Kegging questions

[luckybeagle]

I have the adjustable flow spigot and am still getting nothing but foam, straight from the tap. WTF?

I can't even run it on the slowest setting. I dropped the pressure in the keg from 20psi to 10psi, too. No keg agitation or anything. I'm about to throw this hef down the drain!!!

 

[Still Brewn]

It takes time for the co2 to come out of solution, shut off the co2, purge the keg again until there is only a few pounds of pressure left. Leave it for a few hours. Pour a sample beer. It sounds like it is way over carbonated. If your sample beer is foamy repeat the process again. Repeat until you are satisfied with the result. Do not turn on the co2 again until you get the beer to your liking.

 

[Still Brewn]

I didn't notice that you had it at 20lbs.... yes over carbonated by a bit. If your fridge is at 34° you have almost 3.6 volumes of CO2 in there. For the style you are in there 2.9-4.5 but for your equipment it is a no go. If you want to keep that much CO2 in solution you will have to make your fridge colder and fix your line issues and pour technique, you may also have to chill your glassware.
Search for CO2 beer volume chart
And beer style CO2 volumes

I would drop down to 3 volumes even that gives me an overly rambunctious head with my setup. 3 volumes would be 34° at 14 psi. You might be able to pour it properly with your flow control tap.

 

[luckybeagle]

I didn't notice that you had it at 20lbs.... yes over carbonated by a bit. If your fridge is at 34° you have almost 3.6 volumes of CO2 in there. For the style you are in there 2.9-4.5 but for your equipment it is a no go. If you want to keep that much CO2 in solution you will have to make your fridge colder and fix your line issues and pour technique, you may also have to chill your glassware.
Search for CO2 beer volume chart
And beer style CO2 volumes

I would drop down to 3 volumes even that gives me an overly rambunctious head with my setup. 3 volumes would be 34° at 14 psi. You might be able to pour it properly with your flow control tap.

Thanks man, much appreciated. I'm just so fed up with this thing. I wasted probably 2 gallons trying to dial it in today. Had huge bubbles in my beer line, so I upped the pressure, replaced gaskets/orings, dropped the pressure, etc etc. I finally got fed up and bled off the Co2 in my keg and tried racking it to another corny to see if I had an equipment problem (my other keg held a belgian blonde more recently and had no foaming issues). I couldn't even rack it because I had nothing but foam in there.

I stopped trying to rack it, sealed the keg back up and put it back on at 8psi. Should I just give it a few days to see if things calm down in there and then try again? Should I go buy 20' of line and hook that up before I try it again, too?

 

[burtom]

I hope you have a check valve in your CO2 line. 20 psi beer to 8 psi CO2 system could get some back flow through the regulator.

 

[doug293cz]

20' of line can't hurt. Worst that it will do is give you slow pours.

Brew on

 

[camonick]

I couldn't even rack it because I had nothing but foam in there.

I stopped trying to rack it, sealed the keg back up and put it back on at 8psi. Should I just give it a few days to see if things calm down in there and then try again? Should I go buy 20' of line and hook that up before I try it again, too?

Were you racking under pressure or just a siphon from one keg to another. I’m no expert, but I don’t think you can successfully rack carbonated beer from one vessel to another without a controlled pressure transfer. I agree that it sounds like it was initially over carbonated. I don’t have any experience with flow control faucets or that in-line flow control device listed above, but you can buy a lot of tubing for what either of those devices cost. 20 feet of 3/16” tubing wouldn’t hurt you a bit.

 

[camonick]

I've bottled so many beers over the past year that the arrival of my kegerator setup made me feel like I had reached the pinnacle of homebrewing luxury. Now, I'm not so sure.

I've kegged 3 beers so far: Kolsch, Belgian Blonde, and a Hefeweizen.

I've noticed a difference in mouthfeel between these and my bottled versions. While I got a good head on each of these, the beer itself lacks that spritziness that I've come to love in my trappist ales bottled to 2.5 to 3 volumes. The mouthfeel just isn't there. Is this typical in kegged beers? Am I doing something wrong?

My Process:

1. Rack from carboy at FG to corny keg and chill down to 34F.
2. Hook up CO2 and hit it with 40psi, bleeding off O2 in the headspace a few times.
3. Lay the keg flat in my large chest freezer (34F).
4. Pick up and shake the devil out of it 4 or 5 times throughout the day
5. Relocate to my kegerator and bleed off CO2 from headspace
6. Put Co2 back on at 10 or 12psi and start serving.

My hefeweizen gives me 1800 fingers of foam to one hangnail of beer, and has since I burst carbonated 3 days ago. The Kolsch was more manageable, and the belgian blonde made for some beautiful pours (though still lacking in the carbonic sharpness that I wanted). Draft line is 6 feet and the hef POURS straight foam (it isn't due to my glass being not cold enough).

At this point, it's becoming tempting to start bottling most of my beers again. I even used my erlenmeyer to "decant" the hef tonight so I could actually pour it to my serving glass in reasonable time! Any thoughts or opinions on my methods?

How long and what ID are your liquid lines by the way? I haven’t noticed that question has been addressed yet.

 

[Still Brewn]

If you are using standard off the shelf setup of picnic taps etc 12 psi should gve you the proper head you are looking for, though for tihe style it will be under carbonated which doesn't bother me with my setup..... and most people will not know any different.
Turn the gas off and go purge your keg again and leave the gas off overnight. Go back tomorrow evening and do a test pour. If it is still to carbonated purge but do not turn on the gas.

Since you are down 2 gallons you can speed this process up by giving the keg a light shake, let settle for a few minutes and then purge and repeat as necessary until you are at the level you want. Just make sure you are keeping the keg cold.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

If you have flow control faucets, I doubt beer line is the issue. Have you removed the beer-out post and checked it? When I get pure foam, it's typically due to hop particles in the post/poppet. Once I clean that out, the problem goes away. I've kegged beers, carbonated, then excitedly opened the tap - only to get 100% foam and no actual beer. It's not fun.

Overcarbonated beer would have excess foam, but it seems like your problem is beyond that.

 

[luckybeagle]

Turn the gas off and go purge your keg again and leave the gas off overnight. Go back tomorrow evening and do a test pour. If it is still to carbonated purge but do not turn on the gas.

THIS. This worked! Thanks so much. Such a simple, effective fix. I shut off the gas and bled it 3 or 4 times over past 6 hours. Just now I hooked it back up to CO2 and set it to 15psi approx. Perfect pour with a nice carbonation in the beer itself (not just the foam). The flow control spout was helpful, too. This saved my keg!

I've got about a gallon left (I served some when I burst carbed it on the day of a party we hosted last Friday. It must be time to brew some more. I'm really glad I can pour this one now as it was my test run for a client event we're hosting next month (my wife and I are Realtors and want to treat our clients). This hef was grain to glass in 9 days and tastes great. Going to do some growler fills before one of our local college football games (Oregon Ducks) and will be pouring a Marzen alongside the hefeweizen.

Small pour since it's in the middle of the workday, lol

[/QUOTE]

 

[Still Brewn]

THIS. This worked! Thanks so much. Such a simple, effective fix. I shut off the gas and bled it 3 or 4 times over past 6 hours. Just now I hooked it back up to CO2 and set it to 15psi approx. Perfect pour with a nice carbonation in the beer itself (not just the foam). The flow control spout was helpful, too. This saved my keg!


View attachment 645059

[/QUOTE]

See..... much simpler than giving up!
15 psi after a few days may get you more head/foam than you want try it with your flow control. If it gets too foamy lower it to 12 by using the same procedure.

Glad it worked for you.

 

[balrog]

Spent a day I read.
Nothing happens in a day. It’s chemical process to absorb or desorb CO2 from significant vol of beer. Takes time. The leave it overnight proves this and I am really glad it finally worked out for ya.

 

[day_trippr]

More physics, but the point is still valid...

Cheers!

 

[balrog]

As a Physics educated guy, I think everything is Physics, but I humor the Chemists sometimes.