"Spitting" tap

[Warthaug]

I just kegged for the first time (after 16-ish years of home brewing; what can I say, I'm slow to change my ways). Its a blue-moon-esque beer, carb'd to 2.5 CO2 volumes.

When I pour I get all head - sortof. At first I though this was due to the high carb rate (or over-carbing), but closer inspection has shown that the first half-second or so of beer coming out of the tap is a "burst" of seemingly over-pressured beer. This "burst" turns almost entirely to foam, filling the entire "neck" of a tulip glass with head. If I pour two glasses and don't turn off the tap between (i.e. spill a bit), the second glass pours perfectly.

Good news is this beer has one of the best heads I've ever brewed - rock solid and creamy. Bad news is, the first glass is always a half-glass.

What the heck am I doing wrong - and how do I fix it?

The kegs are in one of those costco/danby kegorators, with the sanky fixing replaced with a pin-lock, but otherwise unmodified.

Bryan

 

[zachattack]

If I pour two glasses and don't turn off the tap between (i.e. spill a bit), the second glass pours perfectly.

This is all you needed to say!

If only the first pour of the night is foamy it means the lines and tower are warmer than the rest of the fridge, this is a common problem. The beer that stays in the line warms up and loses CO2, causing foaming problems. The first pint will cool the line, faucet, etc. as colder beer flows through everything, then subsequent pours are fine.

This is pretty easy to fix, people on this forum have some pretty creative solutions. Adding a PC fan to force cold air up into the tower is one option, and just shoving a copper rod "heatsink" up in there is another one.

 

[Warthaug]

That was what I was thinking, but being new at this didn't want to go off half-cocked. Copper heatsink, here I come...and while I'm at it, second tap, here I come!

Bryan