Keg won't stop foaming at appropriate psi

[centropy]

Hey everyone.
I've had some severe foaming issues going on for a while now for a dual tower set up. It's usually 3/4th of the glass. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, it doesn't help just pouring more. I bought a kegerator conversion kit and just switched out my sankey attachments for two corny kegs

First off my setup:
-5 feet of 3/16'' of vinyl tubing for beer ling.
-kegerator set at 38 degrees and 12psi (tested first beer with a digital thermometer too and it checks out)


I've messed around with the psi a bunch. I've found the way to get foam free pours is as following:
1) cut off co2 to both kegs
2) depressurize both kegs for 2-3 seconds
3) open valve to re-pressurize both kegs to roughly 7 psi then close again
5) pour foam free glory


I don't want to leave at 8psi permanently because I don't want relatively flat beer. Does anyone have a solution?? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[wickman6]

Is your beer line actually beverage line? Regular vinyl hose will foam up quite a bit.

 

[Bobby_M]

How did you carbonate the kegs originally? Plastic cheap faucets or mounted?

 

[zachattack]

If it pours fine at a lower PSI, I think the only possibility is that your system is just unbalanced. Try longer (10 feet) of beverage line.

 

[wickman6]

if it pours fine at a lower psi, i think the only possibility is that your system is just unbalanced. Try longer (10 feet) of beverage line.

+1

 

[Brewnoob1]

+1

+2

Longer lines will help solve your problem. 10' works flawlessly for me and many others. Slower pours but foam free.

 

[centropy]

Is your beer line actually beverage line? Regular vinyl hose will foam up quite a bit.

I got it from the beverage factory conversion kit, so I'm assuming... yes?

Alright, I'll try setting it up with 10 ft lines, It's going to become a real tight fit in my 4.6 cubic feet kegerator with two cornys and 5lb co2, but whatever it takes to get a decent pour. Will update this weekend when I convert it.

 

[centropy]

How did you carbonate the kegs originally? Plastic cheap faucets or mounted?

I forced carbed the keg and its a mounted stainless steel faucet.

 

[Bobby_M]

"forced carbed" means so many things to different people, please elaborate. What pressure, what temp was the beer, did you shake it, how long was the gas on?

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

At 8psi, your beer will not be or go "flat." I keep my kegerator at 38 degrees and run a constant 5psi with 5ft lines.

 

[AnOldUR]

I keep my kegerator at 38 degrees and run a constant 5psi with 5ft lines.

At 1.9 volumes, that's a bit low for most ales.



edit:
Like the others have said. Set your pressure to get the correct volumes for your stlye and temperature. Then balance the system by adjusting your line length.

 

[Yooper]

At 8psi, your beer will not be or go "flat." I keep my kegerator at 38 degrees and run a constant 5psi with 5ft lines.

That would be very flat to me- I like most of my beers at 2.5 volumes of co2 (12 psi at 39 degrees). Some styles are good when not highly carbed, but I like most of the beer styles I make to be carbed up similar to bottled commercial beers.

 

[conneryis007]

"forced carbed" means so many things to different people, please elaborate. What pressure, what temp was the beer, did you shake it, how long was the gas on?

+1

This is the most important first step in figuring this problem out!!
Don't go buying different things before we nail down your basics!!

Did you do the set it and forget it method following the chart or did you blast the hell out of it?

 

[Iceman6409]

Call me stupid but what other tubing is there other than vinyl? I honestly don't know. I had pretty much the same problem. Mini keg with a pumpkin ale. Force carbed day one at 25PSI. Every day after that I applied 10PSI for a minute or two and then lightly shook. A week and a half later (today) I hooked up. I think it is 6 feet beer line. Air line is very short right now. But all came out all foam. I tried lowering the PSI down to as low as I could turn it without shutting it off and still all foam. Do I need to de-presurize the keg before opening the tap or something?

 

[squeekybobo]

Perhaps the beer is over carbonated?

If so, the fix is easy.
1. Unhook your bev and gas lines
2. Pull the release valve and let the air out
3. Set your psi to about 12psi on the regulator
4. Hook the gas line in to the beverage out post and fill it up with co2.
You'll hear it bubbling. When the bubbling stops, disconnect the gas and pull the release valve to let the pressure out again.

Do this 3 times in a row, then hook it all up again the right way. I had a beer over carbed and did this, and it almost instantly fixed my issue. This was after I tried going to 10' lines and still had excessive foam.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

At 1.9 volumes, that's a bit low for most ales.



edit:
Like the others have said. Set your pressure to get the correct volumes for your stlye and temperature. Then balance the system by adjusting your line length.

Took a look at it again, apparently I am running 8psi (2.2 volumes), so at 38 degrees that is my happy medium for porter/stouts and most ales.

 

[zachattack]

Call me stupid but what other tubing is there other than vinyl? I honestly don't know.

You can get polyethylene tubing, I think that's pretty common for bars/restaurants in 1/4" ID (it comes in trunk lines) but you don't see a lot of it for homebrew use.

The other major type of tubing is barrier tubing like Accuflex Bev Seal, which I think (I'm not positive) is rigid polyethylene tubing with a smooth PET "glass" lining. The big advantage there is that it's pretty much impossible to leach plasticky off flavors into your beer. A minor disadvantage is the tubing shows much lower resistance per foot since the liner is so smooth, so you need a lot of it. I use the Bev Seal with 20 feet per tap, I love it.

 

[centropy]

Sorry for the delay of responding. I didn't get around to buying/trying out a 10' line.

To answer the questions about force carbing, I put it at 30psi for about 6 hours, then 12 psi for 3 weeks without any shaking of the keg at any point.

However, its unlikely the force carb is the source of the issue as the second corny is filled with fat tire (transferred from a sankey).

So knowing that its unlikely being overcarbed and my line is actually vinyl, is there any other possible cause or should i definitely switch to 10 foot lines?

 

[squeekybobo]

Sorry for the delay of responding. I didn't get around to buying/trying out a 10' line.

To answer the questions about force carbing, I put it at 30psi for about 6 hours, then 12 psi for 3 weeks without any shaking of the keg at any point.

However, its unlikely the force carb is the source of the issue as the second corny is filled with fat tire (transferred from a sankey).

So knowing that its unlikely being overcarbed and my line is actually vinyl, is there any other possible cause or should i definitely switch to 10 foot lines?

Try what I posted first... Before buying longer lines. It takes about 10 minutes or so.

 

[Yooper]

Sorry for the delay of responding. I didn't get around to buying/trying out a 10' line.

To answer the questions about force carbing, I put it at 30psi for about 6 hours, then 12 psi for 3 weeks without any shaking of the keg at any point.

However, its unlikely the force carb is the source of the issue as the second corny is filled with fat tire (transferred from a sankey).

So knowing that its unlikely being overcarbed and my line is actually vinyl, is there any other possible cause or should i definitely switch to 10 foot lines?

At 12 psi, it's not overcarbed. So, no, you probably just have an unbalanced system and need longer lines.

 

[TheBreweryUnderground]

I just started having similar issues, but even when I drop the PSI very low it still produces too much foam. I've only had trouble with my last beer (pils) and not with any others, which doesn't make sense since there are no different variables (besides beer style) and I've cleaned my beer lines. I'm using 5' lines because that came with my kit, I was super annoyed cause I knew I would want an extra foot or two to avoid problems like this.

 

[zachattack]

I just started having similar issues, but even when I drop the PSI very low it still produces too much foam. I've only had trouble with my last beer (pils) and not with any others, which doesn't make sense since there are no different variables (besides beer style) and I've cleaned my beer lines. I'm using 5' lines because that came with my kit, I was super annoyed cause I knew I would want an extra foot or two to avoid problems like this.

Anything stuck in the "out" poppet? How's the "out" dip tube o-ring look? Any chance some crap got lodged in your faucet? Does the faucet seem to be "spitting" or is it smoothly pouring foam?

 

[TheBreweryUnderground]

It starts pouring foam the first half of the glass before it becomes a solid stream of beer, but no spitting. I don't think there were any problems with out side of things, but the gas in needs a new o-ring probably as it was being pretty testy.

 

[squeekybobo]

It starts pouring foam the first half of the glass before it becomes a solid stream of beer, but no spitting. I don't think there were any problems with out side of things, but the gas in needs a new o-ring probably as it was being pretty testy.

Damnit man, try the degassing thing I posted already! You'd be done by now!

 

[TheBreweryUnderground]

Yup I've degassed several times already. The pumpkin I have on tap pours fine, I'm just having issues with the pils. I'm heading out of town for a while so I'll probably just have to deal with it when I get back and also find a freakin' wrench that fits on my kegs so I can switch out o-rings since all of my kegs are probably due for some.

 

[centropy]

Try what I posted first... Before buying longer lines. It takes about 10 minutes or so.

If my second beer (fat tire) wasn't forced carbed and I still have the same issue, why would this be a possible solution?

 

[squeekybobo]

If my second beer (fat tire) wasn't forced carbed and I still have the same issue, why would this be a possible solution?

It probably wouldn't, but if its in a keg, it really only takes a few minutes to do. You have nothing to lose...

 

[odie]

Is your beer line actually beverage line? Regular vinyl hose will foam up quite a bit.

How do you know the difference? I bought what was advertised as 3/16 beer line. But who really knows what you’re getting?

 

[day_trippr]

Hint: if you bought it at a hardware store, it's highly unlikely to be actual beer line. Might not even be safe in the face of acidic beer, either, but that's a whole 'nuther thing

fwiw, the defacto standard solid PVC beer line (Bevlex 200) prints the brand and type right on the line...

Cheers!

 

[odie]

Bought it online. Was advertised as beer line but who knows. Probably just cheap vinyl

 

[odie]

Finally looked at my lines...Bevlex 200

Not bad for eBay bargains