Poor Head Retention From Keg?

[chefeffect]

Ok so i have a issue with my kegs and have been putting up with it for a long time, basically i pour a beer and it feels flat in my mouth so i force carbonation it to get more bubbles, i assume its not over carbonated cause it doesnt have the mouth feel of say a pub draught. I pour a beer and the head is good it can be hard to pour the first bit as its all foam but once the flow is going i can get a full glass with little foam and a good head. After say 40 seconds the head is gone and the beer looks flat?? Tried different levels of carbonation, shorter and longer beer lines and smaller and larger diameter, big head, tried using less sanitizer in cleaning, clean glasses the lot!!! what have missed??? I use dish detergent to get rid of the mess in my fermentor but my bottled stuff is great?? what is going on i don't want to go back too only bottling but i like my beer good not they way my keg set up is producing it!

 

[Fents]

try not force carbonating it for a start. hook your gas up on your serving pressure for a week, dont touch it and it should be good to go. (may not work with an already overcarbonated keg which sounds like you have)

or if you really really in a hurry hook your gas up at 300kpa and leave for 24 hours then back the gas off to your serving pressure and try that.

* if its just head your having problems we need more info i.e recipe, All grain, KnK etc etc...( wife or girlfriend or single? :lol

 

[QldKev]

What pressure are you running the CO2, what procedure to gas up the beer, what line length and what taps are you using.

QldKev

 

[chefeffect]

Head problems are always the starting point with the missus and that's why i drink beer lol!! but head retention is the issue, i use kits and extracts i don't have time for all grain just yet. I have tried your method but i still have the same issue i guess i like a bit of gas in my beer so maybe i am over carbonating?? thanks Fents.

 

[chefeffect]

Hey QldKev i have 210cm on the larger diameter beer line running into a 4 inch american fridge door mounted beer tap, and i also have 150cm on the smaller diameter line on another tap both run off the same reg but i had the same issue while using only one tap, cant remember the diameters but think they are 4mm and 6mm??? I force carbonate by putting in 44psi and turning gas off shake for 15 secs and re pressure to 44psi and repeat shake method 3 more time, some times the beer still seems flat so i do it another time or two, and i pour at 11psi.

 

[cdbrown]

Have you played around with the draught balancing spreadsheet thats on this forum? Helps to calc the beer line length based on target carbonation level, temp and line diameter.

My guess is that you aren't force carbing enough and all the foam you are getting is due to the higher pressure in the keg forcing the beer out the tap along with the small CO2 that may have been absorbed.

One way I force carbed was to crank it up to 300kpa (or 44psi), give it a good shake, let it settle and do it a few times like you have done. But then I turned off the gas and shook it some more and the pressure quickly dropped as the beer readily absorbed more gas. Did it a few times like this. Pulled the relief valve to get rid of the high pressure. Dialed in serving pressure (90kpa for me) and turned on the gas. First pour or so was overly frothy, but after an hour it had settled down.

I normally just let it carb for a week at serving pressure and not muck around with the pressure guage.

 

[chefeffect]

Hi cdbrown, thanks for the note, i do pull the release valve before pouring and let it settle. I did try carbonating it some more last night and it was a bit harder to pour but the head would stay on better. I think i will let it carbonate at pouring pressure for a week from now on as getting the beer just right force carbonating is a lot of wanking about, its just i like to get my gas in the beer quick so it can start aging a bit quicker. I think will buy 3 more 19lt kegs and naturally carbonate them with the second fermentation, it tends to have more flavor that way too!!

 

[dr_fuct]

G'day mate my system I have used from the start of my kegging was fermenter into keg. keg into fridge burp keg. gas reg up to 44 psi check for leaks. leave for 48 hours. After 48 hours wind pressure off regulator. connect tap pull 1 "beer" bout a pint into a bucket at full pressure which would pull any sediment off bottom of the keg. then burp keg down to serving pressure set reg to serving pressure & generally never had too many probs good luck