Can't balance commercial Sanke kegs (gas in beer lines)

[Joeywhat]

Having some real problems with my kegerator. I normally only have cornies on tap, and never have any issue with them. This includes the commercial beers that I get filled in my cornies. However I tried putting two sanke commercial kegs on and I kept getting gas in the beer lines, leading to all sorts of foam. I tried cutting the CO2 to both kegs and releasing the pressure over a couple days to try and get the keg pressure to play with my CO2 line pressure, but the issue persists. I had gone so far with one of the kegs that the beer was noticeably flat, so I can't see how the keg pressure is still higher than my line pressure (12 PSI).

Is there anything I'm overlooking here? I don't think it's air as relieving the keg pressure caused the bubbles to stop momentarily, so it seems tied to the keg pressure/outgassing. I'm using stainless 1/4" flare fittings for everything. Standard Sanke taps, Perlick 630 faucets, 3/16" "ultra barrier" tubing (about 7-8 feet for each tap). The Corny kegs still pour great, so it's really a head scratcher for me. I don't remember having this issue the last time I had a kegerator (about 10-12 years ago).

 

[Bobby_M]

The black gasket on the bottom of the D coupler, the smaller one that's on the movable center tube, is what keeps gas from mixing with the beer as it comes out of the keg. A nick or tear in that gasket will cause gas in the outgoing beer.

 

[Joeywhat]

After letting it sit for a day or two I did notice that beer was leaking out of the tailpiece, between the tailpiece and the nut. I'm assuming that this is where the issue lies. I tried all the spare gaskets but nothing helped.

I did notice that the barbed tailpieces that came with the coupler had boss on the bottom, about the same thickness as the gasket. The flare tailpieces I bought do not have those, the bottoms are flat. Any chance there's a compatibility issues between my tailpieces and couplers? I would think they would all work together...

Both the couplers are brand new, so I'm having a hard time believing they are both bad. I changed the tailpieces on both to 1/4" flare, but I don't know what other tailpieces would work here...

 

[NeoBrew]

I've been struggling with my sanke keg adapter lately. I think I finally figured out that I was over tightening the thing. I was getting big ugly bubble foam and it was leaving the beer completely flat. I backed off the twist of the connector to just be tight enough to hold beer and things cleared right up. That inner rubber gasket on mine was getting too squished I think. Thanks for the clues that led me to the problem!

 

[spacey]

I'm having the exact same problem. Regular corny keg works fine for years, but I bought a commercial beer sanke version yesterday and it's nothing but foam. Air is in the beer lines, 50% foam for each pour, and the beer is not overcarbed from what I can tell.

Brand new vinyl 3/16" 8' long tubing with 10-12 PSI usually. Kegerator temp is 38-40 F, faucet is adjustable double tap tower.

It's not the beer line length, temp of kegerator, PSI, or perlic faucet, so doesn't it have to be a gasket issue? Either the one at the top for the beer line, or the two below that connect the D coupler to the keg itself?

I'm ordering new gaskets even though the D coupler I bought "new" at the homebrew store was supposedly new. The box was open.

 

[IslandLizard]

I bought a commercial beer sanke version yesterday and it's nothing but foam.

What's the pressure inside the keg? Perhaps release some, see if it improves.
If it's the gasket in the coupler it would be the bottom one.

BTW, it doesn't look like a lot of CO2 in your beer line, just a few (stray) bubbles. But yeah, it can be a sign the (bottom) gasket is leaking.

 

[spacey]

What's the pressure inside the keg? Perhaps release some, see if it improves.
If it's the gasket in the coupler it would be the bottom one.

BTW, it doesn't look like a lot of CO2 in your beer line, just a few (stray) bubbles. But yeah, it can be a sign the (bottom) gasket is leaking.

I've released the keg pressure several times thinking the beer was overcarbonated. I got it at a local brewery and have never tried to attach a commercial keg to my kegerator. For half a day now I've had it set on 5 PSI to see if that changes anything, but it's just slowing down the pour.

Air comes out first, then foam, glass if half full now of foam, then liquid with bubbles for the rest of the glass pour.

The beer is drinkable since it doesn't offgass when in the glass. It's also a sour beer, so you have a lot of flavor even with foam.

I did just buy keg lube so I will try to lube the seal tomorrow.

My profile pic is how the pours are coming out today from this commercial keg.

 

[IslandLizard]

I did just buy keg lube so I will try to lube the seal tomorrow.

Always use keglube on rubber keg parts like that, it helps making a better seal.

If it's not due to overpressure or over carbonation, it's likely headspace CO2 seeping directly into the beer line. In those cases you usually see foam or larger CO2 pockets in the beer line.

Remove, inspect, and lube both seals on the bottom of the coupler:
http://content.kegworks.com/blog/how-does-keg-coupler-work

 

[day_trippr]

What type of beer is this keg full of?

Perhaps it was carbonated to a level higher than its new home supports at the current temperature and pressure setting, so it's been outgassing "excess" CO2 the whole time. Try setting conditions to support ~3 volumes of CO2 and see what happens...

Cheers!

 

[spacey]

What type of beer is this keg full of?

Perhaps it was carbonated to a level higher than its new home supports at the current temperature and pressure setting, so it's been outgassing "excess" CO2 the whole time. Try setting conditions to support ~3 volumes of CO2 and see what happens...

Cheers!

It's a citrus sour beer, it doesn't look like it's carbonated very much in the cans that they sell.

 

[spacey]

 

[Broken Crow]

For half a day now I've had it set on 5 PSI to see if that changes anything, but it's just slowing down the pour.

If it was overcarbed, that there could lead to continued foaming; If the supplied pressure is lower than equilibrium inside the keg, any CO2 will leave the beer to the level of the dominant pressure.
If you'd had the pressure lowered for more than a day or so (particularly if you've served some of it), it's time to bring it back up to serving pressure, let it sit a bit and try again.

 

[IslandLizard]

View attachment 812962

That points to headspace gas (CO2) getting into your beer line. ^

 

[spacey]

That points to headspace gas (CO2) getting into your beer line. ^

It seems like it. I put quite a bit of keg lube on the underside of the D coupler and no change so far.

The video looks like the beer is overcarbed, but as soon as the video ends, no more CO2 comes out of the solution, and it doesn't taste overcarbonated.

 

[day_trippr]

Well...the picture shows the problem starts at the keg end, but there are at least two causes possible...

Cheers!

 

[spacey]

Well...the picture shows the problem starts at the keg end, but there are at least two causes possible...

Cheers!

Bought a new D coupler from Amazon and added quick connect adapters with keg lube, the lower rings look different when compairing th two - this one seals correctly, no air is getting in the beer lines now. It's not sputtering as it pours.

Now that that's fixed, the keg is definitely overcarbed. It's been 4 days now since I brought it home from the microbrewery. The pour is still 50% foam, still comes out very quickly even at 5 PSI with 8 feet of 3/16" vinyl line. I'll raise the PSI to my normal 8-12 and see if that does anything.

The beer in the photo below is after the seal issue was fixed. It does taste a little better now. I guess I could release gas from the keg, but it's 2/3 empty at this point.

Oh well, I should just brew a sour beer myself next time.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[spacey]

Oops, I forgot that black is beer line and grey is gas. It was hooked up that way for about 10 minutes. Problem now seems to be mostly fixed.

It was the keg connector. The keg is probably not overcarbonated, it may also be meant to be served at a higher PSI than my usual 8-10 PSI.

I'm still getting about 3 times more foam than usual even hours later, but the pour looks a lot more normal, no more spitting air from the tap, just foamy beer for 1/3 of the pour, then more clear looking the last 2/3.

The homebrew store sold me a cheap and/or defective connector, denied it the next day, gave me free keg lube, and then blamed the brewery lol.

 

[day_trippr]

Ahahaha! Nice!
The pic with the two gas QDs totally zoomed by me without notice

Cheers! (And enjoy! )

 

[spacey]

At least I don't have to be mad at the microbrewery. There's 1/3 of the keg left and it's pouring great now.

Just drew this schematic of my corny keg on the left, and the commercial keg on the right inside one kegerator.