Beer Line Length And Froth

[Thunderlips]

I seem to be off to a bad start with my keg setup
I'm getting nothing but froth and just now, after releasing all the preassure from the keg, took the top off and out it frothed, still going as I type. Not to worry, it was only a Tooheys kit that's not that great anyway.
Now to try and get to the bottom of my problem.
The beer line length supplied and fitted to my tap by the shop is 3 metres, is that too long?
I did the shake and force carbonate method, maybe I over carbonated?
I added 1 kg of light dry malt to the Tooheys kit instead of sugar, could that have anything to do with my froth problem? The reason I ask, I've since read the Coopers faq and they don't recommend using 1kg of malt with their ale yeast. Maybe the same would apply to the Tooheys kits.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Gout]

I think the reason they dont want a "all malt" brew is there yeast is crap and there aint enough of it to ferment the beer out then. However i have done it before.

If you didn't have problems with the first keg trial i would have been suprised, as everyone does.

Try setting the pressure to 10PSI, leave the kegs sit over night (make sure there cold - eg 4deg) then open the tap quick, i always get a swag of foam first off, i tip the foam out then crack the tap open quick to pour the beer,

The warm beer in the lines cause foam, as does the warm tap, so letting a little flow helps cool it down and get the "line" beer out of the system.

Let us know if that helps

it will click one day and all will work for you! start with low pressure and build it up untill it pours ok.
i have 4m of the small beer line 4mm so maybe you need a lower pressure to start with

 

[GMK]

Need a bit more info - 3m of beer line length is ok - prefer 5m.
Tell me waht the diameter of the line is, the presure u carbonated / rocked the keg at and how long for ...

then i can help u with the kegging...

 

[Thunderlips]

Ok I was thinking that 3m might be too long.
Diameter is 4mm.
Pressure for carbonation, I'm still a bit confused by this and will need to show you a picture of my regulator.
http://members.optushome.com.au/thunderlips1/keg1.jpg

I had the regulator set to the big 3 on the upper left gauge
With the gas on I probably shook about 30 times and then probably rolled it a bit more on it's side on the ground.
What you see in the picture was what I thought might be a good pouring preassure.

 

[GMK]

I have %m of 4mm beer line connected to each of my 3 kegs...

pouring pressing is approx 10 psi or 70kpa.

I gas the keg at 250 kpa - rocking it for 2mins - i ensure that thethe wort comes from cc at 4-5 degees - decanted into the keg thru a GMK in-Line filter - then i have a Gas outside the fridge setup - a T piece, ball valve, 2m of gas line to a liquid disconect for burping and gassing the keg - i shut the ball valve so that no gas gets into the kegs inside the fridge whilei jack up the presure to 250 kpa to burp and rock the keg.

I hope this makes sense and helps.

 

[Gout]

I cant really tell via the pic, but let it settle then turn the gas right down, try a pour on a low gas setting, then slowly put it up untill you get a good pour. Hopefully this is high enough to keep the carbonation in the beer high enough.

Also some of my beers produce a ripper head and more foam, esp kits, and some come out without any foaming problems

dont stress have a beer(foamy beer even ), you will get there

 

[Thunderlips]

After letting it sit for a while it's now pouring nicely but is a tad on the flat side.
At least it's pouring well so that's something to be happy about. Maybe I'll try leaving it overnight at around 250kpa and see what happens.

 

[Justin]

Thunderlips, if you had your reg set at the 3 on the dial (that's 40psi) then that's too much pressure. You need to back it off to between 12psi and 14 psi. With 3m of 4mm beer line you should be fine. I use 2m of 4mm beer line and I carbonate and pour at 100kPa (14.5 Psi). After shaking to force carbonate your keg, the beer will always be frothy. Try releasing the pressure valve after shaking and you may get a beer shower.

My opinion here is to set the reg at between 12 and 14 psi and just leave it hooked up to the keg. If your keg is still sitting there at a higher pressure from your earlier efforts of force carbonating then bleed it off back down to 12-14psi. With the extra meter of line (over me) you should be getting away with the 14psi pour easily.

Remember to always have the tap fully open for a pour. Let us know how it goes.

Cheers, Justin

 

[Bobby]

i use 1.5m of 4mm line and i get no probs. pour using around 8psi (i use the head space pressure to pour so it does get slow after a beer or two, just top up the pressure when its slow.)
to carbonate i crank up the reg to 280 or 300 or whatever doesnt matter, and just shake it around 100 times or till the pressure stop dropping while shaking, i then release abit of gas from the keg, let it settle for an hour or so then pour and adjust carbonation accordingly.

 

[sosman]

Line length/diameter is only one factor. I compiled comments from various forums into a page (just for a change):

brewiki: kegging and carbonation

At the end of the day, it is not hard but takes a bit of getting used to. Carbonation levels in a beer do not change instantaneously.