Kegging, temperature, and psi

[Jakkob]

Hey all,

I have been having some problems properly dispensing my beer. I decided to raise my keezer temp to 50.F, which is the right serving temp for the style of ale I am serving.
According to the beer carbonation table, I decided 20 psi would be the correct pressure to accommodate the higher temp.

I then did the calculations and decided to get 9.5 feet of 3/15 inch tubing to dispense the beer in a balanced manner.

Every beer comes out super foamy, and all the co2 is agitated out of solution, making the beer flat.

Is is just not possible to keg beer this warm? Has anyone successfully done so?

 

[jro238]

I am personally a fan of keeping my keezer about 10 deg. colder than serving temp. I use less CO2, have less foam, and the beer warms to drinking temperature pretty quickly (just my opinion though).

A few things to check:
How is the flow rate? Is it slow enough? (good indicator if perhaps a calculation was off in line length)
Are your beer lines all cold, or do they warm up near the taps?
Are there any areas of the lines that collect bubbles or have sharp bends? These can cause gas to come out of solution.
Are you only opening your taps partially? This increases foaming.

 

[B2Barleywine]

Many find that the beer-length line calculators vastly underestimate line length. I struggled with this for awhile and finally got some 10ft and 15ft 3/16" lines. They work great for me serving at 12psi and 40f. 20psi is a lot of pressure... you may wanna go really long and cut it down til it works

 

[day_trippr]

The only beer line length calculator I trust says the beer line is at least 6 feet too short for that dispensing pressure...

Cheers!

 

[DrunkleJon]

Most on here find that 10-12 feet is good for the approx 12psi @40, and the soda makers seem to use upwards to 25-30 foot lines for their carb levels. If you are that warm you probably want to be somewhere in the middle. at 50 degrees I would probably shoot for 15-18 foot minimum and disregard the line length calculators. Line is relatively cheap and you can always chop off a foot or two where it is more difficult to add length.

 

[RoadKing]

According to the beer carbonation table, I decided 20 psi would be the correct pressure to accommodate the higher temp.

Are you trying to serve at 20 LBS?
20 LBS. Is the pressure for carbing at 50 degrees, not serving.
I keep serving pressure around 8 lbs.

 

[JustLooking]

In a balanced system, serving pressure and carbing pressure are the always the same. Dropping pressure to serve will result in under carbed beer.

 

[DrunkleJon]

In a balanced system, serving pressure and carbing pressure are the always the same. Dropping pressure to serve will result in under carbed beer.

Not to mention foaming on first pours.

 

[zachattack]

Try 20 feet of tubing. And I agree that keeping it colder is the easier solution.

 

[BigFloyd]

Wait, you're trying to serve 50*F beer at 20 psi with 9.5ft lines, right? That's going to produce gobs of foam for sure every time.

1) Drop the temp to 38*F (you can let the ale warm a bit after the pour, I do.)

2) Drop the pressure to 10-11psi

3) Wait a full week and please let us know what you think.

I run 3 faucets (right now 2 ales and one lager) at 11-12psi, 38*F using 12ft lines and get wonderfully balanced pours of nicely carbed (around 2.4 volumes) brew.

 

[Jakkob]

The only beer line length calculator I trust says the beer line is at least 6 feet too short for that dispensing pressure...

Cheers!

I like this calculator a lot, thank you sir for the share!

Thanks all for your help! I decided to lower my temp and next beer I serve use the suggestions given here to get a proper balanced system. I am super excited to serve a perfectly carbed beer for (likely) the first time in my hobby