International "Help the Newbie" day

[Hauger]

Hi.

Okay, I'm new to home Kegging. I set up a home keg-dispensing system on my home bar by installing a mini fridge under the counter with a tower on the bar itself. Cooling of the beer lines is accomplished by running the beer lines through 1/2 inch copper pipe running up through the insulated tower. I bought a commercial Keg (Keith's) and hooked it up to see how well the system worked before I started brewing my own. Well, after a little bit of fidgeting, I got great pours that tasted oh so nicely.

I was happy.

The set up at this point was about 10psi and 5 foot 5/16th lines, fridge at about 3 deg C. I'm in the military though and was called away for a week. On getting home, I eventually made my way to my keg and went to draw myself a draught. I didn't have high hopes for my first pour figuring the first one might be warm and foamy, and I was right.

Well, the second glass produced thick, 100% foam too. After going through this a couple times, I looked at the CO2 regulator and it was showing 20+ PSI. WTF? How did it go from 10 to 20PSI? I turned it down and released all kinds of gas, and let the keg sit a week. After a week, I tried drawing a glass, and got the same 100% foam. It's a think, persistent foam too. The beer, once the foam is allowed to settle a bit, no longer tastes crisp and nice, but "thick" and alcoholic with an aftertaste.

Looking in the tower, it looks like the beer is going foamy in the lines themselves before hitting the tap. Why would it do that? The tap too, after sitting a week, sticks and needs a good tug to make it break loose and pour.

Just tonight I've cut off the CO2 to the keg (still in the fridge), and taken the tap off to clean it by running hot water through it. I'll put the CO2 back on before bed. I'm pretty sure I've over carbonated the beer (and ruined the keg in the process).

I guess I have a couple questions:

1. Why would the regulator self-increase from 10psi to over 20psi while I was gone?

2. Can I salvage the Keg?

3. Why would the beer go foamy inside the line just before hitting the tap (there's a 90 deg. unavoidable bend at this point)?

4. Can I somehow keep the tap from sticking after sitting for a day or two after a pour?

5. why does the over carbonated beer taste "thick" and "alcoholic" and why is the foam so thick?

Thanks for any input you have. Yes, I know there's lots of "all I get is foam" posts here, and I've read most of them and still thought I'd tell my story, if for no other reason than to vent. All I want to do is brew some brew, hook in the kegs, and be able to draw a couple pints from time to time and enjoy. Unfortunately, that's not what's happening.

 

[JRems]

1- who knows, possibly defective
2-yes
3-There is so much co2 it's coming out of solution before reaching the faucet
4-Only way to fix is replace it with a forward sealing perlick faucet
5-Dont know why, maybe you are tasting carbonic acid from the excess co2

I would leave the gas off the keg. Then purge the keg every day for the next couple days to remove the excess co2. Then taste and go from there

 

[Hauger]

Thanks for the answers, I appreciate it. As of today I'm getting a more "normal" pour, but the beer is really cloudy and tastes very heavy (it's supposed to be a lighter-tasting IPA). Does too much CO2 make beer appear cloudy? I can't see the keg having gone bad as it's always refrigerated and with the beer being pushed by CO2 I can't see where anything that would have caused the keg to go skunky would have gotten in. It's only maybe 2 1/2 weeks old.

All I want is a nice drink of beer....is that too much to ask?

I'm going to look up these perlick faucets. Do you know, are the connections to draught towers where the faucets hook up generally standardized?

Thanks again for helping out.

 

[birvine]

The cloudiness might be some residual yeast in the keg. Or, it might be chill haze which might settle out in time.

I am only theorizing about the alcohol flavour of the foam but it might be that when the gas comes out of solution some of the alcohol might be almost in a mist and so be perceived in your mouth immediately upon contact.

As for the taps, I have the same problem, so I clean them regularly by hooking up a keg with cleaner in it then hot water. On my near-term plan are the Perlicks which are made such that the mechanism cannot get gummy with dried beer.

B

 

[Hauger]

Thanks Birvine. I'm getting real beer again from the keg, but the taste is just so off. The beer appears flat now too and tastes, well, terrible. I just can't seem to win with this keg. I guess I can always drink it for effect, but the point of this system is to have good beer on tap, not skunky flat beer or 100% foam beer on tap. The cloudiness thing is really disheartening too, I sat a glass out overnight and it did clear up, but the keg is far from too cold (the fridge is set to around 2C).

You're up in Cochrane (I used to drive through there all the time heading between North Bay and Thunder Bay, always preferred the north route)....do you know any good Canadian suppliers of equipment? I'm looking to buy a pressurized cleaner from Micromatic for about $100, but the shipping isn't cheap thanks to the cross border issue and so I'd buy domestic if I could find a supplier that's priced right.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

[DoubleFisted]

I would have to say someone messed with your regulator or it is a defective regulator.

 

[Hauger]

**UPDATE**

Thought I'd update the thread in case some other new guy gets reading this thread and wants to know how this all turned out. After 10 days of warming the keg and lowering the CO2 levels, the Keg has returned to it's former glory and is drinkable again. So now, I get to drink it empty and start again with a new, fresh one!

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

 

[birvine]

Awesome!

B