large air gaps in beer lines

[RRL]

Hey guys,

So ive done some research tested a few things and nothing seems to work!


The beer on tap is a amber lager.

Usually the blond lager I get from the same brewery is perfect with a slight fast pour with a 5ft beer line at 12psi. temps at 37F

This amber lager ive gotten I cant dial in for the life of me.


When I 1st tapped the beer I had tried it at 12psi with the 5ft line, I noticed the beer was bubbling in the line increased to 14psi and it didnt seem to have any bubbles right away but I started getting air gaps that where about 1-2".


I then swapped to a 10ft beer line and increased the PSI to 16 and still get air gaps mainly right at the tap and 1-2 more spots through out the line.

ive swaped sanke's to see if that would make any difference and it hasnt.

ive changed beer lines and that didnt change anything either. (different seals on each beer line) so shouldnt be from a leaky seal.


There seems to be no air gap forming right above the couple.


Any help would be appreciated.... ive been drinking the beer as is as 16psi with a 10ft line the poor is still slow enough to only get a 1-2" of head on a good pour... but would love to dial this in as I do plan on getting this type of beer again.

 

[raouliii]

CO2 can be forced out of solution when there is not enough line friction. You may be chasing it by extending the line and also raising pressure. Try longer line and/or lower pressure. A general starting point is 1 foot of 3/16" ID beer line per 1psi for high 30s/low 40s temperature.

 

[RRL]

when I had lowered the pressure to 12psi with the 10ft line the air space was larger. when I had 12 psi with the 5ft line I had bubbles forming in the line.

you still think I should go lower (down to around 10PSI)?


These air gaps do not form right away, they take a couple hours to form..

 

[day_trippr]

If the beer is sitting there outgassing into the beer line it's because your combination of pressure and temperature is not keeping the CO2 dissolved. If you turn up the pressure and notice the gas pockets don't form as fast, that's a pretty solid clue that the volumes of CO2 in that beer is higher than your settings support.

btw, don't assume the keg wasn't overcarbed.
People screw up...

Cheers!

 

[RRL]

I dont doubt that it could be over carbonated, any easy way to "test" or diagnose that?


im guessing I could turn off my co2.. burp the beer for a couple days?


I havent tried anything above 16 psi... I had a cream ale from them and it dialed in at 16psi with the 10ft line....

 

[day_trippr]

If your CO2 doesn't have a check valve between it and the keg, you could shut off the cylinder valve, pop the regulator PRV, let the keg sit for awhile to reach equlibirum, and use the low pressure gauge to "read" the head space pressure of the keg. Using that with the temperature of the beer will tell you the current CO2 content, per our favorite carbonation table.

Eg, at your 37°F, if the low pressure gauge reads, say, 14 psi, the beer is sitting around 2.8 volumes. You could then either dispense at 14 psi, or you'll need to shut the gas off and "burp" the keg until you get the same reading down to 11 or 12 psi...

Cheers!

 

[RRL]

I got the tapwrite regulator which doesnt have a PRV

the only PRV I can think of is the one on the coupler itself.

 

[RRL]

curious... could I also just keep upping my PSI to see if the air gaps contiue to be reduced?

I know I can risk over carbonation if I leave it too long... but if I keep an eye on it every hour ect and do 2psi increments per say....

 

[day_trippr]

From the little I know about Taprite primaries, that scheme might not work, as they have an automagic pressure relief mechanism of some kind. Worth a try but if you hear gas escaping, that's probably why.

As for testing with incrementally higher pressure, I suppose it comes down to how long you wait before making your observation. If the current outgassing rate is high enough, it might not take more than a few minutes to observe equilibrium being reached...

Cheers!

 

[brewprint]

The only time that I ever had this issue was when my keg was over carbonated.

Once I had a bad dip tube o-ring on the liquid side that was sucking air but that wasn't something that occurred hours later.

 

[RRL]

yea... only thing I can personally think of is over carb as well at this point.

 

[RRL]

well to "speed up" the identifying process.. i cranked my psi by 1 so left it at 17psi... and I went from a 4" air gap at the faucet to 1/2" air space at the faucet with no other air gaps through out the line.


So I guess ill turn off the co2 and burp the beer for a day and a bit this weekend and see how it reacts to a lower psi...

Guess i should of spent just a little more time before making a thread lol