Keg - Getting all foam, but never did before

[zaxsan]

I have a 5lb tank with two regulators. Line one leads to my soda water. This is at 40psi in a 50deg fridge. Line two leads to a three way splitter. The splitter has one lead connected to a Lemon Wheat keg. The second lead is on soda water. Lead three is not connected. Line two is at 30psi in the same 50 deg fridge.

1 - On 6/11 I had one regulator to a three way splitter. I put the beer on the gas at 30psi 50deg

2 - On 6/20 the beer is 80% carbonated and flows with minimal foam out of the tap.

3 - On 6/21 I added a new regulator with one line direct to a soda water keg at 40psi 50deg.

4 - On 7/4 I feel my soda water is losing carbonation and my beer is flat.

5 - On 7/9 Soda water is unchanged from the 4th, but the beer is 100% foam when i pull the tap.



Where could I be having problems? My tank has about 900psi left. Could the multi tap system be leaking? If it was wouldnt I loose the CO2 in the tank? Even if there was a slow leak in the beer keg I would still lose the CO2 in the tank before the beer lost its pressure.

Last night I put the pressure up to 40psi on the beer and rolled it for 2-3 min. I released the pressure and put it back to 30psi. I have not tested the beer today.

Any sugestions would be helpful.

 

[Changeduser123]

What is the length and internal diameter of your beer lines ?

My guess is that you do not have enough line to balance the 30psi pressure. As a consequence, you have a lot of foam, and once the foam reduces, the beer is flat, because all the CO2 went out of solution.

Regarding the soda water, given the high temperature your fridge is at, 40 psi might not be enough. Unfortunately the table I use (http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php) does not go that far.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you're still running the beer on 30 psi, you'll need something like 20 feet of 3/16" ID serving line and it's going to be way overcarbed too. Try 14psi at 50F.

 

[flabyboy]

Why do you have soda on both lines? If you have a dual regulator why not have a two way for one line and run soda there and then have a two way off your other regulator for just beer. Doesn't make since unless I completely misunderstood you

 

[BrewThruYou]

Why do you have soda on both lines? If you have a dual regulator why not have a two way for one line and run soda there and then have a two way off your other regulator for just beer. Doesn't make since unless I completely misunderstood you

Doesn't make sense to me either. I would naturally run both sodas off one line and have the other line for beer.

Also, we need to hear about his line diameter and length. Those are some crazy high PSI numbers for serving....30 PSI and 40 PSI.

 

[zaxsan]

Beer lines are 5ft
3/16" inside diameter

I put the second soda water line on the beer regulator because I wanted to start the carbination process of another keg as my first one is low. That will not happen in the future. I also just want to hook something up to see if it told me anything about why my beer was flat. Based off of the chart of the link above at 50deg having 40psi looks to be a little low for soda. I believe you want 5volumes.

Yesterday, before I rolled teh keg for 2 min, I took all the pressure out of the keg and ran it at 5psi. I got mostly beer, but it was still flat. It has been on 30psi for 4 weeks. Somethign is wrong, I just cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. Perhaps it is just the hightemperature and I need to get the fridge down to 37-38? Might that be the answer? I am so confused at this point because at 30psi in 50deg I should have lots of CO2, but I do not. Should I release the pressure and then put 14psi on and wait a day or two and test again?

 

[flabyboy]

Beer lines are 5ft
3/16" inside diameter

I put the second soda water line on the beer regulator because I wanted to start the carbination process of another keg as my first one is low. That will not happen in the future. I also just want to hook something up to see if it told me anything about why my beer was flat. Based off of the chart of the link above at 50deg having 40psi looks to be a little low for soda. I believe you want 5volumes.

Yesterday, before I rolled teh keg for 2 min, I took all the pressure out of the keg and ran it at 5psi. I got mostly beer, but it was still flat. It has been on 30psi for 4 weeks. Somethign is wrong, I just cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. Perhaps it is just the hightemperature and I need to get the fridge down to 37-38? Might that be the answer? I am so confused at this point because at 30psi in 50deg I should have lots of CO2, but I do not. Should I release the pressure and then put 14psi on and wait a day or two and test again?

I'm not familiar with soda. I would have a two way for each line. One line for beer and one for soda. Get your fridge down to 40 degrees. Set you beer line regulator to 12 after you have purged and sealed the your keg with higher pressures first. Let it sit on 12 psi for a couple weeks with tank and check valve open. It should be pretty well carbonated at this point. This should give you 2.4 volumes for your beer. You also may need a little longer serving line. I use 7 ft of 3/16 line at the settings listed above and it works great for my system

Use your other regulator for the soda. Not sure about the pressure needed for the soda. I'm guessing you would need 30-40 psi and a long serving line to get close to 5 volumes with no foam

 

[malkore]

Beer lines are 5ft
3/16" inside diameter

something is wrong then because 5ft of 3/16" line is going to rocket beer out like a firehose at 30psi.

When you carb soda, you do run it at 30~psi, and it does take a good 25feet of tap line to make it pour anything but foam and flat soda.

14psi is what you'd need (roughly) for 5ft of line, and 50F. Even then you'll probably get too fast a pour and some foaming.

 

[zaxsan]

So the reason my soda water is flat (and my beer for that matter) is because the liquid looses all its gas in the trip through the 5 feet of tube at such a high pressure?

At this point even if I take the beer down to 5psi just to push it through I will still get foam because there is too much co2 dissolved and it will come out during the pour?

Should I take the beer off the gas and pull the release ring every few hours to get some gas out of solution until it pours under 5psi? How long would that take?

I will put more resistance on the soda pour with an epoxy mixer twist in the out tube. This will help balance the shorter liquid tube.

 

[Bobby_M]

I don't think you're going to get a good pour on soda without 20 feet of serving line.

 

[zaxsan]

As a follow up. I put two epoxy mixers in the liquid out tube of Tue soda keg. At 40psi it pours great and keeps its carbonation through 5 feet of tube.

The beer - I turned the pressure off and would bleed the keg every few hours for 3 days. Then I hooked it back up at 9psi. It is pouring better, but still some foam. The carbonation is a little low. I guess I can move the psi to 12 and see if it bumps the Carb level. I have the temp at 35deg. I am nervous to do anything rash now.

 

[zaxsan]

Since my beer is way over carbonated I figured I would attempt to put two epoxy mixers in the tube to see if it helped. It resulted in a large amount of foam at 11psi. I then bled the tank and turned the pressure to 0. I then slowly increased the pressure intil the beer just would trickle out. It was about 3psi. At this low pressure the beer poured fine and tasted carbonated vs before when it was all head and flat when the head finally died down.

I think the final answer is:
1 - don't be stupid and play with the pressure. set it and forget it.
2 - use the epoxy mixers as a method of increasing resistance if you do not wish to buy longer hose.


I have a pilsner lagering now. I will put it on the gas at 12psi (36deg) and leave it for 2 weeks. With 2 epoxy mixers and the proper carbination level in the liquid it should pour well. I will let you know.