Serving a commercial keg..

[riored4v]

Just got my keezer setup and have some homebrew stuff along with a commercial keg. I'm used to the pressures needed for homebrew, but what should I be setting my pressure at for the commercial keg?

Right now, with 10ft of line I have it set at about 8psi. I'm still geting about 2-3 fingers worth of head, but we also moved the keg somewhat recently while we were installing everything.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[rawlus]

8-12 should be fine, depending on temp, commercial kegs are sometimes overpressured for home use, did you pressure release before hooking it up? it should be able to equalize in a few days and pour normally.

 

[Shooter]

I run 10 psi with only five feet of line, at 40 degrees, on both of my homebrew kegs with no issues. I also run a commercial keg with about ten feet of line on my third tap and I usually run it at 10 psi as well, but can do 12 psi on that with no real problem. As mentioned above, I do purge the pressure before hooking the thing up.

 

[riored4v]

how would I go about purging the pressure on the commercial keg?

Sounds like that may be the part i need to do.

 

[JuanMoore]

how would I go about purging the pressure on the commercial keg?

Sounds like that may be the part i need to do.

Most sanke couplers have a pressure release valve on the side. It should have a pull ring on it just like the ones on corny kegs. If yours doesn't have one, I'm not sure how you'd do it.

 

[riored4v]

Most sanke couplers have a pressure release valve on the side. It should have a pull ring on it just like the ones on corny kegs. If yours doesn't have one, I'm not sure how you'd do it.

Found it, tried it, but stills seems to be giving us some slight foam issues.

It kinda sputters when it served with some big, intermittent, pours of foam at first and then follows with a good pour of beer.

 

[maida7]

It's fairly common for a commercial keg to be a bit over carbonated. It will be very dificult to pour in the beginning until it develops some head space and has a chance to bleed out some pressure. You can minimize this by keeping it extra cold, using a longer hose, bleeding off the pressure before every pour, etc...

 

[rawlus]

most of these commercial kegs are carbed with the thinking that they will be hooked to more than 5 feet of 3/16 hose. increase the resistance, purge the overpressure, drop the temp and eventually it will equalize... there is no magic with a commercial keg, all other things being equal (temps, lines, resistance, co2 levels) it will pour identically to a corny keg. when it doesnt, it is usually a symptom of the keg being overcarbed (ie. unbalanced) for your setup... it will take some time and a little effort to get it balanced for your system... put it on house pressure for your keezer and purge it a few days ina row, it should eventually equalize.

 

[ChadS99SVT]

I am also working on this with rio as well and maybe we are being overly picky/impatient but one other thing to note....it seems Co2 is building/rising out of the sanke into the beer line after we close the faucet. this co2 is causing the gassy parts of our pour. once they clear the line it's fine. we have checked all the connections and tightened stuff but whoknows.

 

[JuanMoore]

The CO2 is rising out of the keg because of an imbalance in the system. Tightening things down isn't the issue and isn't going to help any. Longer line might help a lot. FWIW I use 10' lines for my homebrew, but also keep a 15' line around for the occasional commercial keg.

 

[ChadS99SVT]

The CO2 is rising out of the keg because of an imbalance in the system. Tightening things down isn't the issue and isn't going to help any. Longer line might help a lot. FWIW I use 10' lines for my homebrew, but also keep a 15' line around for the occasional commercial keg.

I see....that makes sense....we are using 10ft lines..

 

[buzzbean]

Did you ever figure this out? I have the same issue. Commercial keg burps a blast of foam and gas then pours nice clean beer. Not too much of an issue because the foam settles out pretty quickly and I can always top it off. Just trying to get my setup as good as can be.

 

[JuanMoore]

Did you ever figure this out? I have the same issue. Commercial keg burps a blast of foam and gas then pours nice clean beer. Not too much of an issue because the foam settles out pretty quickly and I can always top it off. Just trying to get my setup as good as can be.

The vast majority of the time, those symptoms are the result of the serving pressure being lower than the pressure that corresponds to the carbonation level of the beer. If the beer is carbed to 2.7 vol (like most commercial kegged beer), and you're serving it at 38F, you need 13-14 psi to maintain that carb level. If you only serve it at 10 psi, the CO2 is going to come out of solution while it sits, forming pockets of gas in the line. It will continue to do this until the carb level of the beer drops enough to match the serving pressure.

 

[zachattack]

Did you ever figure this out? I have the same issue. Commercial keg burps a blast of foam and gas then pours nice clean beer. Not too much of an issue because the foam settles out pretty quickly and I can always top it off. Just trying to get my setup as good as can be.

Like JuanMoore is saying, this is indicative of your serving pressure being set lower than the serving pressure intended for the keg (assuming that the beer isn't warming up in the line, that is).

A commercial keg doesn't come "overcarbonated" or "overpressurized" compared to a keg of homebrew. Chances are it's just carbonated a little higher than you're used to, and you'll get foaming until things balance out. I've said it before, but the best way to properly serve a commercial keg is to find out the carb level (in volumes of CO2) from the brewery, and set your regulator appropriately. I've e-mailed the brewery for every commercial keg I've picked up, they're generally happy to tell me the carb level. Having the regulator set appropriately means you can serve foam free from the first pour.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/commercial-beer-carbonation-list-348911/

 

[buzzbean]

Great advice thanks!

 

[thejuanald]

What I've always done with my commercial kegs when I first get them is hook the coupler up but don't turn the CO2 on into the keg. Then I will pour myself a beer until it stops coming out if the faucet. Then turn the CO2 on to 10psi and let it sit for a few hours. Works every time.

I have a 10 foot beer line.