Another foaming issue

[Velnerj]

Hello HBT!

I need your help to problem solve my foaming issue with my kegerator.

This is after using my kegerator for about 2 years and it is the first time that is happened to me. When I pour the beer nothing but foam comes out and when the foam settles into beer the beer is mostly flat but tastes normal (not sour of any off flavors). Here is what I did that lead up the issue:

My normal packaging and conditioning process is as follows:

1. I use my kegerator as as a fermentation chamber. This means that every batch I have to take apart my kegerator. But this forces me to clean the lines after every batch. I I have clean beer lines.
2. Typically I ferment for 2 weeks but because I was on vacation this beer went for 3 weeks. With my RAPT Pill I can confirm fermentation was complete at 1.008 FG (double checked with hydrometer during packaging)
3. Cold crash fermenter for at least 24 hours at 3C
4. Transfer to keg and add gelatin finings
5. Force carb at 30PSI for 48 hrs
6. reduce to 12 psi and try a pint each day until it's fully carbonated
7. Share with others and enjoy
8. BTW my beer lines are about 7' long and I have never had an issue with them and believe they are clean (see point 1 above)

Each time I have done this I have had good results whether it is an imperial stout, rye IPA or a hefeweizen and everything in between. I typically have drinkable beer in about 3 days, but after a week it is usually fully carbonated. The beer in question is a simple cream ale and I packaged on Saturday night. On Monday evening it was all foam.

Here are the steps I have taken to troubleshoot.
1. I first thought over carbonation - I pulled it off gas and burped several times over the course of the day. By the end of the day it was the same result (perhaps not enough?) It had only been 2 days on gas....
2. O-ring issue? I checked the o-ring on my Cornelius Keg outpost and it did seem a bit rough around the edges, so I replaced it and added keg lube. I also checked the o ring that is on the end of the dip tube, looked good as new...BUT...Still all foam....
3. After I burped the keg (this was Tuesday) I put it back on gas (maybe it is under carbonated?) and waited until Thursday still all foam.

Beer lines are clear, no foam in the lines but all foam as it comes out of the tap in into the glass.

What do you reckon?

 

[day_trippr]

Beer lines are clear, no foam in the lines but all foam as it comes out of the tap in into the glass.

Have you removed the faucet and given it a thorough inspection and cleaning yet?

Cheers!

 

[Velnerj]

Its a cobra tap so it's a little hard to get in there, but I when I clean the lines I run it through the taps so I gotta believe they are clean too.

 

[rawlus]

in my experience foaming is typically caused by any combination of a few problematic issues, temperature differential between beer and lines/tap. resistance in the serving line too low for the carb level in the beer. physical barriers or restrictions in the serving line thst can cause turbulence and knock co2 out of suspension (lime a restrict or plate in a stout faucet for example)

if you are co fident about the temperature and carbonation level in the keg, and the length of serving line has previously proven adequate then my suspect would be the cobra tap introducing some turbulence or malfunction or broken or some partial blockage that is exploding the co2 out of the beer at the end of the serving line.

my approach would be to try a different tap or line to see if the problem resolves or not.

i don’t personally have a lot of experience with plastic picnic taps…

there’s definitely some
even of risk to the higher pressure force carb step you introduce, risk of overcarbonation as compared to performing the full force carb procedure over a longer time at the serving pressure only.

i also don’t personally “quick carb” for 24-48 hours and then dial pressure down because i want to mitigate those potential issues …. might you have forgotten to bleed down the 30psi from the keg before you reset to serving pressure and thus may have overcarbed the beer?

maybe steps to validate would be confirm/validate beer in keg is at the correct pressure…. bleed several times over a few days to be sure.

ensure ambient temps or temp differential between keg and line is not too significant.

validate beer line and tap is not an issue by swapping same for same.

i can’t really think of another reason why one beer of many would produce such different outcomes if temp, pressure and line are unchanged.

 

[day_trippr]

If not for the OP's statement I quoted earlier I would have said the combination of low FG beer on CO2 for 48 hours at 30 psi is a recipe for over-carbonation...

Cheers!

 

[Velnerj]

If not for the OP's statement I quoted earlier I would have said the combination of low FG beer on CO2 for 48 hours at 30 psi is a recipe for over-carbonation...

Cheers!

Exactly this. Thanks guys!

So my cobra tap is a double tap head. I hooked the beer up to the other faucet (which is a dedicated soda water faucet) and the sane thing happened. I then further opened the keg dipped my sanitized autisiphon in there to pull out some beer and instant foam as well...

I think this is the first time I've had a beer finish this low in FG and perhaps that's why my normal procedure created over carbonation.

I'm going to let the keg bleed out and work it's way back to a serving level of carbonation.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[day_trippr]

I used this procedure once and it worked well...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/overcarbed-keg-heres-an-instant-solution.127655/
Cheers!

 

[rawlus]

If not for the OP's statement I quoted earlier I would have said the combination of low FG beer on CO2 for 48 hours at 30 psi is a recipe for over-carbonation...

Cheers!

agreed. the force carb at high pressure approach can be unscientific and produce unpredictable results, whereas carbing over time at serving pressure is pretty foolproof. glad OP got it sorted tho,

 

[Velnerj]

Hey just to come back to this. I burped my keg over the course of the last two days. Rehooked up to gas and poured my first clear pint from the tap this evening.

It's still quite bubbly so it was definitely over carbed.

Thanks again everyone for the input!

 

[Bobby_M]

One way to see if you've overcarbed is to attach a pressure gauge directly to a grey gas QD and pop it on there. Vent the headspace about 5 psi lower than it currently reads. Leave it alone for an hour and go back and read the gauge. Where it lands is close to the actual carbonation level (per the chart).

 

[day_trippr]

For the record, there is definitely a relationship between FG and "Time to carbonate", which back when I carbonated my imperial stouts using the same "set and forget" chart pressure technique as my other brews, noticed it took almost twice as long as the ~2.5 weeks that my pales and IPAs needed to reach equilibrium....

Cheers!