Problems with my first kegging venture!

[jhlfrty]

6 days ago I attempted to keg for the first time. Recently bought a second-hand kegerator setup with 2 corny kegs. Double checked all of the parts, cleaned, sanitized, leak tested, everything is great.

Unfortunately 6 days later, I still haven't had a glass of anything but foam! My steps are below. Any comments, concerns, criticisms are welcome!

Day 1) Kegged room temperature beer. Hooked up to CO2 @30psi, rolled it around for 15 minutes or so and set it in the fridge. Left it on 30psi for the night

Day 2) about 24 hours later I vented the keg and set to serving pressure. Nothing but foam and flat beer serving at about 40 degrees F. Placed back to 30psi and left another 24 hours

Day 3) As per internet recommendations, I replaced the lines to a length of about 6 feet (previous setup was only about 3). Placed a glass of water with thermometer and got a reading of 38 F. Lowered the temp a bit and set to a slightly lower 20psi.

Day 4) Nothing but foam and some flat beer at the bottom of the glass. I attempted the "hook the co2 up to the beer line method", it resulted in a huge mess and near destruction of my regulator. After the clean up, I lowered my temp again, vented the keg entirely, reset to 30psi, rolled it around a bit, and placed back in the fridge.

Day 5) I didn't touch the damned thing.

Day 6) The keg appears to have frozen a bit, but there was definitely still liquid rolling around in there. I vented the keg, set to serving @ 10psi, nothing but foam.

I know that I should have just been more impatient in the beginning, I was simply too excited to have draft beer in my home! Now i am frantically trying to correct this.

Not too upset about the loss of beer (didn't particularly like the outcome of the Pale Ale that is in there), but I have a double IPA that I was hoping to keg in the next 2-3 weeks.

Thoughts?

 

[TheMadKing]

What is the interior diameter of your beer line?

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Thoughts?

"Most Over-carbonated Keg Ever!" comes to mind.

I can't imagine where one would get the guidance that caused such an epic train-wreck as this one...

 

[jhlfrty]

1/4" ID 1/2" OD

I had to buy new lines, so I just bought the same as what was already on there. I sure hope its okay, otherwise I have 88' of useless beverage tubing!

 

[woo_pig]

I have about 10 feet of line between keg and tap. I had 6 feet that was on my party tap .I was told I needed more. It seems to work fine. I had the same problem as you when I first started kegging.

 

[jhlfrty]

"Most Over-carbonated Keg Ever!" comes to mind.

I can't imagine where one would get the guidance that caused such an epic train-wreck as this one...

I admit, I definitely didn't do my due diligence on this one ....

First I started by looking at Force Carbing techniques, then I clearly misdiagnosed the problem, then I tried to fix the wrong problems.

I figured that over-carbed beer would come out carbonated + a lot of foam... Not totally flat with a lot of foam.

Any advice on how to salvage it?

 

[TheHopfather]

Yikes! Sounds like a seriously over carb'd beer you've got there.

First off, stop with the rolling/shaking the keg nonsense. You see threads like this one pop up from time to time and it seems the keg was always rolled/shaken. If you're in a hurry do the following; keg the beer, purge the keg with CO2, set your regulator to 30 psi and leave it for 24 hours, vent the keg, set pressure to serving (10 psi or whatever you're going for), wait another 24 hours, drink your nicely carbonated beer.

From what I can gather you were at 30 psi for 36 hours or so and then 20 psi for an unknown amount of time after that, in addition to shaking the keg at 30 psi. You are VERY over carbonated, all you are going to get is foam. To fix it you'll have to unhook the gas and vent the keg whenever you think about it over the next few days.

 

[TheMadKing]

1/4" ID 1/2" OD

I had to buy new lines, so I just bought the same as what was already on there. I sure hope its okay, otherwise I have 88' of useless beverage tubing!

at 1/4 inch lines you need at least 10' of line per keg. 3/16 line is more standard. There's nothing wrong with 1/4" line, it just takes more to get the job done.

a general rule of thumb is to have 1' of line for every PSI of serving pressure.

Your beer is also likely very overcarbonated, so here's how you fix that:

Disconnect the gas and completely vent the keg, pull the keg out of the kegerator and let it warm up over night and vent the excess CO2 every few hours. The next day, when it's warm and completely vented, put it back in your kegerator, set it to 10-12 PSI, wait for it to chill and test the carbonation. If its still pouring foam, repeat the venting until its good, if its undercarbed leave it alone for a few days.

 

[day_trippr]

1/4" ID 1/2" OD

I had to buy new lines, so I just bought the same as what was already on there. I sure hope its okay, otherwise I have 88' of useless beverage tubing!

If it's 1/4" ID and 88 feet long you either have (1) 88 feet of useless beverage tubing, or (2) JUST ENOUGH to run a pair of faucets at 12 psi.

http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

In any case, you're going to need to flatten that keg of beer down to something approaching a civilized level, plus replace your beer line with something reasonable (like 10-12 feet of 3/16" beer line)...

Cheers!

 

[TheMadKing]

If it's 1/4" ID and 88 feet long you either have (1) 88 feet of useless beverage tubing, or (2) JUST ENOUGH to run a pair of faucets at 12 psi.

http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

In any case, you're going to need to flatten that keg of beer down to something approaching a civilized level, plus replace your beer line with something reasonable (like 10-12 feet of 3/16" beer line)...

Cheers!

I run 1/4" lines on 2 of my party taps with 10' tubes at 12PSI with no issues. So it depends on if he is using faucets or party taps.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

You REALLY should have done some research first.Pretty much wrong in every way.
Your lines should be 3/16 ID
There to short
You overcarbed
Doesn't sound like you purged before shaking
Chalk this one up to being to anxious and not putting in the correct research.

 

[TheMadKing]

you really should have done some research first.pretty much wrong in every way.
Your lines should be 3/8 id
there to short
you overcarbed
doesn't sound like you purged before shaking
chalk this one up to being to anxious and not putting in the correct research.

noooooooooo

3/16, not 3/8

 

[doug293cz]

1/4" ID 1/2" OD

I had to buy new lines, so I just bought the same as what was already on there. I sure hope its okay, otherwise I have 88' of useless beverage tubing!

You have 88' of useless beverage tubing. According to this calculator (the only one that uses sound science) you need about 32 - 33 feet of 1/4" ID tubing at a 10 psi serving pressure to get a proper pour rate and control foaming. 1/4" ID tubing doesn't have enough flow resistance to control foaming with short runs. You need to switch to 3/16" ID beer line. You only need about 8.5 feet of that tubing.

You also need to switch to a sane carbonation process. Adding more CO2 to an already foaming keg (which you did), just over carbonates even more, and makes things worse. Stop doing any agitation of the keg. You can chill the beer and then apply 30 psi for no more than 36 hours, then drop to serving pressure. To avoid all possibility of over carbing, just chill and set at serving pressure and wait.

Brew on

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

noooooooooo

3/16, not 3/8

Whoo...Corrected,my bad

 

[jhlfrty]

Thanks everyone for the quick and informative feedback. So my last remaining question is: After I vent the keg and let it thaw and increase my line length (ill switch to 3/16 in the near future), what next?

Do i set to serving pressure and wait a few days, or do I set to a higher PSI and wait a few days?

 

[TheMadKing]

Thanks everyone for the quick and informative feedback. So my last remaining question is: After I vent the keg and let it thaw and increase my line length (ill switch to 3/16 in the near future), what next?

Do i set to serving pressure and wait a few days, or do I set to a higher PSI and wait a few days?

See Dougs reply above

2 options

Burst carb: set to 30 psi for 18-24 hours, vent the keg, then set to 12 psi for 3 days

Or the foolproof method: set to 12psi and don't touch it for 7 day or so

 

[doug293cz]

Thanks everyone for the quick and informative feedback. So my last remaining question is: After I vent the keg and let it thaw and increase my line length (ill switch to 3/16 in the near future), what next?

Do i set to serving pressure and wait a few days, or do I set to a higher PSI and wait a few days?

If you set it to a higher than serving pressure, it will just over carb again. You want the pressure and carb level to be in equilibrium at storage/serving temperature. That way once you are at equilibrium, no net CO2 will enter the beer or come out of the beer, and the carbonation level will stay constant. If the pressure is higher than the equilibrium pressure, more CO2 will dissolve in the beer, increasing the carbonation. If the pressure is lower than the equilibrium level, then CO2 will come out of the beer, reducing carbonation. The carbonation charts and calculators tell you what the equilibrium pressure is for different combinations of temperature and carb level.

Brew on

 

[oakbarn]

You could have "overcarbed" the beer or just have too short of lines for the serving PSI. There are calculators online on the lenght of lines vs serving PSI. In bars the the kegs are "balanced" to the serving pressure. Quick soultion, have about 2 psi when serving the beer. It will come out slow, but less foam. You can also put "foam" in a pichture and it will turn to beer after a few minutes. If you have the correct line lenght and truly over carbed, release pressure and leave, the do same thing next day until it is right. Best method is to put 30 psi for one day then put on correct PSI for several days.

 

[Yooper]

1/4" ID 1/2" OD

I had to buy new lines, so I just bought the same as what was already on there. I sure hope its okay, otherwise I have 88' of useless beverage tubing!

Yep, sorry to agree with the others.

Thanks everyone for the quick and informative feedback. So my last remaining question is: After I vent the keg and let it thaw and increase my line length (ill switch to 3/16 in the near future), what next?

Do i set to serving pressure and wait a few days, or do I set to a higher PSI and wait a few days?

Next time, don't shake. Ever, ever, ever. Don't rock/shake/mess with the keg.

If you're not in a huge hurry, put the keg in the kegerator at 12 psi and it should be ready in 10 days or so. If you're in a huge hurry, put it in the kegerator at 30 psi for no more than 36 hours, then purge and keep at 12 psi.

Don't turn the pressure up and down, other than that one time when you may start at 30 psi for 36 hours and turn it down to 12 psi.

As you've found, overcarbing causes foaming and all sorts of problems. If you would have just put it in the kegerator a week ago at 10 psi, it would still pour like a firehose due to the short 3/4" lines, but it would be at least drinkable.

Start with 12' of 3/16" ID beverage line. You could go longer, but 12' should be enough for most beers.

 

[jmcquesten]

You REALLY should have done some research first.Pretty much wrong in every way.
Your lines should be 3/16 ID
There to short
You overcarbed
Doesn't sound like you purged before shaking
Chalk this one up to being to anxious and not putting in the correct research.

What? No flow control faucet suggestions? Hahaha, joking...