PSI Question

[GreatWhiteSlark]

Hello all,

I realize that this is a homebrew forum, however, I have been unable to find an answer to my question or an active forum.

Last night, my roommate and I assembled a kegerator and currently have a keg of commercial Shiner Bock on tap.

My problem is that its really, really foamy. The lines are chilled and the temperature is 38 degrees, which is what Shiner recommends.

I started the CO2 out at 12 psi, then went down to 10 psi, and now 9 psi. I'm still getting a lot of foam, at least two inches.

The keg has been at its present temperature for at least 12 hours now.

Do I need to crank the PSI down even further?

Thanks!

 

[Buford]

How long are your beer lines, and what is the internal diameter of the tubing?

 

[GreatWhiteSlark]

My CO2 line is 5 feet and the beer line is also 5 feet. CO2 tubing is 5/16" I.D. and beer tubing is 3/16" I.D.

 

[Buford]

You should be fine at 12 PSI with 5 ft of 3/8" tubing. Are you opening the tap all the way and closing it the same way? Throttling the tap can cause foaming.

Also, is the beer line chilled all the way to the faucet?

 

[GreatWhiteSlark]

Thanks for the help. It was fine at 9 PSI and eventually turned it back up to 12 after we drank the first third of the keg.

My line is chilled all the way to the faucet. It's mounted on the door of a standard size fridge.

One final question...do you know of a good set of instructions for refurbishing a half-barrel (15.5 gallon) keg for HB use? I'd like to make a simple unfiltered wheat from extract just to have around.