5 inches of head. 2 inches of Beer.

[Mrakis]

So I have been force carbing my kegs, setting them at about 12 – 13 psi. The IPA I currently have tapped has been kegged for 3+ weeks. Tastes great and is fully carbed. My problem is that my first pour always produces about 4 – 5 inches of head. What is causing this? I thought 12 psi is about right for this style of beer. Other than fighting the head, everything else is fine. So if I am pouring two pints. The first glass is basically all head. The second is perfect. What is causing this build up?

Please help.

 

[FastAndy]

How long are your tap lines? Are you sure your regulator is accurate?

 

[onthekeg]

What size line and length are you running? I use 3/16 and have about 15ft.
I have also had this situation if there were some hop fragments in the poppet that create nucleation points as it goes through.

 

[greenbirds]

Lots of factors at play here. One major consideration is your faucets, which are warm for the first pour. As the beer travels through them and absorbs their heat, CO2 rushes out of solution, foaming up your glass. This can happen to varying degrees based on your setup.

If you have the shank/faucet coming thru a fridge or keezer collar, the whole unit will be fairly cool already and not heat up the beer much at all as it passes through. All I do is burp the tap a bit, about a half oz of beer, to clear out the beer sitting in those vinyl lines (and to clear out any small gas bubbles that have popped out of solution in the shank/faucet area, which I imagine cause turbulence immediately after opening the tap)

I used to have a tower rising from a Sanyo mini-fridge. In this case the shanks and faucets were much warmer than the rest of the fridge. Also, the beer lines up in that tower (though air-cooled) were still warmer than the ones in my keezer, so it foamed a good bit more.

 

[badbrew]

I'm guessing the beer lines are running outside the kegerator? Like in a tower or something?

 

[Mrakis]

both the beer & gas lines are 5 ft long and i want to say the beer line is 3/16. Yes, running outside in the tower. I have a standard beer meister that i converted from commercial to corny kegs. Not sure if my regulator is accurate. How would i be able to tell?

 

[brewingmeister]

Put longer liquid lines on or start pouring pitchers.

 

[FastAndy]

I use 3/16 10' line on my setup and really helped reduce the foam. I just have them zip tied in a coil that sits on top of each keg. I would give that a try and hopefully it will help.

 

[Mrakis]

Damn home brew guy recommended the 5 ft. Why i ought ta!?!?!?!? (shaking my hand in the air)

Ok, i will give that a try. Thanks for the recommendation. Follow up question. Why would longer beer lines have an effect on the foaming of the beer?

 

[rhamilton]

If it's only the first pour, I can bet you it's not the line -- it's the beer; it's overcarbed.

Basically you are setting PSI @ 12, but the keg is overcarbed and is off-gassing, increasing the PSI in the head space over 12 PSI and foaming the first pour. Before pulling your first pint of the night, pull the relief valve and empty the keg of pressure -- your first pour should come out fine. Do this every night until your first pour without using the relief valve is what you want. You should notice the sound difference out of the relief valve as your keg returns to the proper pressure.

 

[Conan]

Same problem on my father in law's setup until I switched it out for 10' of I think .25" line. Problem solved. Good luck! Kyle

 

[brewingmeister]

The need to balance co2, line length and temp all play together. Bobbym outlines it many times on many threads. Long story short...there needs to be a certain amount of resistance from the lines to keep the co2 in suspension.

The first couple ounces cold brew hitting the warm faucet also helps knock the co2 out of suspension.

 

[JuanMoore]

Damn home brew guy recommended the 5 ft. Why i ought ta!?!?!?!? (shaking my hand in the air)

Ok, i will give that a try. Thanks for the recommendation. Follow up question. Why would longer beer lines have an effect on the foaming of the beer?

If it's only the first pour of the day that's foamy and later pours are fine, then you have a well balanced system and don't need to worry about changing line length. I'm all for longer lines, and usually suggest 10' lines to people, but in your case it doesn't sound like it's necessary. There are only two causes for the issue as you describe it, slightly overcarbed beer, and temperature stratification. Since you're using a tower, I'm going to guess it's a temperature issue. The beer inside the lines in the tower, as well as the shank and faucet, are all much warmer than the beer in the keg. This causes the CO2 to come out of solution, which creates foam. I'd bet if you look inside the tower before making the first pour of the day, you'll see pockets of gas in the lines at the very top where the warmer temps have caused it to come out of solution. To fix it you need to find a way to keep the tower, shank, and lines inside the tower cold. Some people use a small computer fan, others have had luck with a passive system using copper pipes.

As for why longer lines effect foaming, it's due to the increased resistance. With little to no resistance the beer flows very quickly, and the sudden change in speed when the faucet opens creates a pressure drop, which in turn causes the CO2 to come out of solution, creating foam. By using longer (or smaller diameter) lines, the resistance is increased, the pour speed is normal, and the CO2 stays in solution better. As I said though, if it were a line balancing/resistance issue, all of your pours would be foamy, not just the first one of the day.

Same problem on my father in law's setup until I switched it out for 10' of I think .25" line. Problem solved. Good luck! Kyle

I'd bet it was 3/16" ID line. Ten feet of 0.25" ID line has way less resistance than 5' of 3/16" line.

 

[Mrakis]

It's not just the first one of the day. It's just the first one of each pouring session, if that makes sense. Say i pour 2 or 3 pints. The first one is basically all head. The next two are perfectly fine. I guess i misunderstood when previously describing this.

I tried the suggestion of purging before pouring my pint, but that didn't work.

 

[malkore]

Check for a sticky poppet? Gunk in the poppet?

 

[JuanMoore]

It's not just the first one of the day. It's just the first one of each pouring session, if that makes sense. Say i pour 2 or 3 pints. The first one is basically all head. The next two are perfectly fine. I guess i misunderstood when previously describing this.

That's what I meant. It's a temperature issue. Once the shank and lines in the tower are cooled from the cold beer running though them it will pour fine, but as soon as they have a chance to warm back up you'll get foam again. This will keep happening until you find a way to keep the tower cool.

Check for a sticky poppet? Gunk in the poppet?

An issue with the poppet wouldn't cause a problem with only the first pour of each session.

 

[Mrakis]

Yeah. Plus it is a dual draft tower and both drafts are doing it. I clean and disassemble the kegs before every batch. I also take apart and clean the faucets, etc...

Man, i'm not very handy. Are there threads on here that explain how other people have dealt with this issue? I imagine there have to be quite a few people with draft towers