Foamy Kegerator

[mtpuls]

Hey Everyone, I have read countless thread on this and have not been able to solve my problem. I am getting all foam from my kegerator. I need to balance this for a Coors Light keg for now (no barbs about the crappy beer please, the home brew is going in afterwards) and I have been changing things based on recommendations from other peoples issues that I have read about, but can't get this solved. Here are the facts:

-Mini-fridge style kegerator with tower and circulating fan to keep tower cool
-Tower goes 2 feet above keg
-Temperature of beer: 34 degrees
-line length: 12feet of 3/16" beer grade line kept in the fridge, above the keg
-pressure: 10psi
-Altitude: ~7500 feet (in Colorado)
-Everything has been cleaned thoroughly
-Brand new CO2 regulator
-Keg was placed in the kegerator for three days to settle, then tapped and vented and sat for another 48 hours

I have tried line lengths from 3ft to 12ft, Pressures from 3psi to 16 psi, and temperatures from 33degrees to 40 degrees. Every time I change something I let the whole system settle. All I ever get is foam, foam, foam. If anyone has any ideas I am more than happy to try pretty much anything at this point as I am thoroughly frustrated. Thanks in advance.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Changing pressure only works if you start low and work your way up UNLESS you have a way to vent excess pressure

 

[chriscraig]

Foam happens for a couple of reasons.

1. Over carbonation. If you have over-carbonated beer, there's not a really quick way to deal with it. Take the keg off the gas, and bleed the pressure out of it every few hours. Your pressure is something you shouldn't adjust, or you adjust the amount of carbonation in the beer. You likely want about 2.5 vols of CO2 for Coors, so at fridge temps, about 10-11 PSI is where you need to be. See this chart: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

2. Too little resistance in your lines. Your beer lines provide resistance to the system. If you have your beer carbed at 12psi, you'll need to provide about 11psi of resistance to "balance" the system and get a good pour. Too much resistance, and you'll have a really slow pour.

3. Too many nucleation sites in the serving system. This is when you get bubbles forming around dirt and small imperfections in the system. If you have cheap taps, that may be the problem. Try taking them apart and giving them a good cleaning.

4. Warm lines. If the beer lines/faucet are much warmer than your beer, you'll get significant foaming until they cool down. Is your second pint just as foamy as the first?

Hope this helps.

Chris

 

[mtpuls]

Foam happens for a couple of reasons.

1. Over carbonation. If you have over-carbonated beer, there's not a really quick way to deal with it. Take the keg off the gas, and bleed the pressure out of it every few hours. Your pressure is something you shouldn't adjust, or you adjust the amount of carbonation in the beer. You likely want about 2.5 vols of CO2 for Coors, so at fridge temps, about 10-11 PSI is where you need to be. See this chart: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

2. Too little resistance in your lines. Your beer lines provide resistance to the system. If you have your beer carbed at 12psi, you'll need to provide about 11psi of resistance to "balance" the system and get a good pour. Too much resistance, and you'll have a really slow pour.

3. Too many nucleation sites in the serving system. This is when you get bubbles forming around dirt and small imperfections in the system. If you have cheap taps, that may be the problem. Try taking them apart and giving them a good cleaning.

4. Warm lines. If the beer lines/faucet are much warmer than your beer, you'll get significant foaming until they cool down. Is your second pint just as foamy as the first?

Hope this helps.

Chris

Thanks for the replies! The beer lines are kept in the fridge, so they aren't warm. Everything has been thoroughly cleaned recently, so I don't think it's dirt/imperfections. So if I have 11psi and my 3/16" line has a resistance of 2.7pounds/foot, then I would need about 4 feet of line for the correct resistance, is that correct? I just want to make sure there isn't anything else I need to account for in terms of the 2 foot height of the beer tower, etc. Thanks!

 

[chriscraig]

There are lots of formulas on the internet for this, but your best bet is to start with a long line, and keep chopping off 6" at a time until you get a good pour...about a pint in 8 seconds.