So i kegged 5 gallons of IPA last week. I burst carbonated at 20PSI for 24 hrs, then brought down to 12 until it was ready to drink. After two days it was pretty carbed up, but super foamy. When i reduced the pressure down to 5 it would pour slower with less but then started to go flat after a day. So i brought it back up to 12 in order to get it back to where it should be. 2 days later, beer is still not totally carbed but all i get is foam. First sip tastes fine but then the rest is flat.
My guess is that Co2 is coming out of the solution and its not entirely balanced. I use 10ft of 3/16 tubing, FYI. Any thoughts on what my issues could be? For now i am just letting it sit at 12 PSI. Will the foam goes down once its carbed up 100%? I did see some bubbles in the tap line yesterday also, which is more evidence of Co2 leaving the solution. Planning on just leaving it at 12% for awhile then checking back in on it.
I’ll take your word for it that the beer is carbonated after the schedule you used. I haven’t done that before so I don’t know. I do 30 PSI for 24 hours and then drop to 11-12 PSI.
That said, when beer pours very foamy I definitely feel the beer tastes flat. With 10’ lines and 12 PSI you should be pouring fine. So, maybe there is hop debris or something else in the tap? When my taps get debris in them the pour can get pretty ugly.
Having a lot of foam can be a good thing. It can slow down the rate you drink, keeping you from consuming too much too fast. That is especially important near the end of the year. Remember the old saying “There’s no pace like foam for the holidays”.
Sorry, I mistyped that - i did 40psi for 24 hrs. Then 12 psi for two days. It felt totally carbed then but poured super foamy. I had to turn serving pressure down to 5 to pour better but after two days of that it was pretty flat. Now its on 12 again and is all foam PLUS somewhat flat but getting better.
And there is no hop debris in the line. I use a top floating dip tube with a bouey that pulls from the top of the keg and i dry hop using mesh screens/spiders so there is no debris even in the bottom anyway.
If you are pulling in a lot of foam it will taste flat because you are knocking out all your co2 when it foams up. So almost certainly the beer is carbonated but losing the co2 as soon as it exits the tap. I’d be willing to bet that the problem is that you are pulling in co2 and beer due to something up with your floating dip tube. I have one of those I want to try but have not used it yet so not sure 100% of its mechanics. Maybe take keg apart and just use reg.dip tube and see if that fixes the problem.
interesting idea that since it is floating it could just be grabbing Co2 from the headspace…what’s the best way to remove it while not risking oxidizing the beer or contaminating it?
@BrewBama looks like we have the same one…has it given you the same issues? Assuming not since you recommended it? I can’t imagine that if this product regularly produced this much foam anyone would use it. I’m still fairly convinced that the serving pressure is higher than the vol of Co2 in the beer. Turned it down to 4PSI yesterday and it poured well, so assuming the beer needs to catch up to the serving pressure so its all balanced.
You may need to leave the beer alone at 12 psi for a few more days for the carbon dioxide to fully dissolve. Initially the carbonation is coarse and becomes finer over time.
And yes it could also be the floating dip tube. I have the same model. My very limited experience with a floating dip tube is that the beer was foamy initially, but after shaking the keg to make sure that the dip tube was floating properly and possibly undo a kink in the line and perhaps drinking down the beer a little so the level wasn’t all the way up to the top, the beer poured properly.
Good advice. going to leave it for a few more days and then check in on it. If it’s pouring right by then i will do what you suggested or replace it with a regular dip tube.
I use the filter screen to minimize floating crud pick up; but I only use this in my fermenter, anymore, and keg directly from primary through the Clear Beer Draught system pickup.
Any of the ball floating systems can get hung up on themselves, so that is why I only use it in the fermenter - only one moment for hanging up and it is pretty rare that it happens with this system, as compared to the others that use a ball float and rely on the light weight of the point of pickup to keep that part submerged. On those other systems, a simple twist in the silicone tubing can upset the pick up and cause foaming or minimal draw.
I see the difference here. My lines are picking up tons of beer though, and it is clear as hell in the there (though i can see some bubbles coming out of the solution). If there were a kink i would guess the line would be full of foam too. It only becomes foam once it leaves the tap and hits the glass. I may go back to my regular dip tube with a hop debris filter for the next batch if this continues after I’ve left this at pressure a bit longer to see if it clears.
I’d remove, disassemble, and inspect the tap before replacing the dip tube. If it is good I’d work my way backwards: remove and clean lines, remove and clean QD, remove and clean poppet, etc. until I found a smoking gun. It could be the dip tube but I’d work my way back to eliminate everything else.
