BUBBLES BUBBLES.....and moreBUBBLES

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gmoetech911

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OK I DONT KNOW WHERE ELSE TO TURN SO HERE WE GO...

TO DESWAY MY FRIENDS WHO ONLY DRINK BUD-LIGHT, I GOT A KEG OF YUENGLING FOR THE KEGERATOR..

WHEN KEG IS TAPPED I WILL GET TONS OF TINY BUBBLES RUNNING UP FROM THE COUPLER IN THE BEER LINE...THIS MAKES FOR A FOAMY BEER EVERY TIME..I HAVE SLOWED THEM A BIT BY ADJUSTING PSI BUT STILL BUBBLES FORMING AND CREATING GAPS OF AIR IN LINE..I WENT AS FAR AS PURCHASING A NEW COUPLER...

I HAVE DONE:

NEW COUPLER
CLEANED LINES
DE-PRESSURED ENTIRE KEG AND RE PRESSURED STArting at 5 psi and going up in 1 psi increments to about 16....BUBBLES
any thoughts keg has been in the kegerator for about 2 days and ive wasted half of it trying to figure this out

ANY THOUGHTS ARE WELCOME
 
The bubbles are CO2 coming out of solution, because lack of adequate head pressure being applied to match the the original volumes of CO2 that was in the beer when you bought it. Since you have been playing the up & down game for some time, we have no idea what level the beer is carbed to now. I would say it was probably around 2.5 Vols. when you bought it, with that said, you should have hooked it up at 10-13 psi @38-40F. This is assuming you have proper restriction in your tap lines, which can also cause CO2 to come out of solution. Which just maybe your true problem.
Let,s say you buy a keg of Bud. It's carbed to 2.7 volumes at the factory, which equals about 14psi@40F. Now you hook it up and home @40F at only 5-7 psi because you lack enough restriction, the excess CO2 will come out of solution till it comes to equillibrium with the lower 5-7psi now being applied, causing the bubble's you see coming up the tube at the coupler!!
Hope that help's some!!
 
What he said ^^^.

And I believe yuengling is carbed to 2.9 vol, which will require a pretty high serving pressure and longer than average 3/16" ID beer line. Here's a chart that will tell you the serving pressure you need for the carb level and beer temp.
 
so what exact method shoyld i try next. i had psi is upwards of 16 the beer shoots out and gives me more foam the the bubbles did. will a longer line help or what .. the only other thing as that the gasket that fits in the beer line is loose and will fall out when line is unscrewed, unlike the gas line gasket which fits very snug
 
so what exact method shoyld i try next. i had psi is upwards of 16 the beer shoots out and gives me more foam the the bubbles did. will a longer line help or what .. the only other thing as that the gasket that fits in the beer line is loose and will fall out when line is unscrewed, unlike the gas line gasket which fits very snug

First, you should probably rule out a few other possible causes of foam. What temperature is your kegerator holding at? Do you have a fan or any tower cooling device? Are there any kinks or obstructions in the beer line? When you pour a beer, are you opening the faucet all the way immediately?

If it is a line balancing issue, then you're either going to need to degas the beer to reduce it's carbonation level, or get a longer beer line. What size and length of beer line is in the kegerator now?
 
beer line is about 4-5 ft
i have a copper tube that the line runs through up the faucet thats it , no fans or anything
my pours are good the foam is attributed to the bubbles building in the line if you pour an immediate beer after the first and before the bubbles start to build it a good beer but any more than a minute FOAM CITY population me
 
I just experienced this exact same problem with a sixtel of loose cannon. My line is only about a foot long. I would have to depressurize before each pore and then serve at 5 psi in order to get a pour that wasn't almost completely foam. So if I serve it at 10 to 15 psi will this solve my problem on my next keg?
 
so what exact method shoyld i try next. i had psi is upwards of 16 the beer shoots out and gives me more foam the the bubbles did. will a longer line help or what .. the only other thing as that the gasket that fits in the beer line is loose and will fall out when line is unscrewed, unlike the gas line gasket which fits very snug

The above leaves me wondering if that loose beer line gasket is somehow allowing CO2 from inside the keg/coupler to sneak into the beer out line. I don't know enough about Sanke couplers to know if that could happen or not.

The analogy on a Cornelius keg is the small O-ring under the Out dip tube flange. If that's missing or damaged, CO2 in the head space will be injected directly into the beer stream at the Out post, which causes all kinds of foamy spitting havoc...

Cheers!
 
im gonna depressure the keg and let it sit for tomorrow then repressure with my co2 and try to re equalize on monday and hopefully not haft to run 16 psi ...

end result mb a little less carbed yuengling... not as bad as over carbed flat foam beer....

i should be good with a flat keg for a day or so as long as it stays cold right
 
I just experienced this exact same problem with a sixtel of loose cannon. My line is only about a foot long. I would have to depressurize before each pore and then serve at 5 psi in order to get a pour that wasn't almost completely foam. So if I serve it at 10 to 15 psi will this solve my problem on my next keg?

Not with a 1' long beer line. You want the beer line to be long enough that it provides enough resistance to slow the pour down to below 1 gal/min at the serving pressure that corresponds to the carbonation level of the beer. One foot of beer line isn't going to do that, even for a really low pressure/carbonation level.

The above leaves me wondering if that loose beer line gasket is somehow allowing CO2 from inside the keg/coupler to sneak into the beer out line. I don't know enough about Sanke couplers to know if that could happen or not.

The analogy on a Cornelius keg is the small O-ring under the Out dip tube flange. If that's missing or damaged, CO2 in the head space will be injected directly into the beer stream at the Out post, which causes all kinds of foamy spitting havoc...

Cheers!

I'm pretty sure he's talking about the tailpiece o-ring, which would have no impact. Although rare, the gas getting into the beer line can happen with sanke kegs too if the rubber valve in the spear gets really really mangled. It would be immediately apparent when looking at the top of the keg before putting the coupler on, and would likely result in beer leaking out from under the coupler too.

im gonna depressure the keg and let it sit for tomorrow then repressure with my co2 and try to re equalize on monday and hopefully not haft to run 16 psi ...

end result mb a little less carbed yuengling... not as bad as over carbed flat foam beer....

i should be good with a flat keg for a day or so as long as it stays cold right

Just depressurizing once isn't really going to do anything. You'll need to turn the gas off and vent the pressure from the keg a few dozen times throughout the day to bring the carbonation down.
 
Not with a 1' long beer line. You want the beer line to be long enough that it provides enough resistance to slow the pour down to below 1 gal/min at the serving pressure that corresponds to the carbonation level of the beer. One foot of beer line isn't going to do that, even for a really low pressure/carbonation level.

So if I were to serve an ale at 50F at 14 psi how long should the beer line be?
 
I had a similar problem when I first built my kegerator. I did the whole line balancing mumbo jumbo with all the equations and everything... From the gauge of my beer line, the temperature of the kegerator, the rise in height from the keg to the tap, etc, I was told that I needed around 5 feet of beer line. I had major foaming problems. Finally, Yooper actually suggested that I go with 10 feet of beer line and store the slack coiled up around the top of the keg. This completely fixed my foaming problems. I use 3/16th gauge beer line, btw. So maybe you should try going with 10 feet of line 3/16th gauge line and see how that works. BTW, if you are using 5/16th gauge hose for you beer line (what is typically used for gas lines), you will need a MUCH MUCH longer beer line. This has to do with the amount of friction and pressure that is placed upon the beer as it travels through the line.
 
So if I were to serve an ale at 50F at 14 psi how long should the beer line be?

That's pretty warm, and my best guess would be ~15' of 3/16" ID line. The only side effect of longer lines is a slightly slower pour, so it might be best to err on the side of caution, and get extra long lines. Also, if the pour speed is problematically slow, it's a lot easier to trim a couple feet off than it is to buy longer lines.

I had a similar problem when I first built my kegerator. I did the whole line balancing mumbo jumbo with all the equations and everything... From the gauge of my beer line, the temperature of the kegerator, the rise in height from the keg to the tap, etc, I was told that I needed around 5 feet of beer line. I had major foaming problems.

The line balancing equations and calculators assume that a flow rate of 1 gal/min will work for you. In the commercial systems they were designed for where the temps are kept low and the carb levels don't vary much, this is true. When a homebrewer wants to serve a beer a little warmer, or carb a belgian or hefe to 3.5 vol or more, serving that fast creates a ton of foam.
 
ok so i tried de pressurizing the keg every couple hours and i still got bubbles but i got the psi up to about 18 with almost no bubbles except right after a pour but of course i had a shotgun pour into the glass and beer tasted flat ...
 
can someone please recommend a systematic apprach to what i should do i really dony wanna waste anymore beer ...
 
gmoetech911 said:
can someone please recommend a systematic apprach to what i should do i really dony wanna waste anymore beer ...

If you'd really like a systematic approach, there are a few things you can try. First thing is to extend your beer line length and make sure you are using 3/16ths gauge beer line (not any of that 5/16th stuff that some brew shops try to sell as beer line; its better as gas line). If you are serving at around 50*F (which is actually kinda warm), try having around 15 feet of beer line from your keg to your tap. If that doesn't solve your problem, then next you could try to get your kegerator a bit colder, say around 40*F. With your kegerator (and beer to boot) sitting around 40*F with 15 feet of line, you should not have foaming problems. If, after all of this, you still have foaming problems, you should modify your the CO2 vols that you're pushing into the keg. 18 PSI at 50*F is a bit high, although it is appropriate for some styles. Still, I'd lower it a bit (like by 1 or 2 PSI) and see if that helps. If you were to lower your kegerator to 40*F and then try 12 PSI, it might help as well. Still, start with changing the beer line length, then try changing the kegerator temperature (and give everything a day or two for the temp to equalize), and then try messing with the PSI. I hope this helps...
 
thanks man i just went in and adjusted the thetmostat by dissassembling it and roatating adjuster i have a glass of water in there and am periodically checking when i gey to my LHBS i will deffinetwly pick up an extra long line and i will let yall know for sure
 
ok so i tried de pressurizing the keg every couple hours and i still got bubbles but i got the psi up to about 18 with almost no bubbles except right after a pour but of course i had a shotgun pour into the glass and beer tasted flat ...

And you kept the gas pressure off the whole time right? I doubt you had time to release the pressure enough to lower the carb level much, so I'm not surprised it took 18psi to stop the gas coming out of solution in the lines. You never did answer the question about your kegerator temp, but based on the info so far I'm going to guess it's around 43°-44°. Trying to serve a highly carbonated beer like yeungling that warm is going to require a lot of resistance to slow the flow way down.

can someone please recommend a systematic apprach to what i should do i really dony wanna waste anymore beer ...

Start by buying 15' of 3/16" ID beer line. Also, if you didn't answer the beer temp question because you don't know, get a thermometer in there and find out.
 
yes pressure off the whole time with keg coupled and would periodically release pressure ... my ambient temp in yhere was from 38-42 and i have turned it down and will be checking peridically
 
say i do get a stoppage of bubble forming at a psi upwards of 10 how long does my line need to be not to get a high pressure pour of rocket beer in the glass

................trials and tribulations of beer drinking
 
say i do get a stoppage of bubble forming at a psi upwards of 10 how long does my line need to be not to get a high pressure pour of rocket beer in the glass

................trials and tribulations of beer drinking

You got the bubbles to stop at 18 psi right? That is upwards of 10. ;)

In all seriousness it's going to depend on the carbonation level and serving temperature. To figure out the line length required to slow it down to ~1 gal/min, you can use any one of the line balancing calculators found online. For warmer serving temps or higher carb levels that may not be slow enough though.

And to get the bubbles to stop forming at a pressure of ~10 psi, you're going to need to either chill the beer to just below freezing, or degas the keg for a few days until the carbonation drops to 2.3 vol, or a little of both.
 
i am currently degassing and working on temps im at 40 in a cup of water now trying to get a little lower
 
i am currently degassing and working on temps im at 40 in a cup of water now trying to get a little lower

I like 40° for my beers, but that's just me. If I were you, I'd leave the temp around 38-40°, put a 10' 3/16" ID line in, and degas the keg until you don't get bubbles collecting in the line at 13 psi. That's just me though. You might prefer a different serving temp or carb level.
 
sweedish thanx yall im in the process of cooling and degassing and tomorrow will be a trip to the brew shop
 
So finally got my beer line Im now running 15 feet of 3/16 id line. I stopped getting small bubbles running at 20psi but still get a few larger bubbles forming near the coupler .... Even with the 15 ft of line at 20psi i still get too fast of a pour and about half is foam.. I tried lowering to about 18 psi and left it over night and had about 4-5 inches of empty line near the coupler. Dont know what the deal is but i will never get a keg of yuengling again
 
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