Carbonation Retention Issues

[DAinc]

So I've been looking for help with this issue and haven't been able to stumble upon any pertinent advice. I've got the typical homebrewer corny keg set up, but where I run into problems is getting the the CO2 to dissolve and remain in solution. I'll hook up a keg of fresh brew and set regulator to 11-12 PSI @ 38 degrees and let g hang out for a week or two. Now what I get is a beer that pours with a large head that quickly dissipates. The body of the beer does not seem to have very much CO2 dissolved in it, and if I increase the pressure all I seem to get is a larger head that also quickly dissipates. I've tried rolling the keg at higher 30 PSI but the CO2 still does not dissolve into solution.

Prior to this set up I bottle conditioned all my brews, I never had any issues with CO2 dissolving into solution. Now with the same beers, if I force carbonate them I cannot seem to get CO2 to dissolve. So beer chemistry aside, the issue must be temperature/ pressure related, d I'm completely over looking something. I've had my share of forced carbonated beer and although it's not as rich as bottle conditioned, it definitely maintained a head for a longer period and you could see that CO2 was dissolve in solution.

Thoughts?

Thanks

 

[amarsh45]

I have the exact same issue with my kegged brews, so I'll be interested to see the responses to this thread.

 

[day_trippr]

Perhaps it's not that the beer isn't carbonated, but that your serving system is knocking the carbonation out on the way to the glass.

Questions that come to mind:
o what is the inside diameter of the beer line?
o how long is the beer line?
o are the beer lines kept as cold as the keg?
o what kind of faucet?

Unless the beer line is sufficiently narrow for the run, and the run is long enough, there won't be enough resistance to flow to keep all of the CO2 in solution. Add in a warm beer line and a picnic faucet and it's pretty much a recipe for gas breakout...

Cheers!