Carbonation problem

[callback79]

Hi,

Looking for advices.

I have hard time to get good carbonation with my kegged beer. I now have a witbier on tap.

The first pint has always a thicker head and less co2 bubbles in the beer. (probably because of a warm faucet)The second one has little bit more bubbles but I expect to get more bubbles since it's a witbier and I set my regulator to 15psi. (At this pressure for over a month).

I tried to pour a third one tonight, I remove almost all the pressure from the keg and it poured very slowly. This was a test to see if the initial pressure was too high for the length of my lines (10ft). Strangely, this time I had no bubbles at all. So Serving pressure vs line length doesn't seems to be the culprit.

So my system is set at 15psi to get more carbonation than regular Ale, 10ft line length. I've check for leaks and found one 4 weeks ago, now I'm pretty sure there's no leak, I'm still using the same 5# co2 tank. I do not have a tower.

Any idea ?

 

[JuanMoore]

What is the beer temp?

 

[callback79]

what is the beer temp?

40-41f.

 

[JuanMoore]

At that temp you should be at ~2.7 vol of carbonation, which is what BMC is carbed to. After a month you definitely should have reached equilibrium. It's possible that your gauge is off, and you're actually pushing a lower pressure than you think. Either way, you'll need to increase the pressure if you want more carbonation.

 

[callback79]

Thanks for the answer.

But the thing is I don't understand why there's no bubbles instantly if I lower the serving pressure. The beer should be carbed just like the previous pint at a higher pressure, no ?

If I serve the beer in a pitcher, there's a lot of bubble on the side of the pitcher, it is in plastic so maybe there's some tiny scratches. When I pour the beer back to glasses, the first glass has some carbonation and most of the foam, but all the others are always flat with no head.

Thanks.

 

[JuanMoore]

Yes, changing the serving pressure for one pour won't change the carbonation any. All it will do is reduce the pour speed, which will reduce the head, and actually keep more carbonation in solution. You keep talking about seeing bubbles, but carbonation isn't something you can gauge by looking at the beer. Did the beer taste flat after you poured it with a low serving pressure, or were you just seeing fewer bubbles stuck to the inside of the glass? If you simply saw fewer bubbles, that would indicate to me that you lost less carbonation during the pour, meaning that the beer in the glass would be more carbonated, not less.

Plastic will create nucleation points for the CO2 to come out of solution, which can cause it to become flat. Are you pouring it all into a plastic pitcher and then into glasses, or was that just a one time thing?

 

[callback79]

Did the beer taste flat after you poured it with a low serving pressure, or were you just seeing fewer bubbles stuck to the inside of the glass? If you simply saw fewer bubbles, that would indicate to me that you lost less carbonation during the pour, meaning that the beer in the glass would be more carbonated, not less.

No bubbles when poured with less pressure and yes the taste was flat.

Are you pouring it all into a plastic pitcher and then into glasses, or was that just a one time thing?

Everytime I use the pitcher and then pour into glasses, only the first glass still has a good mouthfeel and bubbles, all the other taste flat. I know it's weird but I can't explain why it happen.

If I pour directly into glasses, the first one has a little more head, but no bubbles, and the other glasses have less head, better carbonation.

Not sure if I explain it clearly, my english is not so good.

Thanks.

 

[JuanMoore]

Stop using the plastic pitcher! Using any pitcher at all is going to cause you to lose a fair amount of carbonation, but it will be even worse with a plastic one. And it's not weird that beer that's been sitting out in a pitcher at room temp will progressively get more flat.

You can likely improve the first pour by finding a way to keep the shank/faucet cooler. A longer shank sticking into the fridge further, some small diameter copper tubing wrapped around the shank and then extending into the fridge, a small cpu fan blowing on the shank, etc.