Swapped from picnic tap to normal taps. Foam city...Help!

[rtstrider]

Hey all! I upgraded my kegerator from plastic cobra taps to the El cheapo rear sealing chrome taps earlier today. The kegerator warmed up and all pours are foam city! When I used the cobra taps I never had this issue. Now the mouth on these taps are a bit wider than cobra taps. At first my pours were insanely fast (regulator was set to 18 psi) so I lowered the psi to 10 psi which slowed the pours back down to normal pour speed. I've used this setup with the cobra taps for over a year with no issues. The draft lines are slowly but surely cooling and it's still foam city. Should I give it over 24 hours to cool down then test a few pours again to see if this may be related to the kegerator warming up today? The kegerator was unplugged with the door open for around 45 min or so. Kegs were still cold but lines got room temp.

Oh forgot my tap lines are around 11-12 ft long and I keep my fridge in the 38-42 f range. Sorry for the information overload but hoping this helps with troubleshooting

 

[day_trippr]

I would definitely give the system time to reach equilibrium before doing anything dramatic.
What is the inside diameter of your 11-12 ft long beer lines?

Cheers!

 

[rtstrider]

I would definitely give the system time to reach equilibrium before doing anything dramatic.
What is the inside diameter of your 11-12 ft long beer lines?

Cheers!

3/16 inch. Should I give it over 24 hours?

 

[GoodTruble]

Yeah, wait 1-2 days. It may not resolve the issue, but you at least want to try that first before messing with anything else.

Also, mandatory question for super foamy kegerator - you didn't reverse the gas and beer lines, right?

 

[rtstrider]

Yeah, wait 1-2 days. It may not resolve the issue, but you at least want to try that first before messing with anything else.

Also, mandatory question for super foamy kegerator - you didn't reverse the gas and beer lines, right?

Nope! I literally removed the liquid line, cut off the picnic tap, then put the line right on to the new beer shank. Thinking waiting a day or two may be the best course here. I would rdwhahb but it's all foam lol Guess I'll just do the relax don't worry part Will try again in the morning and see what happens. Will keep this updated

 

[GoodTruble]

Even a glass of all foam eventually becomes a 1/3 glass of beer. =c)

 

[doug293cz]

How long were your kegs at 18 psi? It's possible (probable if it was a long time) that your beer is over carbed. If it is over carbed, you need to get the carb level down to get good pours. Your line length should be fine for the tubing ID.

To reduce the carb level, disconnect the CO2 from the keg(s), vent the head space pressure using the PRV, wait a couple of hours, and repeat. Continue doing this until the beer starts pouring properly (it should pour without having to reconnect the CO2.) Once you like the pours, and the carbonation level, reconnect the CO2.

A typical carb level for ales is 2.5 volumes. To get and maintain 2.5 volumes at 40°F beer temp, your CO2 pressure should be 12 psi. At 18 psi and 40°F, the carb level will reach 3.0 volumes.

Brew on

 

[rtstrider]

How long were your kegs at 18 psi? It's possible (probable if it was a long time) that your beer is over carbed. If it is over carbed, you need to get the carb level down to get good pours. Your line length should be fine for the tubing ID.

To reduce the carb level, disconnect the CO2 from the keg(s), vent the head space pressure using the PRV, wait a couple of hours, and repeat. Continue doing this until the beer starts pouring properly (it should pour without having to reconnect the CO2.) Once you like the pours, and the carbonation level, reconnect the CO2.

A typical carb level for ales is 2.5 volumes. To get and maintain 2.5 volumes at 40°F beer temp, your CO2 pressure should be 12 psi. At 18 psi and 40°F, the carb level will reach 3.0 volumes.

Brew on

They've always been that way. Have gone through around 20 or so kegs with that setup no issue with that setup. Then again I was using picnic taps. Wondering if this is a case of just let everything cool down and see what happens? Now I will say this was a used regulator so I can't vouch it really is 18psi. That's what it reads though lol

 

[rtstrider]

Tried again this morning and its still nothing but foam. Disconnected the gas lines and will be purging the kegs a few times today. Going to dial the gas down to 10 psi before I hook it back up. Going to read up on overcarbd beer and keg purging to see how long it's recommended before putting back on gas

 

[rtstrider]

Well I did this and it's immediately better!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/overcarbed-keg-heres-an-instant-solution.127655/

 

[day_trippr]

Well there ya go. 18 psi will challenge anyone's setup

Cheers!

 

[GoodTruble]

Nice. Glad it worked. Just in time for football. =c)

 

[rtstrider]

Nice. Glad it worked. Just in time for football. =c)

Well I'm down to a half keg at the moment. Going to let the other kegs stay off gas and burp over the next day or two. The keg I have is pouring much better but it now tastes undercarbonated. That's OK though! Going to just leave it be at 12 psi for a few days and let nature run its course