Mmmm foam....

[JnJ]

Well I got my kegerator together enough to hook up my Shiner Bock clone and give it a shot. So far I have wasted about 4 bottles worth of beer that has come out as just foam!
I followed the force carb instructions here -> http://sdcollins.home.mindspring.com/ForceCarbonation.html

I have just over 5 feet of beer tub (3/16th) and started with a serving perssure of 12 and adjust to 10 to see if it would help. At first the beer tube looked to be full of beer, but just foam came out. Now the tube is full of bubbles. Did I over carb, or is there another possible problem?

 

[Brewtopia]

Did you bleed the pressure off the keg first when you hooked it up? If not, bleed off the keg pressure and try and repour at 10lbs serving pressure.

 

[Brewtopia]

Also make sure you give the keg sufficient time to chill

 

[JnJ]

Did that, but now that I re-read the force carb instructions, it said wait several hours, I waited about 2, could that be the problem? If it is over carbed, should I take it off the gas for a while?

 

[Brewtopia]

Did you do the shake method at 30 PSI or so? You'l need to let that keg sit for awhile to settle down.

 

[KitrGy]

After some time , if that still doesn'twork.(all cold of course.) I'd say use like 15' of hose or so and see how that goes. than just kepp cutting back a foot at a time till its balanced. and of course try to drink all the pours while balancing it. could be a fun balancing act!!

 

[JnJ]

I tried again about 6 hours after force carb, and still got only foam. I'll try again tonight after work. I dont have any more hose to use.

 

[JnJ]

Ok, still getting pure foam, I can't imagine it is the hose lenght (5ft) making it this bad. Any other ideas?

 

[Gabe]

Let the beer go for 24 hours on a 20 psi then bring it down to 12-10 psi for 48 more then bring down to 3-5 psi serving. Good to go after that. Be patient.

 

[JnJ]

Let the beer go for 24 hours on a 20 psi then bring it down to 12-10 psi for 48 more then bring down to 3-5 psi serving. Good to go after that. Be patient.

Ok, will try.

 

[gnef]

if there is only foam in the lines, there is something wrong with the keg.

shake it to see if there is any ice you can hear. if you can't hear any, let it sit out at room temp for an hour or so, then put it back in, and see if that helps.

did you check the poppets of the keg before you hooked everything up?

it sounds like something is either clogging the liquid dip tube or the poppet. that would create turbulence at the keg side, causing the liquid line to be filled with foam.

if it were just overpressurized, the beerline would be filled with beer, and foam would come out at the faucet generally.

if the room temp for an hour doesn't help (and it may not if it is ice, as 5 gallons is a large thermal mass), depressurize the keg, and try breaking down the liquid side - take off the post and check the dip tube and poppet. i would actually clean it, then resanitize it, then put it back in. see if that helps.

 

[JnJ]

Thanks, there is no ice, but I will pull the keg out for an hour or two. I do want to take the liguid side out cause maybe I reversed the gas and liguid tubes. Would that do it? I'll post later.
Poppets and all seals are new.

 

[JnJ]

Update, got the keg warming in the house. Took the post off, poppets seem fine and the tubes are on the correct sides (liguid = out=long tube, gas = in = short tube). I relieved the pressure before removing the post and still had a little beer come out the "out" side. Liquid tube is clean and clear.

So, once it has set for an hour or so at room temp, what do I do? Pressure to serving pressure and try it?

 

[vtfan99]

Go to Kegman to check if your system is balanced. It is not nearly as confusing at it may first look. Best of luck

 

[JnJ]

Go to Kegman to check if your system is balanced. It is not nearly as confusing at it may first look. Best of luck

Thanks, tryed that, it is as confusing as it looks. Basically I get from that and other sites that 5 to 6 ft of line (3/16) is good for just about everything.........

 

[vtfan99]

What temp are you serving at?

 

[JnJ]

Had it at 43° F. pressure was 11 to split the difference between 10 and 12.

 

[Gabe]

Just to much serving pressure! I do it all the time, as soon as I bring it down to 3-5 psi it clears up and beer flows like water. Cheers

 

[JnJ]

Dang, I hope that is it. So, it has sat at room temp for an hour now, I plan to put in back in the kegerator, so do I set serving pressure at 3-5 and let it sit for how long before trying?

 

[vtfan99]

I have my regulator set at 12 psi and my fridge set at 40. I have no foam problems whatsoever. Might I suggest you put your keg back in the fridge, set it to 10-12 psi and wait 24 hours or more. It just seems like you've been trying a lot of things lately and the beer may just need a rest.

 

[thebull]

Your problem matches one I had. Thought I didn't force carb, I had the gauge set way to high and accumlated much too much CO2 in the keg. I could see the gas bubbles in the brew line in the kegerator. It took some time after re-adjusting the gas level down, but the beer finally mellowed out after I set the CO2 gauage at 11/12 and let the gas fall out of suspension. I'm using a seven foot beer line, though most say six foot is good.

 

[JnJ]

Ok, I have since kegged another batch. I did not force carb this batch yet, but just hooked it up to serving pressure, 11psi. The beer line is full with no air pockets and it comes out with no foam. The first keg still has a lot of air in the line and is all foam. I'm going to let it sit until tomorrow, then if it is still foam, I think I will transfer to another keg. Any other ideas. BTW I changed the first keg to another tap which means another beer line but still all foam.