Extra Foaming and Kegerator Issues

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Shapebrewer

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Hi all,
New to this forum. Just started home brewing since one month. Did quite a lot of research from this forum and YT. Special thanks to theapartmentbrewer and related channels from YT. I did my own kegerator setup, using a Grainfather G30 and Mangrovejack's fermenter. All is going well. However, since yesterday I encountered one problem. Every pour of a pint is getting too foamy. Just realised the CO2 tank is out of CO2. Does this cause extra foaming issues? Initially thought it was due to over-carbonation of the keg but nothing worked and realised the CO2 tank is empty. Had to weigh it because the main clock of the regulator is broken - accidentally it fell last week. Now I have purged all the CO2 out from the keg thinking about over-carbonation but realised the CO2 tank is out. The CO2 local store opens only after two days. What do you suggest in this situation? I have been experimenting and all is going well except for these little challenges but look forward to staying connected with the community. Doing these works in Finland and Nepal. Cheers all.
 
Probably several problems going on at the same time with no ties. If the CO2 is prematurely empty, it is likely a leak somewhere in the system. If it's not in the keg itself or the hoses, it may be leaking from damage to the gauge from the fall. If the gauge isn't working properly, you can't judge how much pressure you're putting into the keg. If you're having foam problems, it can be any of the following: too much pressure, serving hose is too short or too large of an inner diameter, faucet is too warm, beer is contaminated with bacteria that is continuing to ferment.
 
Thanks for the reply. I checked the leak everywhere possible and found no leaks at all. The gauge showing the Total Pressure is only slightly damaged but is still working. The pressure going inside the keg gauge is all good and I can see and control this without any problem. I used 2kg CO2 for cleaning two kegs multiple times (total of 6 times) using PBW, water, and Star san, then forced carbonated two kegs at 30 psi for 36 hours each and serving at 11 psi. The hose size and length are appropriate as I used the kegerator beer line balance calculation. Not sure why I only got 1.5 kegs to dispense. I am assuming foaming which was 50% of the total glass which occurred since last two days were due to no or very less CO2 inside the cylinder. Because before these last two days, the foaming was standard (except for the first pour which was due to warm faucet). I have to try it again in two days when I get the cylinder filled.
 
Unfortunately, there are many tubing length calculators out on the web that use an incorrect value for tubing resistance per unit length, and recommend lines that are too short. This is the only tubing line length calculator you should ever use.

For rule of thumb, you need about 1 ft of 3/16" ID tubing per psi of CO2 pressure, or if you use EVA barrier tubing, which is 4mm ID, you only need about 0.4 - 0.5 ft per psi. You should never use tubing with greater than 3/16" ID, unless you need to run very long beer lines.

Brew on :mug:
 
I used the same calculator as mentioned by @doug293cz
Here are my details:
Everything went well but since the last two days got some foaming and realised the CO2 tank was empty. Thanks a lot in advance!
 
A five second pour is aggressive, you're slamming the first few ounces into the glass which I expect would cause significant foam which would in turn inspire more foam as the pour continues from all the nucleation sites created at the start. For comparison I go for a 10 second pour and in return for a bit of patience I never have foam problems...

Cheers!
 
Not even with the faucet temperature disbalance for the first pour? How do you manage the temperature of the faucet to cause no foaming? This will be helpful to understand.
 
@Shapebrewer
You could have the taps on the outside of your house in the winter as you are between Finland and Nepal. That'll keep the taps cool.

As you're in metric land this calculator using the Solty formula is metric friendly and takes account of imperial pints as well.

https://www.brewingcalculators.com/beer-line-length/
as an FYI my beer engine suddenly was pulling foamy pints. Found a small split in the tube where it attached to the ball lock connector not really leaking at rest due to the low pressure in the keg. But the vacuum generated by the beer engine was pulling air into the beer line as it drew the beer from the keg.
Not so much a leak out as a leak in!
 
Thanks a lot for the information. I still found no such problems. And still waiting until tomorrow to get the CO2 cylinder refilled and test whether it was really due to no CO2 or something else.
However, a follow-up query. The local homebrew store only sells 1/4" and 1/8" inner-diameter beer line tubes; both have an external diameter of 3/8" and 3/16", respectively. I use a 1/4" inner diameter and a 3/8" external diameter. Most of the resources state that it is good to use a 3/16" tube - is this internal diameter or external? Because I cannot get the tube with 3/16" internal diameter but only external. Thanks.
 
I'd go the 1/8 inner, when you plug the numbers it's a lot less tubing
Notice with 1/4 inner the tube length roughly doubles for a five going to ten second pour
But goes from 1.3 foot to 36 foot needed between the 1/8 and 1/4 inch line for a ten second pour.
However you do have a flow control tap which adds an incalculable variable.
Also the pressure is the equilibrium pressure in the keg not necessarily the set gauge pressure.
 
Thanks again. I am using the flow control in the tap to maintain total pint pour per seconds. Currently it is around 5-7 seconds per pint due to the tubing details I am using. True, with the 1/8 inner the requirement of tube is really less, I will try it in the next months when I order new ingredients. I will update after I get the CO2 tank refilled tomorrow.
 
Check and recheck all of your connections, start at the gauge and work towards the kegs.

Immersion if safe is a very good way of checking connections if practical. Duotight and John Guest push fit connections need to be really rammed in fully, I measure the depth of the hole and then put a mark on the tube before pushing it in to ensure I get it fully seated. They don't like tight bends just after the connectors, make sure a well aligned joint doesn't get deformed when keg fridges, lids etc get closed. EVA barrier tubing is best for the beer lines when you upgrade much reduced oxygenation. Also when you upgrade get some tube joiners so you can add length to tubes to fine tune or if you need to up the pressure for a certain style. Standing by.
 
Thanks for the suggestion on EVA. Will keep an eye on that. Seems hard to buy it here.
Also, no CO2 leaks were detected anywhere. The fast burn of 2kg CO2 came down to keg cleaning and beer line cleaning around 7.5 kegs dispensed (including PBW, water, and Star San solutions). Now I will keep an eye on the CO2 tank weight per keg dispensed.

So I have an update now. Finally, after three days of waiting today, I got the CO2 tank refilled.
And as I suspected the almost empty or empty tank was the problem with excess foaming.
Attached are two images - the first pour on the left usually half a glass goes always to normalise the faucet temperature. Then the second pour comes out really neat.

Does that mean the beer line combination which I am using coupled with faucet control works well - that is what I can see here. And this is somehow not as everyone mentioned. What could that mean? Any hints will be highly valuable. Thanks a lot.


First Pour.jpgSecond Pour.jpg
 
At the least it confirms the notion that providing CO2 at a pressure that doesn't maintain the beer carbonation level will result in CO2 break-out and all the travails that can cause.

It may also suggest your dispensing system line length/diameter with an FC faucet is adequately tuned :)

Cheers!
 

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