Foam on First Pour

[MongoloidMormon]

I purchased a commercial keg recently and connected into a recently refurbished Haier kegerator. I purchased 10' of 3/8" ID polyethylene tubing from HD for the beer line. I've tried a number of PSI settings between 6 and 12 on different days to give the pressure a change to stabilize and not matter what I get 80% foam on the first pour (every 30 min or so it gets foamier again). From reading about beer line balancing, you want to keep your serving pressure the same as the keg's carbonation pressure and simply adjust the line length based on the tubing material's resistance. The beer streams out extremely quickly so I'm wondering if the PE tubing has less resistance than standard vinyl 3/8" line. Has anybody run into issues with PE tubing? Any ideas?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

3/8"?!?! Whoa, waaaay too big.

Look for a local homebrew store and buy some 3/16" ID beer line. 3/8" doesn't provide enough resistance to prevent foam, regardless of PSI setting.

 

[wildwest450]

Also, you can't just adjust your pressure down, this will exacerbate the problem. You need to find out the volumes of co2 the beer has been carbed at, and match that with the temp of the beer and co2 psi. It's not as hard as it sounds, what beer is it and what's the serving temp? Pour two glasses and check the second one.

You may also need to cool the tower to prevent first pour foaming, but need to address these other things first, especially the line size.

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[Nuggethead]

+1, 3/8" to big, 3/16" by 10' works well for me.

 

[MongoloidMormon]

I'm an idiot. It is actually 3/16" line.

 

[wildwest450]

Then either your overcarbed or you need to cool your tower. If it's just on the first pour, cool the tower, and leave the psi on one setting.

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