Too much head

[gaffrig24]

I never thought I would say this, but I'm getting too much head. I kegged my first beer on friday and forced carbonated it at 30 psi and rolled it for a few minutes. The beer was already cold at the time. I have since decarbed it and kept it at 12 psi. I have 10' of 3/16 beer line and my kegerator is at 38 F. I'm getting a glass full of foam everytime I try to pour. I look at the beer line and its just full of bubbles. My commercial keg line is almost empty of gas and I get great pours. Anyone out there know what my problem is? I just kegged another batch that I'm leaving at 12 psi and waiting a week, I've learned my lesson.

Keith

 

[Brewsmith]

It's probably still too carbonated. Degas some more.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

My set up is similar, but I'm running between 8 - 10 psi. Maybe dial that down a little.

 

[gaffrig24]

What's the procedure for degassing, I took the co2 line off and released the pressure. Shook the keg a few times and released it several more times. I then hooked the co2 back up at 12 after I stopped getting a big gas release. The beer is now full of foam but the carbonation still seems little low when I drink it.
Even though I'm having a problem with this first keg I gotta say that kegging is way better than bottling. I got a batch kegged up today and got all my equipment clean up or soaking in 45 minutes. It would take that long to get the bottles sanitized!

Keith

 

[Yooper]

Well, stop shaking it! Turn off the gas, and pull the pressure relief valve to degas.

Think about a bottle of soda when you shake it up. All you'll get is foam!

 

[gaffrig24]

I shook it up gently days ago trying to get the gas out of it, once it stopped gassing out I hooked up the co2 to 12 psi and haven't shook it since. It's blowing out beer like an empty keg, and it's not empty. It's spitting out big gas bubbles then foam then another bubble and more foam. Once the head settles down though the beer is pretty good.

Keith

 

[mr x]

Other than agitation and obstructions in the line, the gas coming out of solution in the line is due to a combination of too low a pressure for the temp (or too high a temp for the pressure). Are you sure your gauge is right? 12 psi shouldn't overcarb beer.

 

[Yooper]

I shook it up gently days ago trying to get the gas out of it, once it stopped gassing out I hooked up the co2 to 12 psi and haven't shook it since. It's blowing out beer like an empty keg, and it's not empty. It's spitting out big gas bubbles then foam then another bubble and more foam. Once the head settles down though the beer is pretty good.

Keith

Sorry, then. I read you to say you were still shaking it. Sorry about that!

 

[eddie]

You're not getting any liquid at all? You didn't accidentally swap your posts or dip tubes did you? It's unlikely but worth checking.

*Edit*

To clarify, I'm asking if you're sure you don't have your gas tube on your liquid post and your liquid tube on the gas post.

 

[wildwest450]

Is this a new setup? How far are you from your keg to your taps? 10 feet of 3/16 is to long for that size of line, usually 6 feet is max for 3/16. You may need to go up to 1/4 inch line if you need 10' of line.

 

[mr x]

I don't think 10 feet of 3/16 line is too much. I use 10 and 12 feet with excellent results.

 

[wildwest450]

I don't think 10 feet of 3/16 line is too much. I use 10 and 12 feet with excellent results.

There are a LOT of factor's to consider when choosing beer line, not just what works for one person, your system must be balanced.

 

[nyer]

I had this problem last week with my first keg. I have 6 feet of 3/16's line and I started around 4-5 pounds and got foam and air in the line. I bumped it up to 12 after getting recommendations here. I got less foam and air but still not what I wanted. I decided I was going to get this right so I kept pouring pints and adjusting the pressure a little bit until it was almost perfect. I ended up at 10 pounds and now my kegs almost empty. I plan to continue fine tuning the pressure next week when my IPA gets kegged.

 

[gaffrig24]

It's a new setup for me. I re-hosed a True 3 keg kegerator that used to be in a bar. The lines were almost brown so I replaced everything and cleaned it all up. I used the info I got here and went with 10 feet of hose which worked great for a store bought keg of Sweetwater. The liquid and gas tubes are where they should be, I just finished another foamy brew from it. I hooked up a keg of rootbeer and got a pretty good pour, the line filled with liquid and not mostly gas, but I used a second bottle of co2 and another regulator for that. I think the regulator is OK because the commercial keg worked just fine. I suspect it was overcarbed when I forced and I haven't gotten it right yet....if that's the problem how do I get it right and how long does it take?

Keith

 

[wildwest450]

http://www.micromatic.com/direct-draw-draft-beer-system-cid-1751.html Use this to figure your line distance, if you don't have this part right you are wasting your time and a lot of beer, trust me i've been there done that. If that's to complicated use this one, it should get you close http://clbe.net/balancedkeg.htm

 

[mr x]

There are a LOT of factor's to consider when choosing beer line, not just what works for one person, your system must be balanced.

There are factors that I have previously mentioned, but those online calculators aren't the best place to start if you have troubles. You're far better off asking other people what has worked for them. You won't find many people here using 10 feet of 1/4" line.

 

[mr x]

Also, do not throttle your tap to try to reduce foaming. It will definitely make things worse.

 

[wildwest450]

There are factors that I have previously mentioned, but those online calculators aren't the best place to start if you have troubles. You're far better off asking other people what has worked for them. You won't find many people here using 10 feet of 1/4" line.

Just using that as an example, he didn't mention the variables needed to figure the proper length of 3/16 line. All I know is i've poured a lot of foam down the drain before I used these calculator's, they work.

 

[gaffrig24]

Here's a couple of pics so you can see what I'm working with. As you can see the head is pretty tall and the beer line is full of gas. The line shot was seconds after the pour and after purging the tank of gas and adjusting the pressure to 10 psi.

Thanks for your help

Keith

 

[mr x]

Your line may be too warm. Do you have tower cooling? If you have gas coming out of solution in the line in a static setting (not pouring beer), you definitely have an issue aside from line length. It's likely either temp too warm or pressure too low.

 

[shafferpilot]

Is it at all possible that there could be a leak between the diptube and the inside of the keg? Like when a soda straw has a hole in it and you suck, but only get foam? 10 psi is a little higher than I serve at, but I've never had pockets of gas like that in the line. Not even close.

 

[JustMrWill]

I had the same thing happen to me...It took me several days to lower the CO2 in my tank...

I took the keg out of the fridge and let it get to room temp...I purged the CO2 every time I passed it...3-4 days later...I stuck it back in the fridge and hit it with 12 psi for several day....got great head after that.

-JMW

 

[gaffrig24]

The towers are cooled, so it's not warm lines. I wondered about a leak somewhere but got no bubbles when spraying it with starsan. I'd hate to cut the line and find out it was something else. I may get the keg to room temp and purge the CO2 out of it till it's completely flat again, hopefully that will fix it. In the meantime I guess I'll have to buy another keg of something to drink.

Keith

 

[gaffrig24]

I hooked up a keg that I filled yesterday to the same line and I'm getting a smooth flow. The beer is flat but mixed with what was in the line already it's drinkable and actually not bad. I took the problem keg out and I'll let it sit out for a day or so purging the gas off it. It's got to be overcarbed, I guess thats what I get for not being patient and forcing it. Thanks for everyone's help, hopefully it will work soon.


Keith

 

[FlyGuy]

I had the same thing happen to me...It took me several days to lower the CO2 in my tank...

I took the keg out of the fridge and let it get to room temp...I purged the CO2 every time I passed it...3-4 days later...I stuck it back in the fridge and hit it with 12 psi for several day....got great head after that.

-JMW

+ 1 to this advice. It takes a LONG time to de-carb, even if you warm up the keg to force some of that CO2 out of solution.

Having been through this a couple of times, you need to get out as much of that CO2 as you can. Every time you walk by that keg, or whenever you think of it, de-pressurize it. If the beer is undercarbed, that is fine because it is easy to get it back to where you want by slowly increasing the head pressure over a few days.

 

[mr x]

I find it hard to believe that the beer is over-carbed, but you never know. I've done the same thing (30 psi to quick carb), roll around for 5 minutes or so - basically until rocking wasn't dropping the needle more than 5 psi, and I've never had anything close to overcarbing. Anyway, good luck.

 

[FlyGuy]

If he had a lot of headspace, you could easily over-carb it in a few minutes at 30 psi. Judging by the amount of gas in his lines, it definitely looks over-carbed. Time will tell...

 

[gaffrig24]

The keg was full with 5 gallons of beer when I forced it so head space shouldn't be an issue. I guess the next thing to try is to cut the beerline down. After seeing the photo, does that look like the result of too long a line? It's 10' long 3/16 beerline with 12psi and the tower is 4" above the bottom of the keg. The calculators say to make it about 5.5 feet. What do you experts think.

Keith

 

[FlyGuy]

The keg was full with 5 gallons of beer when I forced it so head space shouldn't be an issue. I guess the next thing to try is to cut the beerline down. After seeing the photo, does that look like the result of too long a line? It's 10' long 3/16 beerline with 12psi and the tower is 4" above the bottom of the keg. The calculators say to make it about 5.5 feet. What do you experts think.

Keith

OK, now I agree with mr x. It doesn't sound like you could have over-carbed it in a few minutes of shaking @ 30 psi.

Usually you LENGTHEN your line if it is foaming too hard. If the line is too long, there will be very little pressure at your tap. What is it like at the tap?

Is it possible you have 1/4" line instead of 3/16"?

 

[mr x]

I see in your line it says 3/16". It know this is a looooooong shot, but maybe the line was mislabelled. If you can, you might as well check it. I just don't see shortening the line as fixing this problem, but I could be wrong. As I said before, if you have gas coming out of solution in the line, that's because the pressure is too low for the temperature of the line. Are you positive you have cold temp where your lines are. I had the same problem as you when I first started out. What I found was the temp at the top of the fridge where my beer line was coiled was much warmer than the bottom where my thermometer was. After I installed a small circ fan, problem gone.

 

[gaffrig24]

The line is 3/16 without a doubt. My kegerator has a circulation fan built into it. It moves air inside the cabinet plus there are hoses that run into the towers to cool them too. I just put another commercial keg in and it works great. I wonder if the pin lock post is bad and that is somehow causing my problem. I'm not getting any leakage at the connector though.
Here's exactly what I did to keg. First I put my carboy into the kegerator for 2 days to get the temp down. I then racked it to a keg and pressurized it. The keg leaked at the gas in post where it connects to the keg. I then transfered the beer to another keg with a jumper between the beer out posts on each keg. I pressurized the original keg to move the beer to the new keg. I then rolled the keg with 30psi for about 5 minutes and put it into the kegerator which is 38F measured in a glass of water. I kept the keg pressurized at 12 psi since then and get nothing but foam out of it. Yesterday I took the keg out of the kegerator and pulled the release valve on it over and over. After about 15 hours it was barely hissing. I let it sit for about 6 hours more without a release and still got very little co2 when I tried it again. Now it's back in the kegerator with 12psi hooked to it. I haven't hooked up a serving line to it yet to see what the results are because it's probably not at serving temp yet. Hopefully I'll get good results this time. If not I'll just have to wait for the head to clear and enjoy my beer.

Keith

 

[gaffrig24]

I finally got a good pour! I replaced the beer out post with one from another keg and it poured just like it should have. The carb was a little low from decarbing it earlier but I think it's finally fixed. Thanks to all of you for your advice. I've got 4 taps open now and one in the primary. I'm ready for some football! Go Pats!:rockin: