Foam

[1BigFishWithFly]

Thanks to all the people on this site for their excellent info and photos I was motivated to build a keezer and brewed my first ever beer several weeks ago. Its been in a 5 gallon corny keg in the keezer with the temp fluctuating between 1 & 3 degrees (celsius) to allow for any warming effect of the tower. I had it at about 30 psi for about a week, purged it and then reset to 12 psi for a couple of days. Here's the problem that I know has been answered many times before - it's all foam (tasty when it settles). Thinking it may be the length of the beer line I installed 8 feet of 3/16 line. Same, ie. all foam! The only thing that I notice is that when I lifted the lid several minutes after a nice glass of foam there was at least three feet of air above the beer line as posted in the photo that I have attached. I have checked for leaks at all connections and can't find any. Ideas?? (I hope the photos uploaded)
https://imgur.com/a/7ZbSg

 

[brewing_clown]

30psi for a week would do it. I think I'd do 12psi for a week, or 30psi for 48 hours. It's probably overcarbed. You may just need to gradually release pressure over a few days until it stabilizes at serving pressure.

PS: Keezer looks awesome.

 

[1BigFishWithFly]

I'm starting to think that it may be overcarbed after doing some more reading. I was doing exactly what my experienced friend does and he doesn't have the same problem. Maybe different systems? I don't know.

Thanks

 

[brewing_clown]

Just reread your post. You may want to go longer on the beer line too. I have 16 feet of beer line to avoid foam, but I have to carb at a higher psi because of altitude. I'm at 7,000 ft.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Most definitely overcarbed.

 

[doug293cz]

After 30 psi for a week at 2°C it is definitely overcarbed. 30 psi for a week at 20°C wouldn't have been a problem. I do 30 psi for 36 hrs at 2°C, and then vent and reset the pressure to ~12 psi. Disconnect the gas, and then pull the PRV to vent whenever you can (minimum 1 hr intervals.) After doing this for a couple of days, do a test pour. Once you get the carb level where you want it, reconnect the gas at 10-12 psi.

As mentioned, longer beer lines will go a long way towards taming foamy pours. Rule of thumb is 1 ft of 3/16" ID line for every psi of pressure. The only bad effect from a line longer than it needs to be is a slower pour.

Brew on

 

[bradleypariah]

I have often over-carbed out of impatience, and while I think you should trust all the info previously given to you here, might I add that you can just pull the tab on your keg to drop the PSI by a few pounds, and just do it gently over a period of time, little by little.
If you drop down all the way to 2 or 3 PSI over the course of a day, the pour will be slow, but you'll be able to fill your glass without too much foam.

Leave the CO2 connected but turned off, only getting the pressure back up to 2 or 3 PSI after drawing a beer or two each night.

Boost the PSI back to 8 or so after you notice the beer losing carbonation, which will probably be two or three days. It should be stable for the rest of the keg from there.

 

[bradleypariah]

As for the air showing up in your beer lines, two things:

Is there no ring clamp on your hose line attaching to your output barb? How is your hose line staying attached to your barb? That looks like it would leak to me.

Second, remove your hose line from your tap, and attach your line with a ring clamp to a picnic tap that you know doesn't leak. After you pour a beer, watch for the air. If it doesn't happen, it might be the way you're connected to your keezer tap.

If air is getting in there, it's quite possible that's what's causing your foam. It could be air bubbles. Don't overlook that air problem. It isn't normal.

 

[1BigFishWithFly]

You guys are great. Thanks for the feedback. I will implement all of the suggestions and report back in a few days..