new to kegging and need help

[mthenry87]

So I kegged my first batch of beer and I'm having problems and don't know why. so i hooked up the co2 for 2 days at 30 pis and then tried it and got a lot of foam. now 3 days later I'm still getting a lot of foam. i have tried to adjust my pressure from 5 to 10 psi and around 36 degrees. when i pour the glass its like there is a lot of pressure coming out and it makes the glass foam up a lot. I'm also using a picnic tap for now. any help please this is really frustrating.

 

[madcowbrewing]

So I keyed my first batch of beer and I'm having problems and don't know why. so i hooked up the co2 for 2 days at 30 pis and then tried it and got a lot of foam. now 3 days later I'm still getting a lot of foam. i have tried to adjust my pressure from 5 to 10 psi and around 36 degrees. when i pour the glass its like there is a lot of pressure coming out and it makes the glass foam up a lot. I'm also using a picnic tap for now. any help please this is really frustrating.

Yep, your keying needs work......now onto the kegging.

How long is your draft line?

 

[mthenry87]

beer line 5ft 2 inches i did leave the co2 bottle on for the 2 days on 30 psi was i supposed to pull it off
1/4" id hoses

 

[passedpawn]

[thread title and OP fixed; "keying" changed to "kegging"]

 

[madcowbrewing]

Your line shows you should push at 10 psi, so you are good there. I would say that 2 days at 30 psi may be the culprit. I usually do 40 psi for 18-24 hours. I did an IPA a month ago and over carbed it by 8 hours (I had to go to work and forgot). Unfortunately it is difficult to fix. You can try by taking the gas off the keg, degassing it, and letting the beer let some of the carbonation off into the empty space. You may have to do this a few times.

 

[cyberbrew]

beer line 5ft 2 inches

This seems a little short, is it 3/16" line? Initially I was using 10 feet of vinyl line at ~12psi and the pour was great. I've since moved to bev-seal ultra which has a lower resistance so my lines are 20 ft. Might be worth trying a bit longer line...

 

[madcowbrewing]

No he said it was 1/4" line, this should be fine at 10psi. At 10 feet you need upwards of 20psi. It also depends on the height of the taps. This is a good read on force carbing.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=73328

And this is a good resource for balancing your system.
http://www.iancrockett.com/brewing/info/kegbalance.shtml

 

[doug293cz]

No he said it was 1/4" line, this should be fine at 10psi. At 10 feet you need upwards of 20psi. It also depends on the height of the taps. This is a good read on force carbing.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=73328

And this is a good resource for balancing your system.
http://www.iancrockett.com/brewing/info/kegbalance.shtml

No, with 1/4" ID line he needs about 40 feet of beer line. The resistance/ft for 1/4" line in about 1/4 the resistance/ft of 3/16" line. It's no wonder that the OP is getting nothing but foam. 1/4" ID beer line should almost never be used in a home system. And forget the keg balance link in the quoted post. The only line length calculator worth using is this one: http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

Brew on

 

[madcowbrewing]

No, with 1/4" ID line he needs about 40 feet of beer line. The resistance/ft for 1/4" line in about 1/4 the resistance/ft of 3/16" line. It's no wonder that the OP is getting nothing but foam. 1/4" ID beer line should almost never be used in a home system. And forget the keg balance link in the quoted post. The only line length calculator worth using is this one: http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

Brew on

I was calculating on the resistance of a 3/16"....I didn't realize that the 1/16" difference in hose diameter made that much of a difference. According to your link, you are correct. Except, I can't wrap my head around that if it was perfectly carbed, would it still foam that bad? At 5-10 psi?

 

[doug293cz]

I was calculating on the resistance of a 3/16"....I didn't realize that the 1/16" difference in hose diameter made that much of a difference. According to your link, you are correct. Except, I can't wrap my head around that if it was perfectly carbed, would it still foam that bad? At 5-10 psi?

Yes, it would foam that bad with 1/4" lines, even if perfectly carbed. If over carbed, which it might be, it would be even worse.

Brew on

 

[Mexibilly]

Was it done fermenting?
Try different (lower) serving pressure and maybe up the temp to low or mid 40s.
I've had good luck with 35psi for 48 hours then ~8 serving

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Also make sure you are fully opening the picnic tap. If you're only partially pressing the tap open your creating higher pressure at the opening than if you're opening fully.
I don't think this is your problem but it certain wouldn't be helping anything either.

 

[mthenry87]

thanks to all for the responses so i was doing some youtubing and found a video that said put gas in on the beer line and bleed off the gas line. i did this 3 times and it worked great. now not to much foam but just enough its a perfect as i could ask for.