Finished Keezer, Running Into Foam Issues

[MoreHopsPlease]

Hi all,

While this is my first post here, I have been coming to this forum for the past month now for tips and ideas on how to build my keezer. And although I'm not into homebrewing yet (I hope to start sometime soon), I found this site to be a great help and was hoping you guys could help me out once again. But before I go any further, let me say that I've read most of the foam threads I could find through Google and haven't been able to solve my problem yet. With that said, here's my problem with a little background info first:

So I finished my Keezer on Saturday and went and picked up a keg. I was excited to get the beer flowing and the guy at the store said it's no problem to untap the keg, so I tapped it Saturday even though I knew I would be taking my keezer and the keg with me to school the next day, a 2 hour drive. At first the beer was really foamy, but as the keezer finished getting cold and I played around with the PSI, I was able to get some good pours, and I was eventually able to fill 3/4 of a growler with no foam issues.

The next day I untapped it, loaded it in a van (making sure to secure it) along with the Keezer, and made the 2 hour drive. After setting up the Keezer, my foam issues returned. No biggie I thought, the Keg just traveled over 100 miles and is probably still a little shaken. But by the end of the night I was still getting 90% foam pours. Thinking I might need some air circulation, I added a fan and tried again this morning. No good. So I checked for leaks and re-tapped the keg, but I'm still getting the same thing.

Here is my setup:
9 ft. 3/16" lines
Temp set to 38 degrees, 2 differential, with the probe in a jar of water on the hump
I have tried a PSI anywhere from 5-15 (with the other gauge reading 50/7500)
Taps are about 4 ft off the ground

With those settings I believe I was able to get the beer to pour right at about 12 PSI in my basement, but now that I'm in my apartment at school I haven't been able to get anything to work right. I don't know much about this stuff yet, so I could be doing something wrong when setting it up too, I don't know. Does anyone have any ideas? Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[zachattack]

12 psi, 38 degrees (= 2.6 vol of CO2, probably good for most commercial beers), with 9 feet of line should be fine. Next time, figure out the volumes of CO2 in the commercial keg (might take an e-mail to the brewery) and set the PSI appropriately to maintain it. Either way, leave the reg at 12 psi from now on and don't touch it. That's not your problem. If you go lower, CO2 will break out of solution and cause more foaming, if you go higher you can overcarbonate the beer.

Leave the growler out of it for now and focus on filling a glass. The fan is a good idea and will definitely help. Are you only getting foaming on the first glass? Are you getting pockets of gas developing in the line between pours? Are you making sure to open the faucet fully when you pour? Are there any kinks or anything in your line?

How long did you have the keg at 15 psi? You may have overcarbonated it.

 

[MoreHopsPlease]

Thank you for the reply!

Pouring multiple glasses in a short time doesn't seem to fix the problem. I just checked the line and every so often there are groups of bubbles, yes, but not really any large combined pockets of air. I do have to be more mindful about opening the tap the whole way, but I don't think I've been consistently not opening it fully. And my line is coiled but not kinked.

I believe the higher PSI was before I brought the keg to school (so before I got it working), but I wouldn't put it out of question that I overcarbonated the keg when messing around with the PSI before it was fully settled after getting it to school. I just realized this morning that the coupler has its own pressure release valve, so is it possible by not pulling that when messing around with the PSI I added pressure on top of pressure that was already there and overcarbonated?

 

[MoreHopsPlease]

So I found a fix for an over carbonated keg where you put the gas line where the beer line would go on a corny keg. Does anyone know if this works with a 1/6 keg with a keg coupler?

 

[zachattack]

You could do that, but it'll involve removing the beer nuts from the couplers and removing the check valves. I wouldn't bother. If the keg is truly overcarbed, the easiest thing is to turn the gas off at the tank and pull the release pin on the coupler every few hours. Do that over a couple days, then turn the gas back on and try again. If you want you can bring the keg up to room temp, that will speed things up.

It sounds like you're doing everything else right. The pockets of gas either mean that the keg is overcarbed relative to your current pressure, or it means the line is warmer than the keg. Since you have a fan, it's probably the former. Is the beer coming out of the tap really fast, or is it fairly slow? Is it a gentle foaming or is it "spitting"? Does it look like the foam is being produced at the faucet, or can you see it in the line as you pour? Is your line standard 3/16" ID vinyl beverage tubing?

 

[MoreHopsPlease]

The foam comes out fast and spitting sounds like a good way to describe it. Ill have to get back to you later about foam in the line when pouring but you can see foam near the end of the line to the faucet consistently. I ordered a kit so I should have proper tubing. Thanks again!

 

[zachattack]

Most of the kits come with 5' of line, it's good that yours has more. Are you sure it's not barrier tubing? Is there a brand or model on it? 9 feet should be enough to slow the beer down. It shouldn't be flying out of the faucet.

If the beer is coming out really fast it sounds like there isn't enough resistance in the line. If it's "spitting" it could be a problem with the coupler letting gas into the beer line.

 

[MoreHopsPlease]

I believe when I looked it said Kegco.com on the line. I ordered the custom kit from Beverage Factory which is why I have the extra length with mine. According to the order, my lines are "super vinyl."

I just got home and tried to pour a beer, this time paying attention to what's coming through the line. The foam is definitely being generated before the beer hits the end of the line or the faucet. Also, I doubt it's the coupler because I tried my other coupler with the same result.

For now I'm going to assume I over carbonated the beer, try your suggestion, and pray it works. For future reference, do you have any ideas how I could have over carbonated it?

Once again thanks for all the help!