Too much Foam

[illinifan]

I bought a used kegerator made from a standup fridge with a single faucet on the side. I'm not able to get good pour from the faucet. The faucet is attached to a 1/4" tail piece, so I got some 1/4" tubing and cut it to the appropriate length. Nothing but foam. I tried several different lenghts, from very short to very long. I made sure to coil the excess tubing on top of the keg to prevent drooping.

As a control, I bought a Foam-Free Tubing Kit from Northern brewer which consists of a ball lock liquid/out disconnect, a plastic faucet head, 5 feet of 3/16" tubing. With this setup, I have no problem pouring a beer with pressure is set at 12 PSI.

The faucet in the (left) side of the fridge is not much higher than the top of the keg. Could this be the problem? I could get rid of the drawers at the bottom of the fridge and increase this distance, but I'd rather not.

Could the faucet be defective? My next step is the buy a new tail piece (3/16) and use the 5 feet of 3/16 tubing that currently works with the cobra tap.

Any other ideas?

Thanks-

 

[mosquitocontrol]

I wouldn't start replacing parts just yet. You just haven't gotten your system dialed in and balanced. One really important piece of information you need is the temperature. Its just as important in the foam factor as pressure setting.

 

[illinifan]

Temp is around 35, just threw in a thermometer to get an exact temp. The idea to switch to a 3/16th is because I'm not having problems with 5 feet of 3/16 attached to my cobra tap. Seems like if I just used 5 feet of 3/16 and still had problems, it would have to be the faucet.

Thanks for the response!

 

[JuanMoore]

Temp is around 35, just threw in a thermometer to get an exact temp. The idea to switch to a 3/16th is because I'm not having problems with 5 feet of 3/16 attached to my cobra tap. Seems like if I just used 5 feet of 3/16 and still had problems, it would have to be the faucet.

Thanks for the response!

3/16" line provides way more resistance per foot than 1/4" line (~2.25#/ft vs 0.65#/ft). Your 5' of 3/16" line is equal to about 17' of 1/4" line. If you soak the end of a 3/16" hose in some hot water it will slide on the 1/4" shank, so you could easily put your 3/16" line on your faucet and try it out.