Tons of head, little carb

[shibbypwn]

First time kegging. Force carbed at 30psi while agitating (over 24 hours ago). It's pouring about 75% head and has a little carbonation.

I'm guessing I just need to wait for Co2 to work its way into solution? Just wanting to understand what's happening inside my new toys!

 

[Golddiggie]

How long are your beer lines? What pressure do you have it at now?? Next time try the two week "set and forget" method, or the one from the sticky (in this section) here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/

Personally, I'm using the 2-3 weeks at serving pressure method. I'm thinking about getting one of the carbonating lids that you can get from More Beer to see how that works out. That would only be used when I need to have a keg carbonated faster than normal (for me).

 

[shibbypwn]

The line is just a regular picnic tap- i'd guess 2-3 feet?

I've reduced to serving pressure of 13psi.

 

[Golddiggie]

The line is just a regular picnic tap- i'd guess 2-3 feet?

I've reduced to serving pressure of 13psi.

General rule of thumb is 1' of 3/16" ID hose (Bevlex/beer line) per 1psi of pressure (serving pressure). Did you bleed off the excess pressure from in the keg? Too high a pressure and too short a line will give you tons of foam.

Most of the picnic tap setups I've seen come with 5' beer lines. I would still go with longer lines if it was me. I had ok results with shorter lines when I first started kegging. I quickly learned to not like the picnic taps for various reasons. Not the least of which was they tend to drip inside the fridge. I'm talking about what's left forward of the seals, that you don't get into the glass. There's also been people who have had them trigger by accident when placing them back into the fridge/kegorator/keezer/etc... Not something I'd want to happen to MY brew.

I would advise saving up (if you have to) and start getting some Perlic (525 or 575 series) faucets to send your brew through. Figure out what pressure you'll be serving at (most of the time) and get the hose length to fit that need. A couple of extra feet won't kill a pour, but under 1/2 the length will give you what you're getting now.

 

[alestateyall]

I have picnic taps with 10' lines set at 12 psi. I don't have a foam problem. That being said, I think Goldiggie's 1' per psi recommendation is a good rule of thumb.

 

[JuanMoore]

A very likely possibility is that you seriously overcarbed your beer. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but overcarbonated beer will actually taste flat, because when it's poured the excess CO2 comes out of solution forcefully, taking a lot of the other CO2 with it. This usually results in a lot of foam and a small amount of flat beer once the foam settles. When using a "burst carb" method rather than the set and forget carbonation method, people usually either agitate/shake the keg at serving pressure, or increase the pressure to ~30psi for a day or two without any agitation. Shaking a chilled keg for more than a few seconds at 30psi is an almost guaranteed way to overcarbonate your beer.

All that being said, it's going to be tough to judge proper carbonation level unless you are pouring from a balanced system, and as mentioned, 2-3' lines are way too short. The short lines are only going to exacerbate any overcarbonation issue you might have, and will probably give you somewhat foamy pours even with properly carbonated beer.

I'd suggest getting a 10-12' long 3/16" ID beer line and seeing how it pours. If it still pours a lot of foam, you'll probably need to de-gas the keg until the carb level comes back down.

 

[audger]

your cookies could be done a few minutes faster if you turned up the oven to 600 degrees, too.

however, thats not how good cookies are made.

 

[jaysbrewing]

your cookies could be done a few minutes faster if you turned up the oven to 600 degrees, too.

however, thats not how good cookies are made.

That's best put.