excessive foaming on kegerator

[ronjonacron]

I have this kegerator that i got for a steal of a deal. Ive had a witbier in it for about 3-4 weeks now. It sits very cool at 33 degrees and have had it about 10 psi per the set it and forget it method. Ive used the keg lines balancing calculator and my line is supposed to be 4 feet to be serving 9 psi.

Im pouring entire glasses of foam, and ive wasted several pints on this endeavor.

Ive read in a couple places that people just go 10 foot of beer line and be done with it.

Is it possibke this could solve my issue? I hate bottling beer, but at least i get a good pint in 3 weeks.

Please advise.

Also. Ive tried purging the keg and dropping the psi to like 4 and still get a glass full of foam. Longer lines?

 

[jkw1000]

I'm new to kegging, but know of three possible things to check. First, I set my pressure around 5 psi. I'm never at 10. Next, make sure your lines are from a brew store and not from Home Depot or alike. Those lines are soft and will expand. They expand because the CO2 releases out of the liquid and foam is created. Lines from a brew store are heavy duty and don't expand. Lastly, you may need to clean the lines. It will foam with dirty lines.

Hope this helps!
John

 

[ResumeMan]

What is your line inside diameter? The length calculators are generally based on 3/16. If you're using something larger that would explain it.

Blow off all the pressure in the keg, then set it to like 2 psi. If you get a foam free beer, then that's telling you that for one reason or another the line isn't providing adequate resistance at your serving conditions.

 

[fosaisu]

I have this kegerator that i got for a steal of a deal. Ive had a witbier in it for about 3-4 weeks now. It sits very cool at 33 degrees and have had it about 10 psi per the set it and forget it method. Ive used the keg lines balancing calculator and my line is supposed to be 4 feet to be serving 9 psi.

Im pouring entire glasses of foam, and ive wasted several pints on this endeavor.

Ive read in a couple places that people just go 10 foot of beer line and be done with it.

Is it possibke this could solve my issue? I hate bottling beer, but at least i get a good pint in 3 weeks.

Please advise.

Also. Ive tried purging the keg and dropping the psi to like 4 and still get a glass full of foam. Longer lines?

Your lines are almost certainly too short. I've never used the line length calculator but I've read elsewhere that there are some terrible ones out there.

Dropping your serving pressure wouldn't be a great solution since a) people report that serving at a lower pressure than you carbed can lead to foaming problems, b) doing that will eventually drop the carb level in your beer, and c) it's no fun constantly changing the pressure back and forth every time you want to serve a beer.

Instead you should just get longer lines. If you're using standard beer/beverage line people seem to have good luck with 10-12 feet lengths (I use Bev-Seal, which is supposed to eliminate any vinyl taste but you have to use significantly longer lines, so my knowledge of standard beer line lengths comes only from reading on this site). It will slow your pour down a bit but you'll get beer instead of foam, which is generally the point!

 

[ronjonacron]

What is your line inside diameter? The length calculators are generally based on 3/16. If you're using something larger that would explain it.

Blow off all the pressure in the keg, then set it to like 2 psi. If you get a foam free beer, then that's telling you that for one reason or another the line isn't providing adequate resistance at your serving conditions.

Went ahead and tried this and still coming out about 3/4 glass foam.

 

[jflongo]

Just to let you know, I had a 3ft line on my keg output, and was getting tons of foam with my oatmeal stout. I switched it to my 5ft line, and got a ton less foam. Try switching this to 6ft or so, and see if that fixes it.

 

[ronjonacron]

I guess my next step is to get some new beer lines then. Ill see what happens with significantly lengthening them.

 

[fosaisu]

Just to let you know, I had a 3ft line on my keg output, and was getting tons of foam with my oatmeal stout. I switched it to my 5ft line, and got a ton less foam. Try switching this to 6ft or so, and see if that fixes it.

Another thing to consider is to buy 10' or 12', and then if you're getting too slow of a pour just trim it back a foot at a time. Beats buying 5', then 6', then 7' etc. Luckily beer line is pretty cheap, so for a couple of dollars you can experiment and find a length that works for you.

 

[jflongo]

Another thing to consider is to buy 10' or 12', and then if your getting too slow of a pour just trim it back a foot at a time. Beets buying 5', then 6', then 7' etc. Luckily beer line is pretty cheap, so for a couple of dollars you can experiment and find a length that works for you.

Yep I agree you may want to go straight to 10'. The only reason I had 3 ft, the LHBS put it together for me, and I didn't pay attention to the length. I have no idea why they only made it 3ft. 5ft works pretty well for me, but I just have a picnic tap right now. Eventually when I go to a keezer, I'll be doing 10'.

 

[duboman]

I would get a good 10-12' of Bevflex tubing, 3/16" ID and it should solve your problem. You also need to be sure that the lines are refrigerated from keg to tap, ideally a consistent temperature, If it gets warm at the tap it will foam up as well, at least the first pint. Your pour will be a little slower but it should eliminate the foam issue.

 

[ronjonacron]

Tthe lines are in he fridge, tap is on the door, survey says longer lines, ill swing by lhbs tomorrow for lines and probly just get new adapters and everything while im there.

Ill report back with the findings.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Yep. Can't advocate enough skipping the line length calculators (which tend to be made more for commercial bar applications over the home brew scale) and just go with 10-12 feet to start off. Lowering serving pressure will cause the CO2 to come out of solution which causes foamy first pours, much like warm taps and lines will.

 

[ruckusone]

I don't really reply much in here but maybe we are missing the obvious, are you pouring the beer correctly? I mean are you opening the tap fully in one quick motion rather than half way?

 

[ronjonacron]

I don't really reply much in here but maybe we are missing the obvious, are you pouring the beer correctly? I mean are you opening the tap fully in one quick motion rather than half way?

Yup, i have beer taps at work, so ive poured out of kegs before plenty of times, flick it to the on position, no babying it. I give it like a 3 finger slap.

 

[ronjonacron]

Thats kind of how im comparing the dispense rate, its coming out waaay too fast, even at very low psi, im going to lbhs after class tomorrow to get new lines.

 

[jflongo]

You'll definitely notice a huge difference. Just going from 3' to 5' on my picnic tap, I noticed a huge difference in pouring speed. Going to 10' you should be good, let us know how it turns out.

 

[ronjonacron]

Stopping by lbhs today after class. Its a smaller one so hopefully they have the proper lines.

 

[jflongo]

Stopping by lbhs today after class. Its a smaller one so hopefully they have the proper lines.

If not, home depot, lowes, ace hardware, you could probably get lines from there as well.

 

[ronjonacron]

And cheaper lilely too. Others made it seem like i had to be choosey about lines due to enpansion in the lines causing faoming as well. I have a lowes a block from my house and need some type of T valve to hook up both kegs to one regulator. Perhaps ill skip lbhs and head to lowes

 

[Yooper]

And cheaper lilely too. Others made it seem like i had to be choosey about lines due to enpansion in the lines causing faoming as well. I have a lowes a block from my house and need some type of T valve to hook up both kegs to one regulator. Perhaps ill skip lbhs and head to lowes

don't! You definitely want to fix your problem. You need beverage (thick walled) tubing, with no vinyl flavor pick up.

 

[Yooper]

I'm new to kegging, but know of three possible things to check. First, I set my pressure around 5 psi. I'm never at 10. Next, make sure your lines are from a brew store and not from Home Depot or alike. Those lines are soft and will expand. They expand because the CO2 releases out of the liquid and foam is created. Lines from a brew store are heavy duty and don't expand. Lastly, you may need to clean the lines. It will foam with dirty lines.

Hope this helps!
John

I know this was posted a while ago, but I wanted to mention that your regulator should never be at 5 psi unless you like flat beer. 5 psi at 39 degrees is 1.86 volumes of co2- nearly flat.

10-12 psi is generally a good "general" carb level for most average beers.

 

[ronjonacron]

Just called the lhbs and they have braided 1/4" hose and splitters, so i just gotta check my system and make sure 1/4" will fit.

 

[zachattack]

You don't want 1/4", you want 3/16" ID. Big difference.

 

[Yooper]

You don't want 1/4", you want 3/16" ID. Big difference.

Correct! This is very important.

 

[ronjonacron]

Hmmmm they definately said quarter inch and it seems like that what i have.

She assured me thats what she uses on her kegs. Ill snap a pic real quick of what i have.

 

[ronjonacron]

 

[jflongo]

I use 3/16" liquid 5/16" gas.

1/4" may be way too fast.

 

[ronjonacron]

Thats what they have, maybe ill just experiment with extra long lines and see what happens. 12' is only a few bucks

 

[JuanMoore]

To get the same resistance from 1/4" ID line as you'd get from 3/16", it needs to be 3-4 times longer. Larger diameter line like 1/4" is typically used in long draw systems in bars and restaurants, where the kegs are 20-50' away from the faucets.

As mentioned, thin walled 3/16" tubing from the hardware store will expand slightly under pressure, reducing it's effective resistance, but IME it's not such a large difference that it's likely to cause foaming. IMO the real issue is that it makes the first beer of every drinking session taste like you're chewing on a car tire.

 

[DrunkleJon]

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That looks like heat resistant tubing, not gas or even beverage line. I could see it working as gas line if it holds the pressure, but for the wet side I would not use anything that large at least in a homebrew application. You would need freaking long lines. I can see it maybe in a commercial bar where you are pushing the product tens of feet from the kegs.