My first Keezer build 5 cu ft

[StrangeBrew78]

So I finally built my first keezer. I followed a lot of info from you guys here and built my own temp controller and collar. It will be a three tap with corny and 1/6 kegs until I can learn to make my own brew. I'll be picking up the rest of the taps and stuff online I think and swapping to a smaller co2 tank. A friend gave me his old kegorator supplies. I just bought new shank and tap.
sorry for the links. I tried doing them as IMG links and they didn't load.
http://flic.kr/p/nusHAx
http://flic.kr/p/nub6dk
http://flic.kr/p/nusFvv
http://flic.kr/p/ncYfEL
http://flic.kr/p/nubaxn
http://flic.kr/p/nubaxc
http://flic.kr/p/nusLyg
http://flic.kr/p/nubVqo
http://flic.kr/p/ncYf7E

Only issue I'm having currently is really foamy beer. I have the regulator set at 8 psi roughly. And the guy at the local home brew store said I would be ok with 1/4" ID tubing for now. I have about a 10' run. I'm not sure if it is over pressured or what. But the beer comes flying out but primarily all foam. It clears up eventually but next pour will do the same thing.







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[Hommel]

you can tell if it's the tubing causing the foam by moving the pressure down (maybe 3 psi) and see if it is still super foamy.

i have had to deal with foam issues recently and literally changed every piece of my set up till i figured out i had a dip tube with a crappy weld that was basically a 3 foot long nucleation site. transferred to new keg and problem went away.

if the pressure doesn't fix it, then i would use the process of elimination. start by moving to a cobra tap at low pressure and if that fixes it then you know the issue is somewhere in your qd > line > shank > faucet. then just move down the line till you find the issue.

or if it goes away with pouring it could be as simple as warm lines and faucet but with your build i doubt it.

 

[rawlus]

ok - so first off it seems you are only tapping commercial kegs right now - they tend to vary in their carbonation levels but i would guess they are much higher than 8psi so that's part of your problem... (sometimes these kegs are a good distance from the faucets in a bar and may tend to have much higher initial carb levels than would be needed in a home setup where the keg and faucet are 12" apart)

turning down the gas pressure will help over a long period of time, but it won't do much initially if the kegged beer is at 14psi it is going to instantly foam if the pressure is set at 8psi. youre not applying enough CO2 pressure to keep the CO2 dissolved in the beer - the lower pressure of your system is permitting the higher pressure dissolved in the beer to come slamming out while inside the lines. so what you need to do is know what pressure the kegged beer was carbed at - and then try to recreate the same level of resistance in your hoses, taps, etc to keep the CO2 in the beer instead of foaming out - and this also requires dialing up your CO2 to the same pressure as the kegged beer... the alternative is to bleed pressure off the commercial keg, letting some of that carbonation go away and try to slowly lower, over time, the carbonation level of the kegged beer. this is a technique for overcarbed homebrew but can also be applied to commercial beer if you can't get the resistance of your system to match the carb level of the beer.

this is a somewhat destructive method IMHO - you're balancing the beer to your system rather than balancing your system to your beer.

i dont think 10' of 1/4 ID line is enough resistance to maintain the CO in the beer... generally the 10' rule is for 3/16" line - in your situation, for commercial kegs where the carb level is unknown, it might make sense to start with even longer lines, or lines of a few different lengths, so you have some options to try to balance the resistance while maintaining the carb level.

you could try a faucet with flow adjust - micromatic has the awesome & beautiful Flow Control Easy Pour (rototap) Faucet but its super expensive. Perlick has a flow control model as well.

I would recommend getting proper 3/16" ID beer line to increase flow resistance and start with 10' runs on each tap (for homebrew at normal CO2 levels) and keep a few longer lines to balance commercial kegs as needed and see how that does. I buy the line in bulk 100' rolls as you can always find a use for the line.

I would recommend taping the temp probe from your SCT-1000 to the side of a keg - it will reduce your freezer compressor cycling and give you a more accurate temp of the beer not the air in the freezer. try to have the probe in the lower 1/4 of the keg as that's where the thermal mass will be for the longest. once the beer gets below the probe height you may see the compressor cycling more often.

i have a similar 3-faucet 5.0 CU FT GE Keezer - my old 5.0 Holiday fit 4 kegs but the GE is a bit smaller and taller so i can only fit 3 (another 1/4" would allow 4)

i would suggest a MFL Bulkhead Adapter (Chi Company sells them) to get your CO2 tank out of the keezer and create additional room inside the keezer. makes it easy for your gas line to go through the wall of the collar in a clean, professional-looking way.

 

[Hello]

Aside from the great advice, it's a great keezer. Nice job. I love your truck too.

 

[StrangeBrew78]

Thanks for the info. I have yet to start brewing as of yet. Too many ovens in the fire over the next few weeks. But soon. I will swap out lines. I will have to stick with commercial brew for now. I'll look into the adaptor and picking up larger tubing today. Wat about reasonably priced dripped trays?


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[Hello]

Thanks for the info. I have yet to start brewing as of yet. Too many ovens in the fire over the next few weeks. But soon. I will swap out lines. I will have to stick with commercial brew for now. I'll look into the adaptor and picking up larger tubing today. Wat about reasonably priced dripped trays?


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I find drip trays are pretty much priced similar across the board. I give a lot of my business for keg supplies to keg connection.

 

[StrangeBrew78]

Ok thanks.


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[rawlus]

pretty good prices from ACU Manufacturing (American Coffee Urn Manufacturing)
http://www.shop.acumetalfab.com/Wall-Mounts/b/8626279011?ie=UTF8&title=Wall+Mounts

they can do custom fabrication as well.

 

[StrangeBrew78]

I bought both the 3/8 and 3/16 beer lines at HD today. 3/8 was too big for my nipples (haha). And everything I was reading was 3/16th was ideal at 10'. I swapped from 1/4" ID to 3/16" ID and it fixed the foaming issue. Needless to say the wife wasn't happy when she came home and I had been testing since 1500. Then the neighbor came over and I had to show him. So we just now finished testing the new addition to the garage. Haha. Good times. Now I'm ready to put some decent beer in it.


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[rawlus]

Glad it worked out!