Kegerator foaming

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Leblais

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So.... I have a kegerator foaming issue. I have a dual faucet kegerator and let me just say, the way the tower is configured, it is a SUPER PAIN IN THE A$$ to change out the beer lines. I mean I really really hate doing it. I did it about 2 or 3 months ago and it took me hours to get it done. That said, I would really rather not change out the lines if I could help it.

Problem:
Foam in the beer glass. The glass is half foam.

Situation:
The current beer is homebrew NEIPA and was slow pressurized at 10 psi and has been on there for weeks, so it is balanced. The lines, as stated above, were changed out 2 or 3 months ago and both taps and pieces were disassembled, scrubbed, cleaned and sanitized. A 10 gallon batch (2- 5 gallon cornie ball locks) of a different NEIPA was run through (5 gallons on each side) and it poured perfectly! The kegs were emptied through dispensing and nothing was cleaned at this time, mostly due to my laziness. The kegerator remained on (cold) and the kegs stayed in there with the lines hooked up. A few weeks later I took the kegs out, cleaned them, sanitized them, pressure filled them with new NEIPA, hooked them back up to the system and force carbed them. I poured the first glass about 5 days later and noticed that the taste of the old beer was in my glass. (duh, there was old beer still in the line) I have dispensed almost one whole cornie keg now and every glass has been half foam. It is sort of annoying but it is tolerable UNLESS I am trying to give someone a growler, which then makes it completely unusable in my opinion.

Question:
Assuming that the ONLY PROBLEM is that the lines/faucets are dirty due to beer/beer dregs/CO2 sitting stagnant in them for a few weeks, will cleaning them be enough to rectify the situation or do you think they need to be replaced?

My thoughts:
1. As I stated prior, I really hate changing the lines out, but cleaning them really is a pain too. This is mostly due to the positioning of my kegerator and a few other factors, but just know it is a pain but much easier than changing the lines.
2. Yes I realize I could clean them and see if it works then if it does not work then go ahead and change them. That is logical and obvious. I have limited time at home and would like to try and minimize the time I spend on this issue, if possible. I am looking for people that have more experience than I do that may be able to save me a step.
3. OH WELL... I can deal with it, but it just stinks.
4. Yeah, I guess I am lazy and I should have just cleaned them after the keg kicked. Lesson probably still not learned but it is acknowledged.

Secondary Questions:
1. I have a Mark II keg cleaner. I was thinking I could/should just run hot water with PBW through that and in turn through the beer lines. Should I assume I would need to then run Hot water through it to remove residue?
2. Should I then sanitize the lines with 5 star?
3. I have starsan too, but I bought the 5 star too so that I do not have to deal with the foaming that starsan has. Is this a correct assumption?
4. Other than keeping up with regular cleanings and sanitization of the beer lines to prevent having to replace everything again, are there any other tips you could share with me to make this less painful in the future?
5. Are there better cleaners or sanitizes to use or are the ones I have sufficient?
6. Can I leave the 5 star in the line between kegs while sitting idle and if so, how long and will this be bad in some way?
7. I believe 5 star states that it needs to "air dry". That is not really something I can do unless I just hook up a keg and throw some Co2 at it to push the CO2 through the line and I did not plan to do this. Should I rinse it with water (seems counter intuitive), should I dry it in this way with the CO2 or should I stop being so ridiculously OCD, leave it alone and end the post already! ;)


As always, thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts and experiences.
 
I doubt that the foaming issue is dirty lines, unless they're so bad that the residue is creating turbulence which is releasing the foam.

There are ongoing threads here about foam pours; in most instances the problem is warm lines. A kegerator with a tower in which the lines are not cooled will give you foam. The reason why towers are a few inches thick is to allow for cold air to be circulated up into them to cool the lines and the shanks.

Otherwise, when cold beer from the keg enters the warmer lines and hits the warm faucets...foam. Beer can hold more CO2 when it's colder; warm it up and it foams as the CO2 comes out of solution.

The first question I'd ask is how you're cooling the lines in the tower. If there's a system in place to do that, did you disturb it (disconnect, plug it, whatever) when you cleaned the lines?

A little foam when you start isn't unusual; I usually have some with the faucets I use on my keezer. Takes about a half glass for the foam to disappear, maybe less, depends on whether I've rinsed and cooled the glass, as a warm glass will also encourage some foam.

*******

About cleaning. Hot PBW would work, and you're right, you'd need to rinse that out, then I'd use some star-san solution to clear that rinse water out. Most who run cleaner through their lines use BLC, beer line cleaner, which is designed to do exactly that.

It can be done from a pressurized keg, but over time you'll use up a fair amount of Co2 that way--and you want this to recirculate for 15 or 20 minutes, more if it's been a while.

I'm always amazed what mine gets out. I'll push water through the system to clear out the beer (into another bucket for dumping), then when it flows clear I'll add the BLC to the bucket in which I have the pump. Then I let it recirculate for 20-30 minutes. Amazing how that water in the bucket goes from clear to beer-colored over that 20 minute time frame.

Here's what I'm talking about: http://www.ritebrew.com/SearchResul...earch=beer+line+cleaner&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0

Also: you can actually daisy-chain your taps if you can get some 1/2" silicone tubing over the spouts; run the BLC in one QD, through the two taps, then back out through the second QD. Get a jumper to open up that second QD or remove the QD so the solution can drain back and be recirculated.

Here's a few pics showing me doing 5 faucets and lines simultaneously:

CIP1.jpg
CIP2.jpg
CIP3.jpg
 
If I'm reading it right, the only thing that changed was the keg? sounds like the kegs were carbed to a different co2 volume maybe? the kegerator temp should not have changed, nor did you say the regulator was adjusted...or is that the same regulator you used to carb the keg as well?

new keg and the foam started? it's gotta be something with that keg...the carbonation level?
 
And as far as old beer in the lines... What I do, new with my Kegerator, but seemed to be a breeze.
Keg is empty. Remove keg, rinse well, add 1/4 - 1/2 Gal Star san mixture, seal up add a bit of Co2 not a lot, just enough to drive it through the lines, not to waste a lot of gas. Run through the lines till it comes out clean through tap.
Disconnect C02 line and Beer line, leave beer line charged with Star san mixture, When connecting new Keg, be sure your Keg is charged well with gas, connect liquid and draw off Star san mix and new beer and prob some sediment, and good to go.
I do not see a reason to replace lines when beer is running back through there unless you let it be dry and stale in there.
As far as your foam, although you checked your gauge to correct or desired psi did you purge tank to make sure the new desired psi is indeed that of what is in the tank.
Eg., Force carb at 30 psi, gauge says 17 psi, connect gauge reads 17 but tank is still 30 until you purge and let your regulator regulate.
 
The first 2 kegs were slow carbonated at 10psi which is what I dispense at and they both ran with no foam. The theory of the beer in the tower being warm and causing the foaming doesn't make sense since those first 2 kegs were fine. I am using the same 2 kegs just with different beer in them. I didn't touch the regulator as it's still set at 10 psi and I carbonated these 2 kegs at 10psi on this same regulator so that theory of having too much pressure is not possible. The temp on the keggerator has not been changed either... The foam is occurring constantly, meaning if I pour 3 beers back to back, I am still getting about 1/2 of a glass of foam. My beer glasses are clean and I keep them in the keggerator so they are the same temp as the beer. I do this intentionally to reduce foaming!

Question about that beer line cleaner. Does that stuff need to be hot and does it need to be rinsed? Do you need to sanitize after that or does it sanitize and clean?
 
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