co2 Keg Question: Vent Force Carb Pressure Before Dispensing?

[jawharp]

Hey guys,

Still trying to get a hang on proper dispensing of my force carbed beer from my keg. I've consulted many charts to verify that I need to set my keg pressure at 10.2 psi at 45 degrees F to get the proper volume of co2 in my beer. I've set the pressure, and am leaving it for a week to force carb on its own.

The issue I'm having is dispensing. I've been getting a lot of foam. The beer that comes out isn't particularly over-carbed, it's just foaming up like crazy. I have a 5ft picnic tap at 3/16th ID tubing on my keg. I've consulted some keg balancing formulas to figure out the best pressure to dispense at.

I've come up with 0.9 PSI from these formulas as the ideal dispensing pressure.

My question is: before I set the pressure to 0.9 PSI, am I supposed to bleed off the existing 10.2 psi of pressure in the headspace of the keg before I dispense? Or am I supposed to somehow set my pressure to 0.9 psi as is then dispense with the 10.2 psi pressure in the headspace?

I've messed up dispensing in the past and I'm really trying to lock this down. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Joe

 

[chickypad]

To do this you would want to vent the keg before resetting the new pressure, but don't do this. Get longer lines to balance your system so you can serve at the proper pressure. I'd go 10-12 feet, or use this calculator which seems to be the most accurate. The tinkering of pressures, besides wasting CO2, I think would get old pretty fast especially if you decide to add extra kegs someday.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I'll add, that in general, venting can release some of your aroma, and if there is some sediment, it CAN cause the beer to cloud up as the rapid release can cause nucleation on the sediment. If you don't have much sediment, then you don't have to worry about that.

Be sure to chill the beer well before considering venting, as this will drop the pressure.. And, maybe instead of venting, just pour yourself a glass before trying to vent. There may be some sediment in the first 1/2 glass anyways and this is a gentler way of releasing the pressure.

 

[Sailingeric]

I would go with 10 feet of line like stated. I did the math for line length from one of the calculators online and it said I need about 4.5 feet and the beer and cider on tap came out very foamy. Went 10 feet which seems to be a cant go wrong for the average keezer/ kegerator with the extra length of line sitting on top of my kegs and the beer and cider comes out just right!

 

[Iseneye]

Yep 10ft - you don't need to muck around with venting and reducing pressure.

 

[Bobby_M]

Note that the quoted dispensing pressure is referring to the amount of excess pressure you want at the faucet AFTER all the back pressure that the properly balance tubing provides. The length of tubing you choose should be based on the typical pressures that you use. Long story short, 10 feet of line and leave the pressure at 10-12psi.