Only One Keg Foaming Heaps...

[jbowers]

Hey,

I'm running a 3 keg setup using line splitters. Currently have the fridge at 3c with a dispensing/storing pressure of 85kpa. My APA and black IPA are dispensing fine with adequate head - not so for my hefeweizen. I force carbed it aggressively to get a bit more spritz (at least til it balances out anyway), but it's pouring like crap - all foam pretty much.

Is it because it's more carbonated than the others? I'm using bronco faucets with curly hose from craftbrewer if that helps at all...

Cheers,
James

 

[Ross]

Hey,

I'm running a 3 keg setup using line splitters. Currently have the fridge at 3c with a dispensing/storing pressure of 85kpa. My APA and black IPA are dispensing fine with adequate head - not so for my hefeweizen. I force carbed it aggressively to get a bit more spritz (at least til it balances out anyway), but it's pouring like crap - all foam pretty much.

Is it because it's more carbonated than the others? I'm using bronco faucets with curly hose from craftbrewer if that helps at all...

Cheers,
James

YES

 

[crozdog]

sounds like you over carbed the hefe. disconnect the gas & burp the keg of all of the extra gas. leave for a bit & try another pour. you might have to repeat a couple of times.

edit - spell check auto corrected carbed to carved

 

[jbowers]

YES

Hahaha, cheers Ross.

 

[jbowers]

I should say - to my palate, the hefe is carbed perfectly though. Is there any solution to have it pour well with the current way it is set up?

 

[Wimmig]

I should say - to my palate, the hefe is carbed perfectly though. Is there any solution to have it pour well with the current way it is set up?

Yep as Ross said above.

Though, as long as you don't have a keg bomb it's not the end of the world.

 

[kymba]

I should say - to my palate, the hefe is carbed perfectly though. Is there any solution to have it pour well with the current way it is set up?

can you put a NRV on the gas line and extend the beer line?

 

[jbowers]

I cant extend the beer line unfortunately. My NRV is leaky

Good thing my reg comes with a built in one... I'm just going to run my fridge a little colder and settle with 2.5 volumes as a good medium co2 level.

 

[kymba]

I cant extend the beer line unfortunately. My NRV is leaky

Good thing my reg comes with a built in one... I'm just going to run my fridge a little colder and settle with 2.5 volumes as a good medium co2 level.

i'd disconnect that keg until you can stop the gas escaping and trying to equalise over the 3 kegs, and introduce more resistance into the beer line

 

[shawnheiderich]

Just as an afterthought I had a keg I thought was over carbed and could not work out how to fix it. It turned out after some trial and error that when I opened the tap the beer out post sucked air in and nothing but bubbles out the other side. So I guess it ain't always over carbed, more than likely but not always.....

 

[punkin]

I have a similar situation in my new keezer setup. i have perlick 525's on a 4 tap font with snaplocks. When i pour a beer it's pretty much all foam as the beer settles back down the line and into the keg, than 3.5m of beer line has to push gas back out and it burps gargles and foams.

Thoughts are that i haven't used spanners to tighten all the connectors in the font and it's pushing gas out there over half an hour or so between pours, allowing the beer to settle back down the lines?

I could maybe put check valves at the keg to stop the beer going back to the keg and keep the lines full?

 

[kymba]

punkin, your keg is overcarbed. the gas in the beer is escaping out of solution because it is not the same as your serving pressure, and is trying to equalise. give it a few burps until you notice there aren't any, or minimal bubbles/gas in your beer line. how did you carb it up?

if you didn't tighten all your connectors there would be beer and tears everywhere, and you would have no gas left in your bottle

 

[punkin]

I carb at 40 psi for two days as the kegs are cooling down. this is the quickest and easiest way i've found to do it and usually works really well in short lines.
I then turn the gas down ( or i should say change couplings as i'm using two regulators) to just enough to push the beer out.


I drained two kegs of this last night with a few blokes over and no probs with my short line to the outside tap..

 

[MHB]

Just as an afterthought I had a keg I thought was over carbed and could not work out how to fix it. It turned out after some trial and error that when I opened the tap the beer out post sucked air in and nothing but bubbles out the other side. So I guess it ain't always over carbed, more than likely but not always.....

Its a pain having to walk around the car every day to check that air hasnt leaked into one of the tyres and over inflated it.
Dum right, and air leaks into other pressurises systems like keg systems every day, for Christ sake think.
It is possible for you to get a leak around the dip-tube seal and for some CO2 to push past and up the line, easily fixed without a rewrite of the laws of physics, just replace the dip-tube seal.

 

[kymba]

I carb at 40 psi for two days as the kegs are cooling down. this is the quickest and easiest way i've found to do it and usually works really well in short lines.
I then turn the gas down ( or i should say change couplings as i'm using two regulators) to just enough to push the beer out.

I drained two kegs of this last night with a few blokes over and no probs with my short line to the outside tap..

if you drained 2 kegs in a night the gas probably didn't have time to come out of solution and do the equalise thing...dunno
maybe take a pressure reading next time it happens, just to be sure what is going on

Its a pain having to walk around the car every day to check that air hasnt leaked into one of the tyres and over inflated it.
Dum right, and air leaks into other pressurises systems like keg systems every day, for Christ sake think.
It is possible for you to get a leak around the dip-tube seal and for some CO2 to push past and up the line, easily fixed without a rewrite of the laws of physics, just replace the dip-tube seal.

:lol: gold

 

[shawnheiderich]

Wow what a wanker, all I was suggesting was to try other options other that the keg was over carbed. As good as I am I never suggested I could change the laws of physics just that a loose post would cause foaming. With the symptom being bubbles around the post. Maybe Poorly worded by me but deserving of a wanker reply? Oh well whatever, if thats how a retailer wants to represent their business....

 

[gravey]

Wow what a wanker, all I was suggesting was to try other options other that the keg was over carbed. As good as I am I never suggested I could change the laws of physics just that a loose post would cause foaming. With the symptom being bubbles around the post. Maybe Poorly worded by me but deserving of a wanker reply? Oh well whatever, if thats how a retailer wants to represent their business....

I found it amusing that he's calling you DUMB and yet can't even spell the word properly. Very poor form from a retailer......then again these forums are full of self-important wanchors who take every opportunity to try and belittle people to make themselves seem superior in some way. Its why I stick to my local beer forums and hardly post on here. I certainly wouldnt purchase anything from someone who acts in such a way either.....too bad if I had a dumb question eh? They'd probably make me feel like a moron for asking!

Your point was valid and MHB's response could have corrected what you had wrong in a much nicer way, instead he chooses to be a jerk. Great community eh?

[/end rant]

 

[stux]

Punkin, how long are your beer lines, what's the inner diameter and how much higher are your taps than the middle of the kegs?

The other thing is that warm beer lines can cause foaming too... this is a problem if you run your beerlines outside of your keezer, which is why people end up insulating them and running cold fluid alongside the lines (glycol or water), also helps to prevent the beer staling in the lines and growing things.

In essence, what you want to do is have your kegs properly carbonated at a carbing pressure, and then use that same pressure for dispense.

The dispense pressure has to be strong enough to keep the gas in the beer while it's being pumped up the lines to the taps, and give you a good pour, or a foamy pour. If its strong enough (ie greater than or equal) to the carb pressure, then the gas should stay in solution, as long as the lines stay at the same temp the beer was stored at/carbed at

If you have a foamy pour, you can then control that by applying back pressure with a flow controller, which is much easier than having to add random amounts of beer line to provide that pressure, but more expensive

 

[punkin]

I have 3.5m of 6mm id line. The taps are 750mm above the middle of the kegs.

The 2 kegs i sank last night were poured from my outside tap, which only has about 4 foot of line from the keg going through the wal;l and poured fine, i'm pouring from one of the other taps on the font atm and it's working fine.

The beer is slightly overcarbed and pouring with too much head, but that is not the problem i described.

The thing thats happening on this one tap (so far) is farting pockets of air through the line because the beer is dropping back into the keg rather than the line staying charged with beer, or gas is collecting in sections with beer in between.

I know the way i carb my kegs is not the way most here do, but i'm used to doing it the way i do and was unaware of the way it's commonly done here and haven't had the luxury of having enough beer stored to have a week or more to carb, or thegas line length to carb by rolling and then still having to wait the two days for it to cool.

 

[snoozer]

Hey punkin,
My mate has exactly the same problems as you describe, gas collecting in the beer line, instead of staying full of beer it slowly drains back into the keg. I've been thinking it may be the yellow washer(s) under the keg posts are leaking or the dip tube gasket leaking or popet valve leaks or... because gas is escaping into the beer line from the head pressure. causing turbulence when pouring (foaming) and over time between pours gas displaces the beer in the line.
Thats my theory anyway?....I've have to slowly bleed of the gas until the beer line is full (he has a pluto) and then snap open the gun quickly, otherwise I gets a big splosh when the beer hits the glass causing foam.

U'r over at HD also aren't u?
snoozer