Keg has flat beer an froth

[peter.ball]

Something is seriously wrong (new to kegging). I brew IPA (American style e.g verdant light bulb). The last 2 brews have turned to first froth (like a wippy ice cream).beer is pretty much flat! I’m replacing all beer lines to 3/16 from 5/16 reducing direct from John guest keg fitting through to a reducer going in to tap. Will likely do 10m too, in a view to starting from scratch and I’m also changing my tap to flow control tap but if honest, I don’t hold much hope as I feel the beer in keg is frothy, not the line caused by speed of flow (I did have a reducer on 3/8 to 5/16 but took it out as thought it was that creating the froth. I carbonated on 20 for 4 days and the remainder on serving pressure 12 psi. Keg is set to 3degrees. I recently lost a whole canister of co2 due to a leak so have been cautious by turning co2 off at night at first but it’s definitely had 2-3 weeks of being left on. What can be the cause of the flat beer and huge froth mountain in the keg? I haven’t opened the keg and would rather not as it should be half full (I’ve only ever got froth out of it.

I wouldn’t mind betting it’s all frothy beer is there as opposed to the line causing it, but could be wrong. Any of you more experienced beer buddies know what I can do?

 

[peter.ball]

I should add, I brewed 25l and as keg is 19l, I bottled some and they can out perfect. Really don’t want to go back to bottling again though

 

[day_trippr]

Greetings, @peter.ball! And welcome to the forums at Homebrew Talk

That...appears to be a stout faucet. If you left the restrictor plate inside the spout, what you are seeing is exactly what I would expect when pushing a fully carbonated brew through it.

Remove the spout and look inside. If you see something that looks like this...

you can trying removing it and the flow straightener that looks like this...

...and you should see a profound improvement in the pour quality.

Cheers!

 

[peter.ball]

Ah thank you sir. A friend built it for me as he was sick of my whining over bottling. I can now rest easy and get beck to sleep (3am here and this was keeping me awake lol).will take a look in the morning and come back to you with the result. Thanks again

 

[camonick]

Greetings, @peter.ball! And welcome to the forums at Homebrew Talk

That...appears to be a stout faucet. If you left the restrictor plate inside the spout, what you are seeing is exactly what I would expect when pushing a fully carbonated brew through it.

Remove the spout and look inside. If you see something that looks like this...
View attachment 827073
you can trying removing it and the flow straightener that looks like this...

View attachment 827074

...and you should see a profound improvement in the pour quality.

Cheers!

I think you’re absolutely correct.

 

[tracer bullet]

I'm going with the advice already given as being perfect. But on the off chance it's not exactly that, it's very close. It definitely is NOT the beer. It IS the tap.

 

[peter.ball]

Greetings, @peter.ball! And welcome to the forums at Homebrew Talk

That...appears to be a stout faucet. If you left the restrictor plate inside the spout, what you are seeing is exactly what I would expect when pushing a fully carbonated brew through it.

Remove the spout and look inside. If you see something that looks like this...
View attachment 827073
you can trying removing it and the flow straightener that looks like this...

View attachment 827074

...and you should see a profound improvement in the pour quality.

Cheers!

Hi there, just took off the faucet and lid. It looks like they were removed previous. The tip is just empty like a pen lid and the faucet itself just has like a rubber plunger working from the tap handle. I guess from what you are saying that my next course of action is right e.g replace line to 3/16 and replace tap (hated that tap anyway)? I think the only thing I’m worried about is the pipe line just looks like froth from the keg post. Thanks again to you and other members for their help

 

[tracer bullet]

Long, skinny lines help a ton, they do the job of slowing down the beer and letting it pour out as carbonated beer instead of foam. short, fat lines or a tap directly on the keg tend to be foam city. There are some calculators online that can help.

I use a 6mm EVABarrier line, bigger than what some people use, but with about 12' of it I can get perfect pours easily at 12psi. Smaller ID (4mm) can have an even shorter line.

 

[day_trippr]

Well that's too bad - would have been an easy fix

I think the only thing I’m worried about is the pipe line just looks like froth from the keg post.

What type of keg are you working with - Sanke, or Cornelius?

Cheers!

 

[peter.ball]

Well that's too bad - would have been an easy fix



What type of keg are you working with - Sanke, or Cornelius?

Cheers!

Cornelius…. It seems to hold pressure which is what I thought might be the issue

 

[pvtpublic]

Hi there, just took off the faucet and lid. It looks like they were removed previous. The tip is just empty like a pen lid and the faucet itself just has like a rubber plunger working from the tap handle. I guess from what you are saying that my next course of action is right e.g replace line to 3/16 and replace tap (hated that tap anyway)? I think the only thing I’m worried about is the pipe line just looks like froth from the keg post. Thanks again to you and other members for their help

I'd still swap the nitro faucet for a standard. It's best to eliminate all possibilities.

 

[day_trippr]

Given the saturated foam it is possible you have encountered a failure mode unique to cornelius kegs.

Both the gas (in) and beer (out) dip tubes have a small O-ring under their respective flanges that seals the dip tubes and keg posts to their threaded risers. If the O-ring under the beer (out) dip tube is missing or damaged it will allow pressurized CO2 in the keg head space to be injected into the beer stream right under the keg post. The results look pretty much exactly like your pour.

It would be worth inspecting the O-ring and replace it if damaged (or install one if outright missing!). Disconnect the beer and gas lines from the keg, latch the keg Pressure Relief Valve open, remove the Out post, pull the long dip tube, and give it a good look. Sanitize the dip tube before inserting back in the keg, add the post, unlatch the PRV, pressurize the keg, let everything get cold again then give the faucet a try.

If that's not the problem the next most likely cause is the keg is significantly over-carbonated...

Cheers!

 

[OleBrewing]

if i had to guess. 1) overcarbed beer 2) too short of serving line 3) incorrect faucet for pressures being served.

note with short lines: i have used a creamer faucet with flow control directly off a keg post and pour a great beer, but had to dial it back to a trickle to not get a foamed beer.

if the beer is over carbed take off gas and degass it every day maybe even out of the fridge. then start serving with out any gas connected. once you get back to a good pour put gas back on serving pressure.

 

[day_trippr]

If by elimination the conclusion is the beer is over-carbonated, I used this procedure once and it worked amazingly well....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/overcarbed-keg-heres-an-instant-solution.127655/
Cheers!

 

[peter.ball]

Bit of an update: replaced the beer line to 3/16. Put new keg posts on and replaced prongs on dip tube and gas. Replaced tap with a flow control Faucet and de gassed the keg throughout yesterday. Bingo! I have beer flowing! Probably going to need tweaking over time to get it just right (it’s a little on slow side and beer slightly on the undercarbed side too)…. But we have a basis to build! Thanks for all the help folks

 

[day_trippr]

replaced prongs on dip tube and gas.

What was that supposed to be before "autocorrect" totally munged it?

Cheers!

 

[peter.ball]

What was that supposed to be before "autocorrect" totally munged it?

Cheers!

O rings

 

[WesBrew]

Similar issue. Think mine is in the keg. Futzing with dip tube, posts and o-rings trying to get it right. all seem ok.