Keg Splatter Through Line

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jkirky

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Gday Everyone...

Im new to kegging, but not to home brewing and have a little problem...

Whenever I pour a beer from my chilled keg (I'm using about 8psi serving pressure), the first runnings through the beer line splatters into the glass, causing excess foam... If i discard the first 50ml, the rest of the beer puts perfectly and has perfect head. With the splatter I end up with about an inch of head or more in a pint glass.

It splatters like theirs air in the line for about 2-3 seconds, then pours great.

Nots sure what the problem is, but would appreciate any advice!
 
Whenever I pour a beer from my chilled keg (I'm using about 8psi serving pressure), the first runnings through the beer line splatters into the glass, causing excess foam... If i discard the first 50ml, the rest of the beer puts perfectly and has perfect head. With the splatter I end up with about an inch of head or more in a pint glass.

It splatters like theirs air in the line for about 2-3 seconds, then pours great.

Nots sure what the problem is, but would appreciate any advice!
Have you looked at the lines inside the fridge/freezer, is there air (CO2) in the line?
If you have long lines coiled vertically inside your fridge/freezer the CO2 can come out of solution and sit at the 'top' of the coils, this CO2 is then pushed out (and splatters) as you pour off the first of the beer for the day.
 
Sounds like the gas is coming out of solution through a warm tap, after the first pour the tap cools off and the beer pours okay. What sort of tap set up do you have jkirky? Also, what pressure is the beer stored at?
Nothing wrong with an inch of head on a pint, some blokes would kill for that!
 
air leak or co'2 coming out of absorption and making gas pocket in the line ?

my cheap flow control tap does that if ... i just dump the 1st bit anyway as it's warm
 
If you pour a beer and then allow the taps to sit idle for a minute or two, does the next pour do the same thing?

As mentioned, CO2 coming out of solution and collecting at the tap is the likely culprit, in combination with the tap being warm and warming the beer up.

Mine does the same (Perlicks on a chest freezer) but after pouring the first beer, the rest are fine even pouring 20 minutes later.
 
I think wolfy is onto it... the beer line is stored in the fridge cold, and is fairly long, so coils vertically (and I have noticed air in the beer line...)

So question is, how do I fix it? I thought beer lines need to be a certain length ?

It doesn't bother me that much, but if I pour out the first runnings of every pint I'm wasting a fair smack of delicious beer...

Beer is carved perfectly (force carbed at 39psi for 39 hours) then serving pressure around 8psi...
 
If you compare it to how much you waste with bottles, 50mls at the start of the night isn't too bad.

I think wolfy is onto it... the beer line is stored in the fridge cold, and is fairly long, so coils vertically (and I have noticed air in the beer line...)

So question is, how do I fix it? I thought beer lines need to be a certain length ?

It doesn't bother me that much, but if I pour out the first runnings of every pint I'm wasting a fair smack of delicious beer...

Beer is carved perfectly (force carbed at 39psi for 39 hours) then serving pressure around 8psi...
 
Just suck the froth off the top :chug: and pour Sone more. It's beer init?
 
If you pour a beer and then allow the taps to sit idle for a minute or two, does the next pour do the same thing?

As mentioned, CO2 coming out of solution and collecting at the tap is the likely culprit, in combination with the tap being warm and warming the beer up.

Mine does the same (Perlicks on a chest freezer) but after pouring the first beer, the rest are fine even pouring 20 minutes later.

The first pour does it, however 30 minutes later it will do it again- I just looked, the beer line is collecting co2... It doesn't do it within 5 minutes of pouring beers (but I don't normally drink that fast...
 
The first pour does it, however 30 minutes later it will do it again- I just looked, the beer line is collecting co2... It doesn't do it within 5 minutes of pouring beers (but I don't normally drink that fast...

If its collecting that fast while your not pouring it may be over carbed or your system,whats you set up-font/taps/fridge/freezer/line length /dia,cause its strange that it keeps colecting after the initial pour,which is pretty normal but not 2-3 sec more just a phftt
 
The first pour does it, however 30 minutes later it will do it again- I just looked, the beer line is collecting co2... It doesn't do it within 5 minutes of pouring beers (but I don't normally drink that fast...

Unfortunately there is little you can do about it other than arranging the lines very carefully so the trapped Co2 rises all the way to the tap.
If you can't live with it, buy yourself flow control taps, then you can have a nice short line with no Co2 traps & hence no splutter.

Cheers Ross

Note: Air leaks cannot cannot cause this effect - if you have a leak in your beer line, beer will pour out, not suck air in.
 
+1 for Ross' response. I tried to fix this for ages and in the end it wasn't worth the hassle. My problem used to be over-carbing but once this was sorted it's just a nice big German head on my beer! All good
 
+1 for Ross as I have this same issue with my tap.
What I have done is make the Tap the highest point to then the splatter is at the start. What this means is I turn the tap on and then put the glass under which means I get rid of the splatter and get a perfect beer. Most of my mates forget and put the glass under first and get a glass of froth.

Cheers

Robbo
 
The reason you get gas bubbles in your lines is there is not enough serving pressure to keep the gas in solution.
ie - your keg is overcarbed in relation to your serving pressure or a warm tap problem.
As an experiment, next keg try to carb at a little lower pressure or for a shorter time. After its carbed, reduce your reg to serving pressure.
After a couple of days it should balance out and reach gas saturation point at which point your serving pressure should keep the gas in solution.
I use 200kpa for 48hrs which is slightly undercarbed and then stick it on about 75kpa and its all good the next day.
 

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