed yet)

20GT said:

Thanks for the reply Brewnoob. I'll try it.
I got about 4 feet in line, how much should I add?

We've only had about 15 mugs out of it so I might be rushing things

in theory wouldn't the extra resistance/friction cause more foam. lol

Click to expand...

There are articles out there that have the scientific reasoning behind this. I'll give you the dumbed down cliff note version. If you are pressurizing to 12psi for example, you don't want 12psi exiting the faucet. That will cause a bunch of turbulence and "knock" co2 out of suspension causing foam and flat beer. Adding resistance (easiest is longer beer lines) to the line is reducing that pressure over the length of the beer line. Ideally, if memory serves correctly, you need about 0-1psi exiting the faucet. The math behind 3/16 is roughly 2psi drop per foot of line. So, technically, you SHOULD only need about 6 feet of 3/16 to drop 12 to an ideal level. However, a lot of people, including myself, find that 4-6 is still a bit short causing foaming issues. The magic number seems to be about 10' of 3/16. You can always trim it down if it's too long. What I've noticed with 10' is slightly slower pours but perfect head with no foaming issues each and every time.

Hmmm... guys I got 20' feet today. still getting foamy beer(posted pics) soapy beer foam, tastes kinda flat now. any sugestions

i think the soapy foam is a tell tail sign. I'll try cleaning my new beer line tomorrow. who knows what the used at the factory. I'll also get a thermometer tomorrow. I think my firige is very cold, maybe its absorbing to much co2.

For those in search of more answers for FOAM I found this trouble shooting list of things not mentioned here.

http://www.micromatic.com/forum/us-en/trouble-shooting-beer-quality-home/8327-solutions-troubleshooting-common-problems.html

I will continue in my quest for less foam tomorrow after I get a refrigerator thermometer and report back

Ok Here's the way to go.
1. Make sure you have Food grade beer line (the proper length - mine about 9 feet)
2. make sure your beer line is clean.
3. let the keg stabilize for a couple hours after moving
4. Do Not depressurize the new keg after tapping even thought the coupler say's so.
5. connect coupler
6. adjust co2 pressure to beer type (14psi for bud-lite)
7. pour your beer. drink. in just a couple mugs mine pours great.
8. use clean mugs (this does make a difference)
Mine right out of the freezer, pours nice, but on the refill i get more foam.
I quick wash it and replace it in the freezer and grab another cold one.
The glass will chill in about 6 minuets.
:rockin::cross: see ya

so i am going through the same thing as you, but of course i depressurized the keg, just liek your #4 says not to.

My beer has lots of head but taste flat. Is there any solution now?

bgs8884 said:

so i am going through the same thing as you, but of course i depressurized the keg, just liek your #4 says not to.

My beer has lots of head but taste flat. Is there any solution now?

Click to expand...

Depressurizing the keg should not affect anything unless your not hooking it right back to pressure
Even then it shouldn't matter much because co2 will release out of the beer and restablize fairly quick and only changing your dissolved co2 a little and more if the keg is almost empty

And your problem with your beer being foamy and flat is a line inbalance

ForsythBrewery said:

Depressurizing the keg should not affect anything unless your not hooking it right back to pressure
Even then it shouldn't matter much because co2 will release out of the beer and restablize fairly quick and only changing your dissolved co2 a little and more if the keg is almost empty

And your problem with your beer being foamy and flat is a line inbalance

Click to expand...

The only problem is if the keg is overpressurized with respect to your CO2 regulator; if the keg pressure is higher, beer can go back into the gas line. Simple flowback prevention devices exist, but aren't always used and don't always work.

All sanke couplers I've used come with the check valves installed though...

another thing to check is to adjust your temp so your second glass of beer is 34 degrees buy checking the second glass you should be checking the internal temp of the keg

Why 34 degrees