flat and over carbonated?

[toddfore]

Is this possible? Lots of foam but when it settles, it tastes flat.

Todd

 

[kh54s10]

Yes. If you are bottle conditioning and the beer has not fully conditioned, it will foam because of the carbonation present. The problem is that not enough have gone into solution. There is co2 in the bottle but it is not fully in the beer. Same if you have kegged and the co2 has not gone into solution.

It is not actually over carbonated.

If it has been conditioning long enough it could be other problems. I had one that foamed a ton. When the head subsided it was good. Mine was not flat.

 

[day_trippr]

Is this possible? Lots of foam but when it settles, it tastes flat.

It takes CO2 to create foam, and that CO2 is pulled out of the beer.
Excessive "head" = flat beer.

Bottled? Kegged? Advise will differ.

Leaving out the possible "gusher" syndrome due to infection...

If bottled, it's entirely possible the beer is overcarbed, either due to bottling before FG was reached, or due to over-priming.
You'd have to go back through your process to determine which.

If kegged and "burst-carbed", the potential for over-doing the carbonation is high (a new thread nearly every day on hbt).
Otoh, if there isn't enough resistance provided by the beer line length vs inside diameter, you can get a glass of foam...

Cheers!

 

[55x11]

Is this possible? Lots of foam but when it settles, it tastes flat.

Todd

not in a usual sense. Head is formed by CO2 coming out of the solution. You may not have enough CO2, which means less head as well.

The only way to get foam but also have flat beer once it settles is to under-carb it somewhat and then force precipitate almost all CO2 - for example by shaking the bottle a lot or forcing the beer through a small aperture.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]The only way to get foam but also have flat beer once it settles is to under-carb it somewhat and then force precipitate almost all CO2 - for example by shaking the bottle a lot or forcing the beer through a small aperture.

That's hardly the only way...

Cheers!

 

[55x11]

That's hardly the only way...

Cheers!

Indeed. what I meant was - if you use normal pour (and the line is not clogged somehow), if you end up with decent foamy head, the beer will contain a lot of CO2 as well. The foam has to come from CO2 dissolved in beer, so it is carbed, not flat.

The only way to make beer taste flat is to get MOST CO2 out of solution. That's not easy to do, and involves mechanical agitation and/or passing beer through constriction of some sort (which is in itself a class of agitation). Clogged line, very forceful pour are all part of this. That's all I can think of.

 

[day_trippr]

HBT is rife with posts about beer with excessive head that ends up flat in the glass, and there was no shaking or dispensing constrictions involved.

But that's getting ahead of the thread. The OP needs to shed some light...

Cheers!

 

[toddfore]

Sorry I wasn't more specific. I am kegging with a brand new system except for the tap itself(been mounted on the fridge for 15 years w/o being used). I have 7ft. of 3/16 ID line. Tried force carbing but had an issue with a leak so my regulator poundage was all over the place but had it at 30lbs accidentally for way too long. Have it at 10lbs right now and have leak fixed. When I pour, I get 3/4 of a glass of foam. Once I leave it sit, I have 1/2 glass of beer but it tastes sort of flat then. Hope this is better info. Sorry.

Todd

 

[LBussy]

There's your issue. Let it sit a few days at about 12-14 PSI and you'll need about 10 feet of line to balance it.

You may need to vent the keg occasionally while it sits, some regulators will not vent excessive pressure.

 

[ericbw]

You have definitely over-carbed the beer if it was at 30 pounds for more than 2 days. Depending on your particular set up, 7 feet is on the low side. It also depends on how high your tap is from the keg and the temperature. You need to look up how to balance a keg system - line diameter, length, height of the tap, and temperature all come into play.

And once you over-carb, it takes some time to settle down and get it right. I'm fighting a keg like that right now because I forgot to lower the gas (3+ days at 30 pounds).