Foamy beer!!!

[drhall23]

Was hoping to get some guidance on my kegs seeming to be over carbonated. I have a 4 port manifold from my CO2 line. Have one port empty, one port with about 4 gallons in the keg and one port with about 1 gallons in the keg.
I added a new 5 gallon keg to the last port and forced carbonated at 30 psi, but did close the ports off to the other 2 kegs to avoid over carbonating.
I have since returned the CO2 to 8psi and opened the other 2 kegs. However, everything is dispensing very foamy.
I have since purged all the kegs and maintained a temp in my keezer around 35-40'. But still dispensing foam.
My regulator on the CO2 tank appears to be working.
Any other suggestions??
Hate to ruin all this beer.

 

[PlexVector]

Was hoping to get some guidance on my kegs seeming to be over carbonated. I have a 4 port manifold from my CO2 line. Have one port empty, one port with about 4 gallons in the keg and one port with about 1 gallons in the keg.
I added a new 5 gallon keg to the last port and forced carbonated at 30 psi, but did close the ports off to the other 2 kegs to avoid over carbonating.
I have since returned the CO2 to 8psi and opened the other 2 kegs. However, everything is dispensing very foamy.
I have since purged all the kegs and maintained a temp in my keezer around 35-40'. But still dispensing foam.
My regulator on the CO2 tank appears to be working.
Any other suggestions??
Hate to ruin all this beer.

Shut off the valves to the over carbed beer and release the pressure to almost zero whenever you walk by for several days. Then open the valves and check for foam. If true, then repeat. Should even out eventually. That's worked for me before.

 

[drhall23]

Ok. Thank you. I have started that process this morning. And currently nothing else seems to purge out on last check 20 mins ago. Will check again in the morning.

 

[PlexVector]

Ok. Thank you. I have started that process this morning. And currently nothing else seems to purge out on last check 20 mins ago. Will check again in the morning.

It is a slow process for the CO2 in the beer to equalize into the head space each time you release headspace.

 

[drhall23]

Ok. Thanks.
Any suggestions why this happened?

 

[Bobby_M]

Yes. You over carbonated that last beer and the extra pressure was back feeding to the other kegs dispensing with too much force.

 

[drhall23]

Ok. That make senses and seems to have been happening every time I introduce a new keg.
Should I not force carb at 30psi and just hook up new keg at the normal 8psi I have for dispensing?

 

[jimyson]

Would a shutoff with a check valve work in this case?

 

[PlexVector]

Ok. That make senses and seems to have been happening every time I introduce a new keg.
Should I not force carb at 30psi and just hook up new keg at the normal 8psi I have for dispensing?

You can but you need to initially set the o-ring on the lid, and then back it down to 8psi. May take a couple more days or so to properly carb. While doing this or initially carbing at 30psi, just temporarily shut off the valves to the other kegs when the regulator is not at 8psi. They should dispense fine or you can give them a little boost as needed by temporarily slightly cracking the associated shut-off valve .

The other option is to put a secondary regulator on each keg and set the main regulator on the co2 tank to 30psi or more.

And to @jimyson 's point your shut-offs should have a check valve. Then you can close all the shut offs but the one you want to be 30psi, then reduce back to 8psi until the 30psi keg needs another kick, and repeat. Lot's of variations to play with.

 

[drhall23]

I did shut off the other kegs while forcing the new keg.

 

[jbb3]

I did shut off the other kegs while forcing the new keg.

You may have shut off the valve to the other kegs while burst carbing the new keg. But once you were done burst carbing, did you bleed the pressure from the new keg before dropping to serving pressure and opening all the valves?

Also, how long are you burst carbing new kegs @ 30psi?

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Before jumping straight to all of the kegs are overcarbed I'd look for other obvious solutions. What length are the beverage lines you are serving? How cold is the first pour of beer/foam vs. the temperature of liquid at the bottom of your keezer (put a jar of water down there and measure it). If you do repeated pours does it get better (so by the 3rd pour or so it's fine), or does it always stay foamy no matter how many pours you do in a row?

 

[johngault007]

I have always carbonated at serving psi and never ran into foaming issues. It does take longer, but you won't have any back pressure issues.

 

[drhall23]

Before jumping straight to all of the kegs are overcarbed I'd look for other obvious solutions. What length are the beverage lines you are serving? How cold is the first pour of beer/foam vs. the temperature of liquid at the bottom of your keezer (put a jar of water down there and measure it). If you do repeated pours does it get better (so by the 3rd pour or so it's fine), or does it always stay foamy no matter how many pours you do in a row?

-Lines are about 4 feet (the length the HBS sells), and have them them for about 3 years now.
-beer is kept around 38'
-foam doesn't improve with number of pours

 

[brewprint]

-Lines are about 4 feet (the length the HBS sells), and have them them for about 3 years now.
-beer is kept around 38'
-foam doesn't improve with number of pours

How long are you leaving a keg at 30psi?

 

[drhall23]

Before jumping straight to all of the kegs are overcarbed I'd look for other obvious solutions. What length are the beverage lines you are serving? How cold is the first pour of beer/foam vs. the temperature of liquid at the bottom of your keezer (put a jar of water down there and measure it). If you do repeated pours does it get better (so by the 3rd pour or so it's fine), or does it always stay foamy no matter how many pours you do in a row?

Lines are about 4 feet (the length the HBS sells), and have them them for about 3 years now.
-beer is kept around 38'
-foam doesn't improve with number of pours

 

[drgonzo2k2]

So you've had 4 feet of beer lines connected to each of your taps for about 3 years now without any problems, and the problems just showed up recently when you swapped in a new keg?

TBH, I'm kinda surprised you've been able to use 4' lines without any problems, but if that's the case, then I'd check to make sure you didn't introduce an air leak when you put in the new keg. Have you used leak detector spray or soapy water to check for bubbles?

 

[drhall23]

You may have shut off the valve to the other kegs while burst carbing the new keg. But once you were done burst carbing, did you bleed the pressure from the new keg before dropping to serving pressure and opening all the valves?

Also, how long are you burst carbing new kegs @ 30psi?

I didn't bleed the pressure off the new keg before dropping to serving pressure and opening the other valves.

I carbon burst the new keg for about 3 days.

 

[drhall23]

So you've had 4 feet of beer lines connected to each of your taps for about 3 years now without any problems, and the problems just showed up recently when you swapped in a new keg?

TBH, I'm kinda surprised you've been able to use 4' lines without any problems, but if that's the case, then I'd check to make sure you didn't introduce an air leak when you put in the new keg. Have you used leak detector spray or soapy water to check for bubbles?

Yeah, I haven't had these problems until I started introducing more kegs. My local HBS set me up with the lines. Some of my buddies that have similar set ups use 4' tubing as well and don't have this problem. I have been reading that most people use 10' tubing?

Yes, I did a leak check and found new issues.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

I didn't bleed the pressure off the new keg before dropping to serving pressure and opening the other valves.

I carbon burst the new keg for about 3 days.

I think you just found the problem. 30 PSI for 3 days would almost certainly over carb any keg. That's what I use for force carbing soda, which I also serve at 30 PSI.

I'm also not sure on your valve setup (I use individual regulators for each keg), but it sounds like there's a chance that by not bleeding off the pressure you inadvertently over carbed your other kegs.

 

[jbb3]

I didn't bleed the pressure off the new keg before dropping to serving pressure and opening the other valves.

I carbon burst the new keg for about 3 days.

By not bleeding the pressure from the new keg before reopening valves on your gas manifold, the 30psi that was in the new keg equalized across all your kegs which may have over carbed them all.

1- Try reducing the time you burst carb @ 30psi to 24-36 hrs. It may need to few more days at serving pressure to fully carb up but still much shorter than bottle carbing.

2 - Once your done burst carbing, bleed the pressure from new keg completely before re-setting to serving pressure and re-opening all the valves on your gas distributor.

Assuming you didn't have any foaming issues before due to short beer line length, this should solve your problem...

Keep us posted!

 

[drhall23]

Think that was the answer for over carbonating by not bleeding new keg
All kegs have been bleed and co2 added at 8psi... Will see what tomorrow's pour look like.
Thanks everyone!
Cheers [emoji482]

 

[jbb3]

Think that was the answer for over carbonating by not bleeding new keg
All kegs have been bleed and co2 added at 8psi... Will see what tomorrow's pour look like.
Thanks everyone!
Cheers [emoji482]

When I mentioned that those steps should solve your problem, I was referring to the next time you burst carb a new keg. Once a beer is over carbed, it can take a while to get it back down to a good level.

To "de-carb" an over carbed beer: shut the valve on your regulator and every couple of hours (or whenever you can) give each keg a little shake and bleed the pressure from the keg. Depending on how over carbed they are, it can take a few shake/bleed cycles or it can take several cycles to get enough co2 out of solution so it doesn't pour as mostly foam.

 

[zippyclown]

You overcarbonated. I literally just did exactly what you did 2 weeks ago. I set it on 30psi with the intention of leaving it 2 days, which always works for me (another couple days after that at serving pressure and it's ready). I had to leave a night for work and the 2 days extended to 3. I thought, "well how bad could it be?" and then I basically poured a glass of whipped cream.

I actually fixed it in about 15 minutes, which I didn't expect because everybody on here says it takes days to decarbonate.

Shut off the gas line and bleed the keg completely. Shake it up a bit like you're trying to flatten it (which you are). Bleed that gas out completely. Shake it again. Bleed. Do it a few times. Then walk away for like 15 mins, and then bleed one last time. Turn your gas on and I bet you'll find it's back to normal. If not, walk away for an hour, come back and bleed again. Shouldn't take very long. Then give it time to carb back up again. As long as you don't introduce oxygen you shouldn't disturb the beer too much by doing this, it seems.

In my case, I used a lot of dry hops in my beer so the paranoid part of me thinks this process of constantly degassing the beer drove a lot of aroma out. But after a few days I poured myself a glass and to be honest you'd never know that I completely manhandled the beer just a few days before. Just a big pain in the ass and a waste of time, that's all.

Long story short 30psi is good for only 2 days in my house. 3 makes whipped cream.

This really is a patient man's game.

Bill

 

[brewprint]

I didn't bleed the pressure off the new keg before dropping to serving pressure and opening the other valves.

I carbon burst the new keg for about 3 days.

Indeed as others have stated this is your issue.

By bleeding the keg that should fix it...even with the over carbonated keg.

I do 30psi for 36 hours BTW and don't have any issues. Then I try to let it rest another 24 hours at my 12psi serving pressure. I have 10ft plus lines though so that's why my serving pressure is high.

Normally after the 36 hours @30 it's pretty good. 2 or 3 more days at serving pressure and it's perfect. Sometimes it's perfect though after the 36 hours. That's the trouble with carbing so high. It's unpredictable. Surely 3 days is too long though.