Post Mix Keg Query

[reptar]

G'day, not sure if i found the right area in this forum to post my query but here we go... I've been fermenting and bottling home brew for about a year now and have learnt many many things. I've recently bought a 19litre post mix keg with CO2 gas cylinder. I've fermented my beer and transfered it into my post mix keg where i have been maintaining the CO2 pressure to around 250kpa every 6 hour for 3 days in a 5 degree celcius environment. After those 3 days i dropped the headspace pressure of the keg to keep it at around 70kpa to pour my first beer and for the life of me cannot figure out why my beer is pouring majority head or foam. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Cheers

 

[NickB]

Hi,

if you haven't already, have a read of the WIKI's:

Balancing a Draught System
or
A Beginner's Guide to Kegging

Some good info in there!

Cheers

 

[KGB]

Those two links are gold and should help you get it sorted. Most likely reasons are that the beer is over carb'd or the system is not balanced. Its not uncommon to have up to 4 or 5m of beer line to get the system in balance.

 

[Chops]

You wouldn't happen to be using a pluto gun to dispense beer for the first time, would you?
Maybe try venting all of the pressure from the keg and then try to pour a beer with just enough gas to make the beer flow and see how you go.

 

[reptar]

You wouldn't happen to be using a pluto gun to dispense beer for the first time, would you?
Maybe try venting all of the pressure from the keg and then try to pour a beer with just enough gas to make the beer flow and see how you go.

I am using the pluto gun. I know when pouring a beer that the trigger needs to be fully squeezed. Im thinking i have over carbinated my keg. I will try carbinating my keg in future following Ross's Method' -> http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=10667

Thanks for all your comments!

 

[Jye]

Welcome to the forum reptar.

Over carbonation is a major problem for new keggers and force carbonation is the main problem. If you want to force carb then do not go above the carbonation pressure (80-100kpa) and shake until you can no longer here the co2 bubbling in. This way there is no way of over carbonation. Or just hook the keg up to the correct pressure and wait a week.

Brewing is about patience so dont rush the final step only to ruin your beer.

Cheers
Jye

 

[mika]

You also got to snap the Pluto gun on fully, really quickly. Any sort of in-betweening with it will cause your beer to foam right up. Also keep the end of the gun under the beer and down in the bottom of the glass.

 

[reptar]

From what i've been reading, there seems to be a couple of different methods to carbinating a postmix keg. One being connecting the gas to the 4-6 degree C keg at roughly 90-100 kpa for 1 week. The other being the method of force carbination which seems to vary from person to person. I was told at my home brew shop to apply 230 kpa continually for 2 days under normal refrigeration temperature 4 degrees C. Keep at 70 kpa once happy with keg carbination.

With your force carbination method of applying 80-100 kpa, how many days do you recommend i do this before it is carbinated correctly and i am no longer required to shake the keg?

Thanks for your advice, im slowly learning here

 

[Jye]

You can either shake it for a couple of minutes and your pretty much done, or dont shake and chuck it in the fridge and wait.

 

[reptar]

Cheers guys, fingers crossed!