Help With Foaming Beer Faucet

[omonigan]

I have a problem I can't seem to find a solution to. My faucet in my mini-fridge turned kegerator pours nothing but foam. It pours just fine from a picnic tap but only foam from the faucet. I have gone through every troubleshooting method I can find. My beer is temp controlled to 38F, 10' of 3/16 line, serving pressure of 10 psi, faucet opened all the way. I also ended up buy a new faucet, shank, and tubing in desperation. If anyone can offer any insight it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Buckeye_Phil]

Is there gas in the beer line before you start pouring? Or is it solid liquid up to the shank?

How is the faucet connected to the mini fridge? Through the side or a tower out the top?

 

[doug293cz]

If the beer warms up going from the keg to the faucet, you will get foam. If your faucet is on a tower, you need to find a way to cool the beer line (and faucet shank) in the tower. Most people use a fan, with ducting to the top of the tower, to blow cold air from the chest into the tower. Trying to blow cold air up the tower, without a duct ending near the top of the tower, doesn't work very well, as you get very little airflow at the top of the tower.

Brew on

 

[Rockn_M]

If the beer warms up going from the keg to the faucet, you will get foam. If your faucet is on a tower, you need to find a way to cool the beer line (and faucet shank) in the tower. Most people use a fan, with ducting to the top of the tower, to blow cold air from the chest into the tower. Trying to blow cold air up the tower, without a duct ending near the top of the tower, doesn't work very well, as you get very little airflow at the top of the tower.

Brew on

This!

Also what is your tube length? Increasing the tube length will help with foaming issues as well.

I've had to increase the beer line to 10ft and add a small computer fan to blow the cold fridge air up in the tower and on the tap shanks.

 

[day_trippr]

Is there gas in the beer line before you start pouring? Or is it solid liquid up to the shank? [...]

This is Question 1. Everything else is gated by the answer...

Cheers!

 

[gnef]

Can you double check that your tubing is actually 3/16" ID? Are there any severe bends in the tubing as it gets to the shank?

If you can also post a picture of your serving setup, that could potentially help us figure out what is going on.

 

[omonigan]

Is there gas in the beer line before you start pouring? Or is it solid liquid up to the shank?

How is the faucet connected to the mini fridge? Through the side or a tower out the top?

It does appear that there is gas in the line. Looks like it may be bubbling up from the post (pin lock connection). The shank is mounted straight through the door.

 

[Buckeye_Phil]

Walk us through how you carbed the keg.

- what pressure(s), how many days?
- was the beer line connected during carbonation?
- was the beer line filled with sanitizer before first pour?
- any changes made to keg pressure or temperature after first pour?

We're starting to get somewhere here. Gas in-line is the culprit - it chokes off flow through the tubing, causing rapid pressure drop as fluid flows around the bubble. This rapid pressure drop creates more gas, which helps the bubble persist. Now we just have to figure out why it started degassing in the first place.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Gas in the serving line is usually due to the o-ring on the diptube leaking gas between the flange and body of the keg,into the post and subsequently into the serving line. Try replacing the o-ring and see if that helps any.

Could also be temperature stratification if the line is warmer than the beer.

Or

Also be caused if your keg is carbed to a higher pressure than you are serving.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Gas in the serving line comes from one of a couple things.

Pressure/carbonation inbalance. If your serving pressure is lower than your carbonation pressure bubbles will come out of solution. Usually from the beer post though also throughout the line. Symptom, foamy pour.

Temperature stratification. Warmer air up top will break CO2 out of solution in the lines only. Symptom, foamy first pour. Subsequent pours fine.

Warm tap. Feel the tap. It should be cool, co2 out of solution near the tap and not keg. Same symptom as temp stratification but only the first part of first pour will be foamy.

Not enough resistance. Beer flies out of tap filling cup with foam, huge mess everywhere. Flat beer.

Nothing but foam... Overcarbonated.

leaky o ring in beer post can cause bubbles in the beer out line side only. buy some keg lube and lube up your o rings. if the post o rings look flattened replace them.

 

[omonigan]

After being asked if there was gas in the line I did a quick search for that problem and found a thread on the site where someone had the exact same problem as me. They narrowed his down to a defective disconnect. I picked a new one up this afternoon, installed it as soon as I got home and boom, problem solved! Apparently there was a large batch of disconnects that the orifice the beer flows through wasn't formed properly.
I'm enjoying a perfectly poured pint of Citra APA! Thanks to all who replied and helped me get this issue solved!