Anybody notice a lack of head on your beer from switching to Perlick Faucets?

[slayer021175666]

I got a couple of the 600 series Perlicks and switched out my old rear sealing faucets. I was building a new kegerator and throwing out the old one. Thought some forward sealing faucets would be a nice touch but now, I can't get any head to form when I pour. I even tried cranking the CO2 to 20lb! Fast as hell pour but once again, no head formation. I then, tried pouring it while holding the glass nearly a foor under the faucet. No head formation, again! Beer tastes fine and is carbed up good. Anybody had experience with this or an idea what is going on here? I mean, all I did was swap rear seal to forward seal faucets. Actually, i did have to make the CO2 lines about 5 feet longer. Could the balance be off because of that?
Suggestions please. Thanks.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I've been running a set of 525ss faucets since 2004. This is a prototypical pour.

Gas line length doesn't matter - even a ridiculously thin gas run will charge the keg head space enough to support most of a 10-12 ounce pour.
Don't know what else to add, other than there are a hella lot of folks running Perls, Intertaps, and even Vent Matics without pour issues...

Cheers!

 

[Qhrumphf]

Same exact keg? ONLY change is the faucet? Like disconnect the keg, change the faucet, reconnect the keg and immediate issue?

If that's the case my best guess is some sort of oil residue on the faucet. Maybe from fabrication on the steel, or someone put an inappropriate lubricant on the gaskets or something.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Ahh I see the whole system has been rebuilt. Any difference in the beer lines and not just the CO2 lines?

 

[Qhrumphf]

Could put the old faucets on the new kegerator. If the issue is still there it's something else than the faucet.

 

[slayer021175666]

Thank you, both.
I'll try the switching back to old faucet thing and see what it does. While I'm at it, I'll wash up the Perlicks and see what results I get.

 

[Vale71]

By no head you mean like a completely flat and bubble-free surface?

If that is the case I would also strongly suspect some oily residue. If the beer is properly carbed it's impossible not to get at least a little bit of head to form unless some chemical residue is actively killing it.

 

[Qhrumphf]

If the whole kegerator setup is new I could easily see machine oil residue being present on a shank as well.

 

[slayer021175666]

Yes, Vale71. No head at all. I'm gonna look into it today. Ya gotta be in the mood to drink a beer or 9 if you're gonna run pour tests and I had a slight hangover, yesterday!

 

[Bobby_M]

My best guess is that your beers are undercarbed.

 

[slayer021175666]

Thanks, Bobby.
I wanna check it now but, I better not start drinking this early. BTW, the parts I bought from you for my electric setup are good stuff. I especially like the element pod! Thanks

 

[slayer021175666]

Well, I found the culprit! Took the faucet apart and it had some ugly brown viscous blob o' crap in there! The guy I got them from said they were new. Finding that hard to believe now but, oh well. They are very nice. All seals are nice and pliable and they move very smoothly and look nice. I only gave $25 for the pair of them so, I'm really quite happy now that, I found the problem. Lets me know that in the future, I better disassemble, inspect and clean all parts whether they are "new," or not!
Thanks for all the good suggestions, everyone. It helped me figure it out.