Tons Of Foam!!

[HalfPint]

Hi,

Well, I just got my kegerator the other day and I finally got the right temp dialed in for my taste. I have it at around 50* and it's making at least half a glass of foam on now my third pint. It's been carbed for a week now at 12psi and I have 10' of 3/16" beer lines coming out of a dual tap tower. It didn't foam this much when I had the temp lower could that be a factor? should I turn my gas down to 10psi? I'm not sure exactly what should be done here.

Thanks,
J

 

[SporkD2]

the warmer the temp the more co2 will get absorbed into the beer, as a rule of thumb it should be over 42

 

[schweaty]

Is it every pint or just the first one? Towers without a fan pushing cold air up in them have a tendency to warm the beer in the lines. This causes the first pour to be very foamy. And yes, the adjustment in temp could make the difference as well. Try turning the regulator down to 10 psi as you said and bleed off the pressure from the kegs. Allow them to stabilize at 10 psi.

 

[dataz722]

the warmer the temp the more co2 will get absorbed into the beer, as a rule of thumb it should be over 42

It is actually the opposite. When a beer warms the co2 comes out of solution.

 

[SporkD2]

o yea, http://draughtquality.org/f/DBQM_Full.pdf (page 31)

 

[wildwest450]

You'd probably be better off getting the temp down, and letting your beer sit for a minute to get to desired temp. I pour at 42f and have never had foaming problems. If it needs to be warmer I let it sit a minute.

 

[HalfPint]

Hmm, I guess I'll mess around with the temperature and psi. This whole kegging thing has turned out to be quite a headache at first.

 

[Clayton]

longer lines and lower presser will help you should ahve 10foot+ lines if you want to server beer that warm. i would turn it down to 42 or cooler

 

[shortyjacobs]

Did you carbonate at 50° as well? Or did you carbonate colder, then warm up the fridge? If you carbonated at, say, 40°, then you have 10 PSI worth of CO2 at 40° in the beer. Which is much more than 50°/10PSI worth of CO2. So when you pour, it comes out of solution. Basically, you are overcarbed for the temperature. If you want to stay at 50°, you'll need to drop the carbonation in the beer....(purge purge purge).

If you carbonated at 50°C as well, then I don't know.

 

[BierMuncher]

Did you carbonate at 50° as well? Or did you carbonate colder, then warm up the fridge? If you carbonated at, say, 40°, then you have 10 PSI worth of CO2 at 40° in the beer. Which is much more than 50°/10PSI worth of CO2. So when you pour, it comes out of solution. Basically, you are overcarbed for the temperature. If you want to stay at 50°, you'll need to drop the carbonation in the beer....(purge purge purge).

If you carbonated at 50°C as well, then I don't know.

Exactly. You should carbonate at the same temperature that you are going to serve. Another factor is that at 50 degrees, you could have some small residual fermentation (and subsequent CO2 production) taking place that wouldn't happen at 37 degrees.

I know when I rush a drinkable beer to keg under pressure and...for whatever reason...decide to remove the keg from the chiller to stash for a month or so at warmer temps...they end up drying out and getting overcarb'd because of the start-up of residual fermentation.

 

[DaanMuller]

the warmer the temp the more co2 will get absorbed into the beer, as a rule of thumb it should be over 42

The colder the temp the more co2 gets absorbed....

The pressure increases with temp. For instance warm beer goes flat quicker than cool beer.

I carbonate at 2c for 3 days at 12 psi. Perfect.

cooler temps = better absorption

 

[DaanMuller]

o yea, http://draughtquality.org/f/DBQM_Full.pdf (page 31)

I read nothing in this manual that states that warmer beer absorbs Co2 quicker or more efficiently

can you please reiterate the passage you are speaking of?

 

[springer]

o yea, http://draughtquality.org/f/DBQM_Full.pdf (page 31)

I think you are reading it wrong the higher the temp of the beer the more PSI is needed to get the keg to the desired carb level . Because warmer beer wont hold CO2 in solution as well as cold

 

[HalfPint]

Ok, this is what I did. I built my kegerator (mini fridge conversion) on 10-3-09 (Saturday.) I had a 5 gallon batch that had been sitting in a secondary for about a month b/c I was saving it for my draft set-up. Anywho, I was so excited I did the roll/shake at 30 psi method until I got it where I wanted. Well, exactly what I did was set it at 30 psi, Put into fridge which was only at 60* b/c I had just plugged it in for the first time, let it sit at that temp for about 2 hrs, but then I got impatient and started rocking and rolling until it was at the level I wanted. I then purged and set at 12 psi. I did not start getting foam until I tried to pull a pint last night. The only thing I did different was turn the temp up Tuesday b/c It was too cold on Monday night.


I've been doing a lot of reading on this site about people's tap temps being different from their fridge temp which creates foam. I would think this is only a problem on the first pour of the night. Am I thinking right?

 

[shortyjacobs]

OK, so you most likely carbed it at around 50-60°, (assuming it cooled to 50-60° degrees in the 2 hours before you got impatient)...

I'm now going with "you over carbed it". I don't know if you did or not, but this would explain the foam, and the rock'n'roll carbing method is hit or miss at best. (I do it too, cuz I'm impatient, but it's very prone to overcarbing). However, if it's actually been sitting at 12 PSI for a week after you force carbed, it should have dropped back to equilibrium....

Also, is your tower cooled? (As Schweaty asked)...If not, do you get foam on your second or third pint pulled consecutively? (Pull one pint, get foam, pull a second pint right away, is it foamy as well?).

Edit to your Edit: yes, the first pint should chill the tap if it is warm...the second pint should then not be foamy.

 

[HalfPint]

OK, so you most likely carbed it at around 50-60°, (assuming it cooled to 50-60° degrees in the 2 hours before you got impatient)...

I'm now going with "you over carbed it". I don't know if you did or not, but this would explain the foam, and the rock'n'roll carbing method is hit or miss at best. (I do it too, cuz I'm impatient, but it's very prone to overcarbing). However, if it's actually been sitting at 12 PSI for a week after you force carbed, it should have dropped back to equilibrium....

Also, is your tower cooled? (As Schweaty asked)...If not, do you get foam on your second or third pint pulled consecutively? (Pull one pint, get foam, pull a second pint right away, is it foamy as well?).

Edit to your Edit: yes, the first pint should chill the tap if it is warm...the second pint should then not be foamy.

Well, I'm not thinking that I overcarbed it b/c it wasn't foamy for the first 3 days. I have purged the gas at least 3 or 4 times since I set it to serving pressure. I haven't pulled a few consecutive pints. I've pulled a few pints, but all were seperated by atleast 5 minutes or more. I think it's at equilibrium, but what do I know, I'm just a newb. I'm not going to mess with the pressure, b/c I'm not sure that's the problem. I'm gonna tinker around with the temp and let you guys know how it's going later on this evening.

Thanks,
J

 

[shortyjacobs]

Well, I'm not thinking that I overcarbed it b/c it wasn't foamy for the first 3 days. I have purged the gas at least 3 or 4 times since I set it to serving pressure. I haven't pulled a few consecutive pints. I've pulled a few pints, but all were seperated by atleast 5 minutes or more. I think it's at equilibrium, but what do I know, I'm just a newb. I'm not going to mess with the pressure, b/c I'm not sure that's the problem. I'm gonna tinker around with the temp and let you guys know how it's going later on this evening.

Thanks,
J

Hey, me too...I'm just trying to up my post count

 

[HalfPint]

Alright, well this morning I adjusted to temp and it's been at around 40* all day. When I got home tonight I pulled 3 pints. First pint was 3/4 foam, second pint was 3/4 foam, thrid pint 1/4 glass of foam. I'm stressing out. I have cheked to make sure none of my lines were bent or my ball lock was on the wrong way. I'm not sure what to do at this point. It doesn't taste over carbed, but Idk. What do yall think it is?

Also, if I over carbed, how would I know? Is foam the only indicator? Would it be carbed like champagne b/c mines not carbed like that.

If it is over carbed, when I purge the gas out of the keg do I turn the gas back on to serving pressure after or do I leave the gas off?

 

[Clayton]

just leave it off if the beer is still flowing out and dont add any more till you feel like you need to

 

[HalfPint]

just leave it off if the beer is still flowing out and dont add any more till you feel like you need to

IS that what you do once you've carbed a keg? I must say I'm now confused about setting a keg to serving pressure.

sigh,
J