Help with foam

[Wildgnome77]

Folks,

Still new to home brew - this is my fourth batch - and first that I've kegged. I'm running a Hazy IPA from Northern Brewery and I'm getting 2/3 of a glass of foam every pour. Keg was fully cleaned and sanitized. Upgraded/replaced the stock 5 foot beer lines with 10 foot lines. Ran beer cleaner through them and then rinsed them. After kegging set at 25 PSI for 48 hours shut off gas, cleared head space and put back at 10 PSI for a week. Temperature measured inside sits at 36 to get the inside of the keg and the beer to ~38 (guessing). The beer lines are coiled on top of the keg (not sitting below the level of the beer), and I have a fan with tubing that's putting cold air into the tap tower (cold to the touch to the outside) so I don't believe that warm beer near the tap is the problem. What am I missing and what's my next steps...I don't want to go through a whole keg like this.

Thanks

 

[VikeMan]

What is your beer line made of, and what's its inner diameter?

While pouring, do you see foam in the beer line?

What does a second pint, poured immediately after the first pint, look like?

 

[Wildgnome77]

What is your beer line made of, and what's its inner diameter?

While pouring, do you see foam in the beer line?

What does a second pint, poured immediately after the first pint, look like?

@VikeMan I'll look again, but did not see foam in the lines when pouring, I'll go run two pints through in a bit. Beer line is 3/16", made by E.J. Beverage (ultra barrier silver) - link here. 3/16" E.J. Beverage Ultra Barrier Silver ® (williamsbrewing.com)

 

[Wildgnome77]

@VikeMan poured 2 back to back - you can see the pics here. Marginal difference. I posted pics 3 min after the initial pour as well. To eliminate any issues with foam from dirty glasses - both glasses were sanitized for 30 minutes and then rinsed and drip dried.

 

[Wildgnome77]

What is your beer line made of, and what's its inner diameter?

While pouring, do you see foam in the beer line?

What does a second pint, poured immediately after the first pint, look like?

@VikeMan II do not see foam in the lines when pouring, I'll go run two pints through in a bit. Beer line is 3/16", made by E.J. Beverage (ultra barrier silver) - link here. 3/16" E.J. Beverage Ultra Barrier Silver ® (williamsbrewing.com)

 

[Wildgnome77]

@VikeMan II do not see foam in the lines when pouring, I'll go run two pints through in a bit. Beer line is 3/16", made by E.J. Beverage (ultra barrier silver). My replies with links to the beer line keep getting sent to moderators...trying without link.

 

[day_trippr]

If that second glass was poured within a couple/few minutes of the first, I'm betting that keg is over-carbonated...

Cheers!

 

[Wildgnome77]

If that second glass was poured within a couple/few minutes of the first, I'm betting that keg is over-carbonated...

Cheers!

Ok - I'll try disconnecting the gas tonight when I go to bed, clear the head space and try again tomorrow...

 

[TkmLinus]

Another thing to try is to check your faucets to make sure the gaskets are properly seated. I had a major foam problem and the culprit was a gasket that somehow had twisted and was in the stream of beer exiting the faucet.

 

[tracer bullet]

Mostly agreeing to what's been said. Your carbonation routine sounds OK but it does sound overcarbonated. When I do that I just leave the CO2 off it for a while and after I've poured a few glasses over a few days I plug it back in and it's about right.

Do you have a picnic tap, faucet, or somethign else? Checking things around that is a good idea as mentioned above. I once had a bit of dry-hop debris in my picnic tap and I got nothing but foam from it until I cleaned it. I finally realized it when I noticed the small puddle of beer under it because it also wasn't closing 100% of the way. Point being - good place to check for an issue as well.

Oh and along those lines, you have to open the faucet or tap and go for it when pouring. Trying to throttle it will actually give you more foam not less.

 

[doug293cz]

Something I didn't see mentioned yet: if the beer dip tube "O" ring is damaged, it can cause foamy pours, even it everything else is in order. If your keg is new, this is less likely to be the problem, but if you are working with a used keg, it is definitely worth checking out.

Brew on

 

[Wildgnome77]

Another thing to try is to check your faucets to make sure the gaskets are properly seated. I had a major foam problem and the culprit was a gasket that somehow had twisted and was in the stream of beer exiting the faucet.

Thanks - I'll double check that - given that they are new, I assumed they'd be good, but can't hurt to check.

 

[Wildgnome77]

Mostly agreeing to what's been said. Your carbonation routine sounds OK but it does sound overcarbonated. When I do that I just leave the CO2 off it for a while and after I've poured a few glasses over a few days I plug it back in and it's about right.

Do you have a picnic tap, faucet, or somethign else? Checking things around that is a good idea as mentioned above. I once had a bit of dry-hop debris in my picnic tap and I got nothing but foam from it until I cleaned it. I finally realized it when I noticed the small puddle of beer under it because it also wasn't closing 100% of the way. Point being - good place to check for an issue as well.

Oh and along those lines, you have to open the faucet or tap and go for it when pouring. Trying to throttle it will actually give you more foam not less.

Thanks - using a tap tower with spring loaded tap handles (not a picnic tap). I had sanitized and cleaned the tap prior to using, but worth double checking

 

[balrog]

Clearing headspace, keeping it 38F, waiting overnight, will not really release much dissolved CO2.
Pull it out overnight, release headspace at night and again in morning, back into 38F a day, see where you are.
That's if it's overcarbed and not due to oring or turbulence though spring tap (kinda unlikely)

 

[tracer bullet]

I had another thought, since I seem to have over-carbed a keg just about 2 days ago myself, and had my first glass last night. I noticed that the beer sort of spits out of the tap for the first couple seconds, which (I think) means the CO2 is coming out of solution right there in the line. Maybe the high spots of the coil or something. When things are carbed correctly that never happens. Points me towards mine being over-carbed and not an issue with the tap since it clears up and runs fine pretty fast after that.

Point being - if yours runs a little crazy for the first few seconds it might point towards over carbonation and not a tap issue? Just an idea.

 

[Wildgnome77]

Something I didn't see mentioned yet: if the beer dip tube "O" ring is damaged, it can cause foamy pours, even it everything else is in order. If your keg is new, this is less likely to be the problem, but if you are working with a used keg, it is definitely worth checking out.

Brew on

I did buy a used keg - so that could be an issue I suppose. I'll check that to be sure.

 

[odie]

Another vote for over carbed. Just releasing the head space to 10 PSI will not decarb the beer to 10 PSI. The beer will just gas off into the head space until both are equal again. You need to spund to 10 PSI or bleed the keg a lot or just set your regulator to 10 PSI wait it out as you drink it...eventually the keg will drop PSI as you drink it.

 

[Wildgnome77]

Another vote for over carbed. Just releasing the head space to 10 PSI will not decarb the beer to 10 PSI. The beer will just gas off into the head space until both are equal again. You need to spund to 10 PSI or bleed the keg a lot or just set your regulator to 10 PSI wait it out as you drink it...eventually the keg will drop PSI as you drink it.

I took some of the earlier advice - let the keg sit out off gas at room temp for 12 hours - now it's back inside chilling and i'll try running it at 8-10 PSI to see if that addresses the issue. More to come tonight (bit early for a beer even when you work from home...)

 

[Wildgnome77]

Thanks all who replied - it was just over carbed. After pulling the keg for 12 hours at room temp and then getting back to temp and setting it to 9 PSI I'm running great. May bump up a bit (head's a little low) but I'm drinking beer - not foam!