Foaming, despite tons of line... help!

[sitryd]

I have a party tomorrow, and am serving our house watermelon hefeweizen. Or at least, we're supposed to be. It's been carbonated at 3-4ºC at 24-26 psi (~3.7 volumes).

When it pours from the tap, it's basically all foam. I went out and bought more line today (24 feet of 3/16!) and the problem persists. The keezer has a fan, so the shank and the line should be at-temp. I had 14' of line on it before with the same issue. Tap seems to be clean (no issue with an IPA served at 14 psi on a shorter line).

Any ideas of what might be wrong, or might need adjusting? I have the line looped into 10-12" loops and taped together to keep it manageable - could this be causing the off-gassing?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

You have other issues besides balancing line length. Could be an obstruction or a leak in the system.24 ft of line is ridiculous. I found the home depot line never worked well for me.Could be c02 breakout in the line also.If you plan on kegging for the long term (only 2 posts) I would get some perlick flow control taps.I run mine with 4 ft lines and never have a single issue

 

[day_trippr]

If this is a cornelius style keg, the small O-ring under the Out dip tube flange may be missing or damaged, allowing CO2 in the head space to be injected into the beer stream at the Out post.

Shut off the gas, lock the keg PRV open, remove the beer disconnect, remove the Out post, pull the long dip tube and replace that small O-ring...

Cheers!

 

[GPP33]

I've found some beers just don't like holding CO2. Had one recently that foamed until the last few pints. It's twin brother (the other half of a 10 gallon batch) won't give head if I beg for it.

If you turn down the pressure does it behave?

 

[FlyDoctor]

I had his problem - and to some degree I think you just can't extend lines indefinitely to get highly curbed beer out. One big problem with me was temp variation. If one part of the line is warmer then the others, the gas will come out of solution in the line and give you foam. A fan in your fridge or freezer will help, but not eliminate the issue.

 

[sitryd]

Doesnt behave at lower pressures, and there's definitely foam throughout the line. I tried swapping out the O-ring with one from another keg that looked intact (losing a bit of beer in the process... sadness). Also tried coating the o-ring with some CIP Film, but to no effect.

I think my plan (absent a miracle) is going to be filling a few growlers with the beer tomorrow using a counter-pressure bottling wand. Not ideal, and will flatten a bit throughout the event, but better than 95% foam out of the tap.

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

Just to be sure its not a temperature issue, pour some into a glass and take a temp reading. Make sure the probe only touches the beer and not any part of the glass.

Since you say your IPA pours fine you may have a bad gasket/oring, bad seal with fittings or connections, or a pinched or leaking line.

 

[IslandLizard]

For the event, I'd turn the pressure down rather than consorting to pouring from growlers.

As said before, it must be a mechanical issue somewhere in the dispensing system, a kink, a burr, a connector, temp differential, or a leak. Line should be continuous, no splicers. Is the line really 3/16" ID?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I've read other posts were someone was trying to get a super carbed Hefe and cranked the pressure up in the 20's.They all had the same issue with excess foam and was the reason for there post.I run my beers at around 12 psi and if I made a Hefe wouldn't go much more than that. Reguardless of what the book says Hefe co2 volume should be,In my mind 26 psi is off the chart and asking for problems.

 

[GPP33]

How did you get it carbed? If you turned up the pressure and shook it then it may just be over carbed. It may just take a while to settle down. When I make this mistake it eventually comes to equilibrium, probably due to time and more head space.

I know resturants/bars often have to run higher pressure to travel the distance from the cooler to the bar but I never go above about 12psi on my beers, I run a 10' line.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]I know resturants/bars often have to run higher pressure to travel the distance from the cooler to the bar but I never go above about 12psi on my beers, I run a 10' line.

fwiw, bars have no advantage versus physics than homebrewers.
Long-line dispensing systems typically use beer gas...

Cheers!

 

[GPP33]

fwiw, bars have no advantage versus physics than homebrewers.
Long-line dispensing systems typically use beer gas...

Cheers!

Exactly. They use beer gas so the high keg pressure doesn't cause over carbination. 25psi of CO2 sounds crazy high but my dispensing knowledge is pretty shallow so I'm not saying that is the problem but it sounds off to me.

 

[sitryd]

25psi of CO2 may be high, but it's to-style for hefeweizen - the 25psi isn't being used to push it through additional line (the tap is all of 2 feet from the keg, after all), but to reach the appropriate carbonation volume. For what its worth, I used a counter-pressure filler to fill some growlers for the party (which kept the foam from being an issue and let it settle). The beer was deliciously carbonated.

Now, I just have to figure out what the heck is wrong with my setup between the dip tube and the tap!

Thanks all :mug