[jwaldner]

We get foam on the first pull and in succession. I'm using a chest freezer with a collar for my keggerator so the 10ft of lines leaves the keg and goes directly to the shank and then the tap.

Thanks again

[rabid_dingo]

I wonder two things, If it may just be overcarbed. Possible. But...you mention that it comes out
fast. As if the keg may be empty, maybe? I ask because I now wonder if there is a hole in
your dip tube. Or there abouts, small enought to allow beer to be pushed up the line but
large enough that it is pushing gas into the line on its way out. Above the beer line. Kind of
like getting a straw for a soda with a hole in it. You don't find it until the soda level is below the hole...

Something worth checking, probably a last resort though. I would hate to have you ruin
your beer to find out there is no hole...

[jwaldner]

Thanks I'll try that and let you know.

I just looked at one of my other taps that's not connected and noticed I'm using a 1/4" shank with a 1/4" tail piece with 3/16" I.D. tubing for all of my taps. Would going from 3/16" tubing to 1/4" bore on my shank have any effect on the beer?

Thanks again

[dhacker]

It would just mean you'd need more line length to keep the restriction the same. 3/16" line on 1/4" tail pieces probably accounts for 99% of the systems out there. So you're good on that front.

Quite a mystery ya got goin' on! 

[MrNate]

I did a bunch of calculations for line length, but I still had crappy pours. I ended up throwing out the calcs and just running 10' of line, and it works a lot better now.

[lyleerickson]

Do you or a friend have another keg of beer you can hook up to your gas line?  If so, you might be able to isolate the problem by hooking both kegs up in your fridge for a week.  If both kegs foam, might be the regulator or some other shared component.  If only one does, then you can start switching parts of the system (e.g. the tap lines, etc.) to see what part is causing the problem.

I had a similar problem, and for reasons I don't understand ended up having to replace the output poppet.

[jwaldner]

I vented my keg last night and dialed down the pressure to 4psi and the beer seems to be serving pretty good today. I still get a little more head then what I would like (about more than half head of beer) but I'm not sure if there's anything else I can do.

The problem still remains though that I don't know what's causing this and I don't want to always have to serve my beers at this level because I would like to serve them to style and because I bought an expensive 3-way regulator to accomplish that.

I guess I'm thinking like someone suggested either there's something wrong with my dip tube or poppet but won't know until I crack the keg. I don't have anyone I know locally with a keg to test so that's not an option. I guess it could also just be overcarbonated but not sure how that would have happened.

When I carbonated the beer I just did the set it and forget it method and didn't exceed the 13.34psi for the style. Can you overcabornate your beer in this manner?

Thanks again to all

[tschmidlin]

The only way you could over carbonate the beer the way you did it would be if the temp was colder than you thought or the regulator is wrong.  It could be a problem with a dip tube or poppet, or the line.

Still, the way you tested it is flawed. 

I vented my keg last night and dialed down the pressure to 4psi and the beer seems to be serving pretty good today

By venting the keg you released some pressure, but overnight the gas will come out of the beer and you will have pressure in the keg again.  You set the regulator to 4 psi, but that is not indicative of the pressure in the keg, just in the regulator.  It's likely that all you did was remove some of the pressure in the keg, but it is probably still above 10 psi depending on how much beer is in it.

My advice is to vent it and begin pouring immediately.  It shouldn't pour at all without pressure, so then you start adding pressure until you like the pour.  As it sits though, more gas will come out of solution so even if you like the pour at 8 psi you might not like it tomorrow if enough gas comes out of the beer and raises the pressure in the keg above that.

While you are doing it look at the lines - where does the foam start?  If it is foaming coming out of the keg even at very low pressures then I'd lean toward the dip tube/poppet as the problem.  If it is liquid in the line but foaming at or partway to the tap, it is most likely that there is too much pressure at the tap, meaning your line diameter/length isn't restrictive enough.

Once you know at what psi you like the pour you can vent the keg repeatedly to get it down and stable at that psi, or just extend your lines to make up for it.

[jwaldner]

All,

I get a pretty decent pour at about 6psi. However, I'm seeing bubbles in my line starting from my keg or poppet. Does this mean my beer is overcarbonated or perhaps there's something wrong with the keg?

Thanks

[tschmidlin]

Bubbles or foam?  And is this while you are pouring or when you've stopped?

Personally I would vent the keg, take off the post, pull the dip tube and poppet, clean/inspect everything, sanitize, then put it back together and see if it helps.  The keg will be fine while you do it, just cover the hole with some sanitized foil while it is open to keep anything from falling in.

If you have a spare poppet you could swap it out - if not, consider switching the gas in and liquid out poppets and see if it helps.

[dhacker]

Is it possible that by setting the serving pressure at 6 PSI the beer is out gassing before it equalizes back to its original carbonation level and he's picking up bubbles in the line from that?

[tschmidlin]

Crap, good point.  I think that's totally possible.  It still shouldn't be foaming, but I think that could definitely be the source of the bubbles right at the keg.

How does it taste - over carbonated, just right, something else?

[jwaldner]

All,

It was bubbles and I think you're right about the out gassing as well. Because if I increase the pressure I can see the bubbles move and it appears like the line is clearing.

The beer does taste good at 6psi. I just hate to have to always vent my keg before serving and turn down the pressure. I would like to meet whomever came up with the formula to balance a kegging system because it sure doesn't seem to work at this point.

I think I need to take Tom's suggestion next and just crack it open and see if there's something wrong with the poppet or dip tube. I really have nothing left to troubleshoot except the keg itself and believe it or not I'm getting tired of drinking pints of Hefeweizen every night :-)

Thanks again

[tschmidlin]

You're probably tired of talking about this too (not just tired of drinking the beer), but to me it really sounds like your line is just too short for your serving pressure.  So IMO either your line isn't as restrictive as it should be, or your regulator is off.  But who knows at this point.

[stlaleman]

I had this problem in my converted freezer also. I found that the tempeture varied greatly with the distance from the bottom of the freezer. Placing a small fan on the compressor hump equalized the temperature from top to bottom, so now my beer flows nicely as soon as the faucet cools down (about a third glass of foam, subsiquent pours don't have this problem).
One other thing it could be is a dirty faucet, bit of hops stuck in there.