Foam in lines after pouring - used to be fine

[tmort]

We've got a 3 tap keezer at work. There are flow sensors in the lines. Everything was fine for quite a while, but now one of the taps has really started foaming. It's not even that it foams while your pouring, per-se. It's almost pre foamed.

You can see it after you finish pouring if you watch the line. it starts filling up with bubbles as it's sitting there. It's almost as if the beer is leaking out allowing room for the co2 to come out of the beer. This would seem to indicate there is a leak in the line, however no beer is leaking out.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[treacheroustexan]

Where do you work and are you hiring?

 

[tmort]

NetApp, and always! This particular keezer is in Vancouver...

 

[dustinboyd]

Sorry I don't have an answer to your question, but I am highly jealous of your workplace. Unfortunately for you, I will bet that this post will generate more posts like mine rather than help you out! You should have left the "at work" part out!

 

[LLBeanJ]

We've got a 3 tap keezer at work. There are flow sensors in the lines. Everything was fine for quite a while, but now one of the taps has really started foaming. It's not even that it foams while your pouring, per-se. It's almost pre foamed.

You can see it after you finish pouring if you watch the line. it starts filling up with bubbles as it's sitting there. It's almost as if the beer is leaking out allowing room for the co2 to come out of the beer. This would seem to indicate there is a leak in the line, however no beer is leaking out.

Anyone have any ideas?

Sounds like you may have a defective O-ring on your liquid dip tube allowing CO2 from inside the keg to enter the line.

 

[day_trippr]

Sounds like you may have a defective O-ring on your liquid dip tube allowing CO2 from inside the keg to enter the line.

Agreed, that'd be the first thing to check for sure...

Cheers!

 

[tmort]

In this case it's been two commercial kegs with sanke couplers in a row - does that suggestion still apply?

FWIW it looks like you can see the CO2 bubbles coming out of what's already in the line, and moving towards the keg in fact.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Same coupler? I'm not at all familiar with Sanke kegs, but I would suspect a bad seal somewhere in the coupler.

 

[tmort]

I was just watching it again after a pour. It almost looks like beer is flowing back down into the keg.

 

[day_trippr]

What you're likely seeing is pressurized CO2 filling the tubing hence driving the beer back into the keg.

If it's so profound that two successive pours in a row are full o' foam, there has to be a bad o-ring or gasket in that coupler. I don't think that could be all "breakout" because the dispensing pressure isn't high enough to keep the gas in the beer...

Cheers!

 

[tmort]

I think you're right. Further fiddling and inspection this morning showed bubbles coming up fromt he keg, and presumably beer going back down into the keg. I'll reach out to the store we got it from and see what they suggest. I'm not familiar enough with the sanke coupler to know what needs fixing.

What you're likely seeing is pressurized CO2 filling the tubing hence driving the beer back into the keg.

If it's so profound that two successive pours in a row are full o' foam, there has to be a bad o-ring or gasket in that coupler. I don't think that could be all "breakout" because the dispensing pressure isn't high enough to keep the gas in the beer...

Cheers!

 

[LKABrewer]

I usually see this when the carbonating pressure is higher than the serving pressure. If you turn up the PSI on this keg when serving, do the bubbles in the line stop? Could the beer just be over-carbonated?

 

[tmort]

I usually see this when the carbonating pressure is higher than the serving pressure. If you turn up the PSI on this keg when serving, do the bubbles in the line stop? Could the beer just be over-carbonated?

Looks like this is it. Gassed up to about 14PSI the foam stops in the line. However I think our 7' 3/16 line is not enough now at this pressure, comes out fast and hard resulting in foam anyways - although it's a bit better than when it was pre-foamed in the line.

Actually spoke to the brewery, they suggested a serving pressure between 12-15. Sounds like our lines just can't cope now.

Tears.

 

[LKABrewer]

Turn the temperature down if you can. Lower temperatures can serve at lower pressures.

 

[acott]

I had this problem at the weekend, it turned out that I had over carbonated the keg!