Stopping over carbonation

[dhelegda]

So I hook up my new at 4-6 psi. Let it sit a week to two weeks. I don't shake it. As the keg empties I get more and more foam how do I keep my beer at that perfect week to week and a half carbonation level?


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[doug293cz]

So I hook up my new at 4-6 psi. Let it sit a week to two weeks. I don't shake it. As the keg empties I get more and more foam how do I keep my beer at that perfect week to week and a half carbonation level?


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What is your keggerator/keezer temp? Is it a tower system or thru the side? What is the length and ID of your beer tubing? These things can all affect foaming, and need to be balanced correctly. Also, what is the style of the beer you are pouring? Your pressure seems low unless you are pouring stouts/porters pretty cold.

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[dhelegda]

It's a 5.1 freezer chest the taps come out in my kitchen, the tubes are 4-5 long


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[duboman]

Usuall 10' of 3/16 bev line at 10 psi at 38-40 degrees works for most people. Are the 4-5' feet of line you have in the freezer or going through the wall or what? If the lines aren't kept cold to the tap will beer will become foam as it travels through the warmer lines. This sounds like the problem from your picture.

 

[doug293cz]

You can find information on carbonation levels vs. temp and pressure here.

You can find information on proper beer line length here.

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[dhelegda]

There is about 1 1/2 feet in the freezer the rest is wrapped in pipe insulation then about 6in that got through the wall, 34-36 degrees


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[doug293cz]

Looks like your beer lines might have pipe insulation on them from the keezer to/thru the wall (a little hard to see with the carboy in front of the beer lines.) Is this correct? If this is the case, then you might get foamy pours for the first few pours after not pouring for a while. This is because the beer in the lines will eventually warm up, no matter how well insulated. Foam should then decrease as you push more cold beer thru the lines, and the lines cool back down.

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[duboman]

If you can hook up some sort of fan to blow the cold air through the lines in the wall it should help keep them cold throughout.

 

[dhelegda]

Hook up a fan to blow through the lines?


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[mlafnitzegger]

Your tubing is too short. You want to try to balance your system by providing 1ft of tubing for every 1psi of co2. Example; if you carb your beer at 10psi you want almost 10ft of tubing (the less you use per psi the faster it will discharge and cause foaming). This way your beer stays under consistent pressure. Works for me. Also the amount of tubing outside the keezer will result in 1/2 pint of wasted beer when you first start pulling beer during your drinking sessions. It will start out foamy due to temperature difference of beer in keg and beer in tubing. Some people drink that first pull. Not me...

 

[dhelegda]

I drink it. It comes out cold!


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[dhelegda]

I'll look in to getting longer tubing


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