Foaming pints

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Mattymcd

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Guys you are reading this extract from a lost man, I am at the end of my tether I have put a couple of posts on here the past week I am getting problem after problem with pulling a pint without foam.
I thought at first it was because the keg was at room temperature, I bought a fridge and put it inside. It is now at 20 degrees Fahrenheit I know this is a little cool but the beer in the lines is clear and has no foam at all it is only when I pour the beer from the faucet I get the foam. I have a Guinness faucet and was told it might of been the restricter plate inside the nozzle I have took that out now so it is a through hole.
I have extended the 3/8 tubing to 6 foot both the co2 and the beer line. I have cleaned the keg coupler throughly and everything else that goes with it and still all I get is pints of foam.
Only thing I can think of now is that the keg is too cool but would the beer in the lines still be clear?
Any help would be great I'm losing hope now and numerous pints of Stella Artois that's the serious part!!
 
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The tubing is the wrong size and I doubt the nitro faucet will ever pour a regular beer right.
 
10' of 3/16" beer line with 12psi co2 served at 36F is about right. You are way off. Did you post in the kegging/bottling section? This is elementary.
The faucet may or may not work. Either way, it's not the right faucet.
 
Also, use real beer line and make sure there are no kinks or obstructions in the line. Looks like your line has a kink in it.
 
I have extended the 3/8 tubing to 6 foot both the co2 and the beer line.

1. What pressure is your CO2 at?
2. 3/8 for the beer line is pretty big - 3/16 is more typical
3. Probably would get faster help in the kegging forum, but we can help here too.

You want the beer to come out of the faucet slowly and smoothly. The design of the stout/creamer faucet will make this very hard since it is specifically designed to disturb the beer and generate a creamy thick head on low carbonation beer.

If the beer is coming out fast (less than 6 seconds to fill a pint), then turn down the CO2, increase the length of the beer line, go to a smaller ID beer line, or do some combination of all three things.

If the beer is coming out slow but looks foamy even when it is just coming out of the nozzle, then you could have a leak inside the faucet or the faucet style just isn't going to work for your beer.
 
Go back to your other thread and re read my response. You need to do some research to teach yourself about balancing the pressure in your beer line.

You also need to keep your beer line cold, which you are not.

We have brought the horse to the water, now it's up to you drink it or not.
 
Also, 20°F is too cold. The beer will absorb a lot more co2 at that temperature which will cause it to be over carbonated and will give you a lot of foam.

1. Get the right type of faucet (perlick 630 or the 650 flow control)
2. Use 3/16 beer line (thick walled (Bevlex is good)).
3. Use mikesoltys.com line length calculator to get the proper length (10-18 ft 3/16 line)
4. Raise your temperature to the upper 30s-low 40s.
5. Figure out how to scrub some of the excess co2 out of the over carbonated beer.
 
Thankyou guys for the help I realise I have the wrong setup I just thought I could make minor tweaks to get it right. As I say this is all new to me, I was given this setup and told it worked perfectly as a home bar setup I guess not. I will rectify all these wrongs in the following way.

I have 3/16 tubing in the post 20 metres of it.

I will buy an adjustable regulator the one I have is fixed by the looks of it with no dials so don't know what the pressure is.

Adjust the fridges temperature so it is at 36-38 degrees and not 20

I have 6 different faucets all are wrong for so many different reasons I will try get one working or interchange the parts.

Also will insulate the beer line.
Will a maxi cooler refrigerant unit be helpful at all? I have two just sitting there
 
I'm having trouble even understanding your setup.It looks like theres a giant hole in the top of your fridge?
It looks like you have beer lines running under a table up to a faucet?
If your plan is to insulate those long beer lines outside the fridge its never going to work.Warm beer lines equal foam and you could insulate all day long and its never going to stay cold with your setup
 
Yep I had to cut open the top of the fridge as the fridge was too small. Was also keeping the keg too cold so I thought this would adjust the temp abit as well.

I know any other way of keeping the beer line cold it's got to run under the table to the faucet surely?
 
Yep I had to cut open the top of the fridge as the fridge was too small. Was also keeping the keg too cold so I thought this would adjust the temp abit as well.

I know any other way of keeping the beer line cold it's got to run under the table to the faucet surely?
WOW DUDE...Your never going to get that setup working properly.I think it might be time to scrap your entire plan,,and fridge and start over. Either do a ton more research or just go buy a kegerator and call it done...Chalk it up to lessen learned
 
Jonny is exaggerating a little bit, you can make almost anything work if you put enough time into it. The big problem is what this thing will look like when you're done. His point is that you are going to spend more trying to make this work than it would cost to get a full size fridge, shank, faucet, and drip tray.

To fix what you have, you need to keep all the tubing to the faucet, and the faucet itself (if possible), cold. There are complicated and simple ways to do this. The simplest is to buy a big fridge and put your tubing in there with the keg. :)
 
I wasn't exaggerating at all. He's got a fridge that doesn't even fit a keg with a giant 6" hole through it. So thats basically an Anchor. And the plan was to run long lines though said hole across the floor under a table and up to a faucet with what looks like disconnects halfway through the beer line causing turbulence all with just wrapping insulation around the lines that will do nothing....Ill go out on a limb and say this is the worst kegging plan this forum has seen...No disrespect to the OP but its going to take a tad more research and planning than this if you want it to work.Which is why I said maybe in this case a store bought kegerator is the way to go..Just plug it in and enjoy. Either way the original plan ain't gunna work in needs to go in the scrap bin
 
I wasn't exaggerating at all. He's got a fridge that doesn't even fit a keg with a giant 6" hole through it. So thats basically an Anchor. And the plan was to run long lines though said hole across the floor under a table and up to a faucet with what looks like disconnects halfway through the beer line causing turbulence all with just wrapping insulation around the lines that will do nothing....Ill go out on a limb and say this is the worst kegging plan this forum has seen...No disrespect to the OP but its going to take a tad more research and planning than this if you want it to work.Which is why I said maybe in this case a store bought kegerator is the way to go..Just plug it in and enjoy. Either way the original plan ain't gunna work in needs to go in the scrap bin

One thing about Jonny is he tells it like it is, and in this case, your system looks like it should be at Sanford and Son scrap site. Seriously, all of your components need to be "under one roof" to work properly, and add to that one "cold" roof. Exposed beer lines, whether insulated or uninsulated, are going to be your Achilles heel and will never give you consistent results. If you get a decent older chest freezer or old but working refrigerator, go from there and quit throwing money at something that will never work like you hope for.
 
I did not do any research I simply took all these components for free and thought I would give it a go and do some research along the way.
The fridge is now at 38 degrees the lines have been changed to 3/16 with no connectors in the middle also insulated as well, the regulator is at 8-10psi and the faucet has a new nozzle on.
I appreciate all the advice but calm down guys I was only after advice not a lecture on how bad it is.

You two are saying the thing that will cause the most problems is the lines being cold?

I have a maxi cooler refrigerant unit that I could connect just before the faucet would that help at all?
 
I did not do any research I simply took all these components for free and thought I would give it a go and do some research along the way.
The fridge is now at 38 degrees the lines have been changed to 3/16 with no connectors in the middle also insulated as well, the regulator is at 8-10psi and the faucet has a new nozzle on.
I appreciate all the advice but calm down guys I was only after advice not a lecture on how bad it is.

You two are saying the thing that will cause the most problems is the lines being cold?

I have a maxi cooler refrigerant unit that I could connect just before the faucet would that help at all?

The beer in those exposed lines will warm up to ambient even tho the beer in the keg should be cold. There could be an appreciable amount of beer at room temp in those lines, plus your tap faucet is warm if not cooled in some fashion. If you pour several pints you my finally get some cooler beer to reduce foaming but that's a ton of waste. Add to that the connects/junctions in your line create turbulence which is another foam producer.

Hey, we all know you are trying and commend you for doing so. And you had the initiative to reach out and ask for help which is commendable. Keep working at it and eventually you may find a solution to your current system. If not, you can find an old fridge and make a system that keeps everything cold including your all important beer lines.

Good luck!
 
Hey jonnyrotten just thought I would show you the perfect pint I pulled out of the worst setup you had ever seen and would never work 🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻
Everyone else Thankyou for the help couldn't of done it without all the advice.

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"Everyone else" Well now I feel dissed LOL.Im glad you got a good pint.As I said before "no disrespect to the OP" but its as wrong as it gets.As per your own words in post #15 you cut a 6" hole in the top of the fridge to help lower the temp for Christ sake. Lets see some pics of how you kept long external lines cold in the middle of summer to reach that "perfect Pour" Youll be the first ever to figure it out without Glycol, So we'd all love to see
 
I insulated the 8ft lines then had it run through a beer cooler which cooled the faucet and the beer down then to a 2ft insulated line to the faucet.
The keg was at a perfect temperature 38 degrees, I filled around the gaps at the top of the fridge with expandable foam so there wasn't a temperature difference anywhere so the hole didn't matter.
Changed the regulator and dial so the co2 came through at 8psi.
Changed all the lines to 3/16 instead of 3/8.
I'm not going to lie I spent a couple of weeks trying to get it right but at the start I didn't have a clue and are only just learning now.
I don't care how the setup looks or that it's running through a magners faucet all that matters is that it's cool and there isn't no excess foam and it tastes f&£King fantastic.
I will take loads of photos tonight.
 
Hey jonnyrotten just thought I would show you the perfect pint I pulled out of the worst setup you had ever seen and would never work 🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻
Everyone else Thankyou for the help couldn't of done it without all the advice.

In general, coming to a forum and doing zero research before posting your questions is not always the best idea. Then you don't even fully read the suggestions folks give you and repeat the same questions in multiple threads. And telling someone to F off because you kind of got something to work after they told you it is a lost cause is also not the best idea.
 
In general, coming to a forum and doing zero research before posting your questions is not always the best idea. Then you don't even fully read the suggestions folks give you and repeat the same questions in multiple threads. And telling someone to F off because you kind of got something to work after they told you it is a lost cause is also not the best idea.

That's right! BTW, I feel dissed too, JonnyRotten, since I didn't get singled out to catch a ration of s**t too.

Lots of folks here gave the OP some good advice. Humility is a beautiful trait.

At the end of the day, even family members squabble with each other. Glad you got a good pour since that is an all important aspect of kegging. Good beer has got to find its way into your glass in the best method to protect your beer.
 
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