[jwaldner]

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.

Thanks,

I recently swapped out my dip tube and ball lock with poppet to rule those out. I'm going to try putting in a 20ft tube next. A bit drastic but we'll see if that does anything.

I thought it also may be the temp but I'm reading about 38F on top of my keg and you're right about the temp being colder at the bottom, about 32F from what I can tell. The fan sounds like the next step though. What type of fan are you using? Does it run all the time and how do you have it wired in?

Thanks again

[Robert]

As far as a fan, go get a cheap computer fan. Should only run about $3-4. They take up very little energy, pretty much a cell phone charger's worth. I have two mounted inside my collar, screwed onto the sides.

[jwaldner]

With what and how are you powering the fans?

Thanks again

[Robert]

I had an old lava lamp (don't ask) 12V adapter. I just cut the lap end of the cord and spliced it into the fans and also got a nice on/off switch in the deal. Main thing is to not pump too many volts into the fan as you'll overload it and pop the circuit. The fans should have a rating on them. Most cell phone chargers will run the fans, but you need a bit more juice then they put out to get nice airflow. Just search your junk drawer for any adapters and try to get as close to the max voltage without going over.

Alert: I'm not an electrician by any means and my verbiage and terms may not be correct, but I hope this gibes you the idea.

[animaldoc]

I thought it also may be the temp but I'm reading about 38F on top of my keg and you're right about the temp being colder at the bottom, about 32F from what I can tell. The fan sounds like the next step though. What type of fan are you using? Does it run all the time and how do you have it wired in?

So if the beer is 32 F at  the bottom of the keg, you likely have a more carbonated beer than you are anticipating based on calculations ...... then it's hitting warmer line on it's way out and outgassing in the line causing foaming ......

I had some similar issues when setting up my system.  I didn't struggle with it for too long ...... just put 2-4 more feet of line on than calculations said I needed and the problem pretty much went away.  Not a scientific solution but got me pouring nicely more quickly.  Try your 20ft line as you said ...... you will probably be pouring very slowly but with less foam.  Then you can start shortening the tubing a foot at a time until you get the right pour.

-- Scott