What are you people doing to your keg operation?

[Slipgate]

I have been kegging for over 2 years and have never, not even once, had a problem with foaming. I have short 4' lines and self contain everything in the kegerator. There are two kegs, each has its own regulator. The tower is refrigerated via an air line. I keep the kegerator around 35. I force carb at 30psi for 24-36 hours, then reduce to 10psi for most brews. My entire keg, start to finish, pours perfectly without any foaming issues. Kegs last an average of 6-8 weeks.

Are the issues some members are having possibly due to altitude?

Who here also has no issues?

I am trying to rack my brain and see what the problem is with those that have foam issues. I still think it is temperature.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I don't have any problems with either of my system. I think the issue comes down to tower temps with kegerators that have towers. For the converted fridge, I don' think people account for how far the faucet is located above the kegs. I also found that longer shanks 6-8" helped a little on my system when switching from 3". The faucet stays colder.

I have a converted fridge in the garage with 2 taps. Both have six feet of line with a gas splitter hooked up to my regulator. Pretty much the same setup on the Danby kegerator inside except I have a liquid cooled tower.

On both of these, I set my psi according to temp and desired carb level. I let them sit for 2-3 weeks and enjoy. Some of them have been on tap for 3 months, but that's usually the max and it's usually a bigger beer that I don't drink all the time.

 

[wildwest450]

Over carbonation and uncooled towers are common here.

 

[Bobby_M]

Out of 25 or so kegs that have gone through my system, I had one overcarb issue. I also occasionally leave my newly kegged beer on 30 psi overnight and I simply forgot about it for 3 days. It took a long time to purge that sucker.

 

[Yooper]

Mine has always been fine, too.

I guess one reason you see alot of posts with "help- it's foaming!" is just because the people without issues don't post.

You know, it'd be really boring if everyone without problems posted "No problems with my set up!" in the kegging/bottling forum.

That's how I found this forum. In one of my brews, I had a problem. It was the same old 'my rubber grommet fell into my fermenter!' issue I've seen many time since then. But I went to google and found this forum. If everything had gone well, I wouldn't have "needed" you guys!

 

[motobrewer]

i've had my system for a whopping 3 kegs (+1 commercial) but I've never had a problem. my co2 is outside, 10psi set n forget, 10' lines, high 30's temp. never had one foamy beer. no tower, 5" shanks.

my kegs have only been lasting 3 weeks tho...

god i love kegging...

 

[DKershner]

Are the issues some members are having possibly due to altitude?

Altitude is a possibility, but rare on this board. Chances are good that a high altitude brewer would have flat beer, not foam issues. See my sig for details, questions...

For the rest, it sounds like you keep your beer colder than most, use a tower, and are at a low altitude. All 3 of these things contribute to you being able to use 4' lines. I myself only use 5' on most beers, have no tower, am at 38F, and a high altitude and only have problems if I forget about a keg burst carbing. 2.4 volumes seems to be about 13psi for me, so that it what I set most of my beers to.

There is also the possibility that someone has less resistant beer lines. Not all 3/16" line is created equally.

 

[DKershner]

You know, it'd be really boring if everyone without problems posted "No problems with my set up!" in the kegging/bottling forum.

I think you just insulted the OP's post!

 

[Munsoned]

I have a foaming problem at the moment with one of my kegs, which I'm 99% sure has to do with overcarbing it. I've purged it once or twice, and dropped the PSI down to 10 or 11 (at 36-37*F), but it's still pretty foamy.

I'm not complaining or freaking out about it or anything. That's just how it goes sometimes. I'm too lazy to fix it all the way, so my beer is a little foamy and overcarbed. Next time I'll be more careful.

 

[Yooper]

I think you just insulted the OP's post!

Oh, no, I hope not! That wasn't my intent. I was just trying to say that probably the vast majority of us don't have issues, but you never hear about that because only people with problems tend to post about them, to ask for help.