Ive been having nothing but trouble pouring beers from the tap. I recently built my kegerator that contains my co2 tank, kegs and lines. The taps run through the door, and everything is at 41 F inside. I have 10ft plastic lines, the typical ones u get from brew and grow, and no matter what I do, half or more of my glass is foam. I've tried serving at 8, 9, 10, all the way through 15 psi, and always get foam. It seems like I have lots of gaps in my line without beer, any easy way to remedy this? Sry for having one long paragraph, I'm posting this from my phone.
Soap-like bubbly foam from tap
- Thread starter ZeeSniper
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chemman14
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With 10 foot lines I would guess that your kegs are over carbonated. What method did you use to carbonate them?
Is it really overcarbonation? I've read from other people who just keep it at 12 psi with 10 ft lines and they have normal pours. When my current one pours, it's not even heavy foam, its like the foam is barely getting through and i get these big bubbles, half of which dissipate and I get some beer, but never more than half a glass.
LakesideBrewing
Well-Known Member
It might be a loose connection somewhere. Could be that some air is getting into your lines.
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
Are you sure the liquid out QD is connected to the liquid out post, and are you sure the liquid diptube is under the liquid out post? If all of that is correct, I'd take a close look at the liquid out diptube o-ring. If it's deformed, cracked, etc, it could be letting gas get into the beer line.
^ What he said: it's the Out dip tube O-ring...
Cheers!
Cheers!
Brulosopher
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I agree that it's likely a bum out-diptube o-ring. But... 10 feet is pretty damn long! For most kegerators and keezers, 5 to 6 feet is ideal. Arguments welcome 
First pour example
First pour example
I agree that it's likely a bum out-diptube o-ring. But... 10 feet is pretty damn long! For most kegerators and keezers, 5 to 6 feet is ideal. Arguments welcome
Would you accept a simple "You're wrong"?
Cheers!
ps: nice pic
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
I agree that it's likely a bum out-diptube o-ring. But... 10 feet is pretty damn long! For most kegerators and keezers, 5 to 6 feet is ideal. Arguments welcome
It's fine for a lot of systems, but it's also too short for a lot of others. There's no negative side effects to having a line that's a little too long, but a line that's a little too short can cause all sorts of issues. What happens when you decide you want to carb and serve a beer at 3.5+ vol? Or what if you decide to serve a stout at 45-50°? The longer lines work better for a large range of situations, which IMO is much closer to "ideal" than lines that only work in some systems for a narrow range of temp and carb level combinations. As always, YMMV.
Brulosopher
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JuanMoore said:It's fine for a lot of systems, but it's also too short for a lot of others. There's no negative side effects to having a line that's a little too long, but a line that's a little too short can cause all sorts of issues. What happens when you decide you want to carb and serve a beer at 3.5+ vol? Or what if you decide to serve a stout at 45-50°? The longer lines work better for a large range of situations, which IMO is much closer to "ideal" than lines that only work in some systems for a narrow range of temp and carb level combinations. As always, YMMV.
Word. I guess I'm just not a fan of taking 20 minutes to pour a pint with psi set at 12 and 10 ft lines
To each their own, eh?
Brulosopher
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day_trippr said:Would you accept a simple "You're wrong"?
Cheers!
ps: nice pic
Indeed! Cheers, pal.
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
Brulosopher said:Word. I guess I'm just not a fan of taking 20 minutes to pour a pint with psi set at 12 and 10 ft lines
To each their own, eh?
Since line resistance decreases as flow decreases, it only takes a couple seconds longer to fill a pint with 10' lines than it does with 5' lines. Waiting an extra 2 seconds for a pint to pour is well worth being able to serve at all sorts of carb levels and temps for me. It's also worth having a cure for their previous foaming issues for many other people, but as you said, to each their own.
So I took apart the post assembly to get a look at the dip tube O-ring as some of you have suggested. The O-Ring looks completely fine. In all honestly it looks as if it's completely new. Any other ideas on what the problem might be?
There are three ways for CO2 to take a short cut from the head space into the Out line, causing "spitting foam": bad Out dip tube O-ring, cracked/bent Out dip tube flange, or a breach in the Out dip tube somewhere above the beer level in the keg.
Pull the Out dip tube and give the flange a good look for any cracks. Then examine the length for any pin holes or splits. If you don't find anything, I'd at least swap the O-ring - with the In dip tube if nothing else...
Cheers!
ps: btw, are you certain you have the black beer quick disconnect on the post with the long dip tube? Just this week someone had somehow ended up with beer line hooked to the short dip tube, with similar totally-foam pours...
I'm certain the black QD is hooked up to the long dip tube.
I will check out the entire dip tube tomorrow perhaps and see if anything is up.
Not sure if this changes anything, but one thing I tried was purging all my CO2, and then leaving the gas on at 5 psi. The pour is EXTREMELY slow, but I actually see beer coming through and out of the line rather than foam.
I'd much rather be able to leave it at ~10 psi since thats what my beer is carbed at, rather than have to turn it down and purge every time i want to serve. It also confuses me that this was the only way I can get a good pour with a 10ft line at 41 degrees F.
isurf
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One time my keg got to cold and the brew got a little slushy. The result was bubbly foam beer and co2.
Really? How cold was too cold?
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
ZeeSniper said:
Inspecting the diptube carefully is a great idea. It's pretty uncommon, but a small crack or pinhole above the beer level can create a lot of foam. If there are nicks or deformities in the top it can prevent the o-ring from sealing properly.
What's the ID of your beer line? If it's 1/4" that could be the problem. To get the same resistance as 3/16" line you'd need much much longer lines.
Obstructions or clogs in the line can also cause foaming. This can be hop particles getting stuck in the poppet, or the diptube being wedged against the bottom of the keg, or ice crystals between the bottom of the keg and the diptube if you let it get below freezing. Any kinks in the line can have the same effect. If there's no fan moving air, the bottom of a keezer or kegerator can get below freezing even though the temp at the center or top might be much warmer.
Brulosopher
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JuanMoore said:
All of these points are very good.
isurf
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I had a thermometer hanging from top inside my Sanyo kegerator it was showing about 38-40 f. While trouble shooting my bubbly foam co2 problem I eventually removed the lid from my keg to find frozen slushy beer. I turned the thermostat up a notch and placed the thermometer on the bottom of the fridge as cold air sinks. Next day I read the temp and it was 36-38 after I had turned the thermostat up. Temp at the bottom was way colder than at the top, duh.
BrewLou
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bumping because I am having a very similar issue. I am 99% sure mine is due to slushy beer. Did all of my line calculations, did 30psi in the keg for 24hrs, dialed both down to 12psi, and kept it there for 3 days. Put my kegs in the keezer after I dialed psi down to 12. Bought freezer off craigslist so i didnt have a manual or anything to base what degree the 6 settings produce. Set it around 3 on the dial and the thermometer was reading right at 40 degrees about mid freezer. Did my 1st pour last night and it was SLOW!!!! very similar to what was described in the it was mostly a slow foam that came out and dissipated into beer. Took me around 4 minutes to get a full pint lol. Head stayed very steady and beer tasted like 80% alcohol. nicely carbed... just tasted like rubbing alcohol.
I thought crap I didnt clean everything right, but opened up the keezer lid to check the lines and you could barely see any movement in the beer in the lines and they were frozen in place. /facepalm! Disconnected the kegs, and yeah definitely frozen. My 1st pour was probably all the alcohol in the keg lmao, and yes I did drink it!
Dialed thermostat down to 1 and overnight the lines thawed. Somewhat of a quicker pour but still a lot of foam. Ran out of time before I had to go to work but my plan is once I get home to disconnect everything, take out the kegs, and roll them on the floor a bit "mix" everything back up.
I am hoping once everything is fully thawed I will be good to go!
I thought crap I didnt clean everything right, but opened up the keezer lid to check the lines and you could barely see any movement in the beer in the lines and they were frozen in place. /facepalm! Disconnected the kegs, and yeah definitely frozen. My 1st pour was probably all the alcohol in the keg lmao, and yes I did drink it!
Dialed thermostat down to 1 and overnight the lines thawed. Somewhat of a quicker pour but still a lot of foam. Ran out of time before I had to go to work but my plan is once I get home to disconnect everything, take out the kegs, and roll them on the floor a bit "mix" everything back up.
I am hoping once everything is fully thawed I will be good to go!
FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
How are you guys measuring temps with your temp controllers if your getting freezing?
Im guessing you arent putting the probes in water? You really should lol...your freezer shouldnt be 10-12 degree's colder at the bottom than the top...if it is you should install fans asap.
Im guessing you arent putting the probes in water? You really should lol...your freezer shouldnt be 10-12 degree's colder at the bottom than the top...if it is you should install fans asap.
isurf
Well-Known Member
I have the Sanyo 4912 fridge. Even though it's a fridge it will reach freezing temps. No external temp controller needed for the fridge. I have a thermometer guage in there to monitor the thermostat settings. Now I keep the guage at the bottom. The temp difference from top to bottom is only about 4-5 degrees, difference in freezing and not is 1 degree.
BrewLou
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Temp is fairly constant from top to bottom in mine regardless where I put the thermometer. Maybe a 3-4 degree difference from the very top to the very bottom. Even at my lowest setting I am getting freezing at the bottom of the keg even though it is only cooling the air to about 42 degrees. One thing I will be doing for mine is placing some wood blocks underneath the kegs simply to raise them off the actual freezer surface. As long as air can circulate underneath it, that should nip my freezing issue in the bud. My guess on this is that the keg sitting directly on the freezing surface is causing my issue.
GET A FAN! Very few chest freezers have coils in the bottom your problem is circulation.
