still fighting foam.... is my corny the problem?

so i kept getting overcarbed beer, tons of foam. i'd purge and wait, nothing helped. the consensus solution on the forums was to upgrade to a 3/16 beer line of 10 feet. it didnt help.

which leads me to believe either i grossly overcarbed the beer, or there is something wrong with my keg. this is what i've got right now, 3 gal ball lock.


what i noticed is that my beer dip tube seems to be pretty loose in the hole, which seems less than optimal. and it does not get tight and firmly in place at all when i tighten down the post. i put on a brand new oring, no real difference. so i am wondering if the beer tube is not getting enough downward pressure on it to make a tight seal? then it wouldnt be able to keep gas in the headspace from getting sucked into the beer line along with the beer from the diptube. which means foam.

i was at my buddy's place drinking some of his beer and i played with his diptube and it seemed firm and solid. looks just like mine, bends a little towards the end. now im worried that mine is all loose and floppy compared to his.

in any case, this is my best guess so far as to what the problem might be. any ideas for testing, solving problem, etc. greatly appreciated.

If you can see foam building in the beer line at the keg you're likely on to the root cause. The O-ring under the Out dip tube flange serves two purposes: it seals the dip tube to the threaded riser, then as it gets compressed by tightening the post, it bulges outward to seal the post.

If that doesn't work the typical result is indeed epic foam, sometimes bad enough to actually spit out of the faucet.

If that was a new keg, I'd contact the seller. If it's beyond any period of recompense, you may need to experiment with different O-rings to get that post and dip tube to seal tight...

Cheers!

i was at my buddy's place drinking some of his beer and i played with his diptube and it seemed firm and solid. looks just like mine, bends a little towards the end. now im worried that mine is all loose and floppy compared to his.

in any case, this is my best guess so far as to what the problem might be. any ideas for testing, solving problem, etc. greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hahaha. I almost lost it reading this. Best post of the night.

Wish I had an answer to your issue.

In all seriousness, if the beer out dip tube is loose I can imagine that causing issues. Strange that your post is sealing completely, I would think a lose seal on the dip tube would lead to co2 leaking from the post threads. But I'm no expert by any means.

^^^^Hahaha yep I thought exactly the same thing!

oh my god. i cant believe i didnt even hear it in my own mind as i was writing it.

well, one thing i can say is that i shall now refer to my member forevermore as my "diptube"

and @helterscelter- i dont have any co2 leakage as the post seems to screw on to the threaded riser nice and tight, but it seems as if there is plenty of room for the dip tube to move up inside the post and lose the seal. there's nothing holding the post down except the spring tension, so im guessing its not enough. maybe i'll see about a stiffer spring. but i just cant think of any other way to get the downward pressure applied to the dip tube from inside the post.

SanPancho said:

i was at my buddy's place drinking some of his beer and i played with his diptube and it seemed firm and solid. looks just like mine, bends a little towards the end. now im worried that mine is all loose and floppy compared to his.

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What ever happened to Don't ask, Don't tell.

What you need here is less floppy dip tube and longer tubing all-together.

Length without floppiness. A bend in the middle is okay too... even at the end is okay.

Bend okay....
Floppy .. not okay...
Length is most important (the length of the tubing from the keg to the tap - 10').

Tap that keg my man..... tap it.

We just don't need to know the details about the actual dip tube... so much. Or about who/what you're dipping into.

SanPancho said:

and @helterscelter- i dont have any co2 leakage as the post seems to screw on to the threaded riser nice and tight, but it seems as if there is plenty of room for the dip tube to move up inside the post and lose the seal. there's nothing holding the post down except the spring tension, so im guessing its not enough. maybe i'll see about a stiffer spring. but i just cant think of any other way to get the downward pressure applied to the dip tube from inside the post.

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I'll have to pull one of my spare kegs apart tonight after work to verify this, but I believe there is a lip on the inside of the post which is supposed to sandwich/compress the top of the dip tube down onto the keg post/oring. The tension from a poppet seems a dubious way to get a good seal. (But again, I'm no expert)

helterscelter said:

I'll have to pull one of my spare kegs apart tonight after work to verify this, but I believe there is a lip on the inside of the post which is supposed to sandwich/compress the top of the dip tube down onto the keg post/oring. The tension from a poppet seems a dubious way to get a good seal. (But again, I'm no expert)

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Yes! my thoughts exactly. it would make more sense to me that the post itself (or a tab or lip inside of it) is what pushes down on the dip tube, held in place by the force of twisting the threads- not the measly little force of the poppet spring.

SanPancho said:

so i kept getting overcarbed beer, tons of foam. i'd purge and wait, nothing helped. the consensus solution on the forums was to upgrade to a 3/16 beer line of 10 feet. it didnt help.

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You cannot purge and then pour,,, the problem is the CO2 in the BEER bit in the headspace.


MY SOLUTION when this happens : (very non-scientific but it works)

With the gas off.

I chill the beer, test and if it is foamy, purge, wait at least 6 hours and try again.

I wait until it is "close" I pour out in to a cold pitcher let that settle and drink it...

When it finally starts coming out correctly I hook up the gas.

helterscelter said:

I'll have to pull one of my spare kegs apart tonight after work to verify this, but I believe there is a lip on the inside of the post which is supposed to sandwich/compress the top of the dip tube down onto the keg post/oring. The tension from a poppet seems a dubious way to get a good seal. (But again, I'm no expert)

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There should be a flair and the top of the dip tube. The o-ring rides under the flair. The poppet compresses onto the flair when the post is tightened.

Putting a flair on a tube is easy with a flair tool.

helterscelter said:

Hahaha. I almost lost it reading this. Best post of the night.

Wish I had an answer to your issue.

In all seriousness, if the beer out dip tube is loose I can imagine that causing issues. Strange that your post is sealing completely, I would think a lose seal on the dip tube would lead to co2 leaking from the post threads. But I'm no expert by any means.

Click to expand...

I laughed so hard my tears were coming out.