Losing Carbonation And lacing After First Pour

The first pour always comes out great but the next and next get progressively worse. I have my keggerator at 38 degrees, 12 psi and 10’ line. Kegs are all force carbed for 2 weeks at 12 psi to obtain a medium carb. Is this common with others?

all your beers or just some?

All kegs seem to do this. Maybe I have to adjust the psi a bit when I feel like more than 1 or 2.

Losing carbonation or the first pour is more foamy than the rest? There’s a difference.

I doubt the first and am apt to believe the latter and honestly what you’re experiencing is normal. Its due to the lines possibly being a bit warmer than the keg itself. Once the warmer beer pours foamy the rest pours fine.

You can try to add a fan into the kegerator up the tower to circulate the airflow better and more uniformly to decrease the issue.

As for the carbonation, you should still see the bubbles rise from the bottom in all the pours meaning the beer is uniformly carbonated as it should be in the same keg.

What size line are you using?  I use 3/16 ID and 10 feet would be way too long.  There is a formula to figure out correct line length here.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/07/18/getting-a-good-pour-kegged-beer-co2-line-length-and-pressure/

I use 10ft of 3/16 and love it. Only downside that I find is low head, but that is easily solved by topping off by pouring like a noob.

That was my thought too but I’m not a tap line guru. Mine are 3/16 and about 6’ long. I usually have my reg set at about 12psi. I cut it to 10 with small malty beers.

+1.  Or OP could cut off 6 inches of line at a time until he gets the pour he wants.

Thanks for the replys, Its 3/16" ID and 8’ long not 10’ like I first thought. I’ll have to play around with the psi and hose length and see if that helps.

I think I may have found part of the problem. I lager and carbonate in another fridge at 12 psi and 35 degrees. I then transfer to my kegerator that’s set at 38 degrees and have my psi set at 12 as well so maybe that warmer 3 degrees changes the carb levels and I need to balance it out by raising the psi in the kegerator?

It would, but it would take another week or so to come to equilibrium at the new pressure, and it’s only a difference of 0.15 vol anyway.

Are you using the same glass?

Same glass or different glasses, it doesn’t seem to matter.

Seriously just shorten your lines.  I use about 3 1/2 feet at 10 psi.

+1

I have 5’ lines and serve ~8 or 9 psi once it’s carbed.

Don’t you guys lose carbonation over time serving at a lower 8-10 psi? Or do you keep your temps lower to keep that carb level the same? Seems kind a like a balancing act between psi, temp and line length to get the pour you want.

That’s exactly what it is. 10 psi and 38°F is the industry pseudo-standard, giving 2.4 vol CO2. If you want higher carbonation you’ll need more pressure.

3/16" line drops about 1 psi/ft depending on flow rate, so 8’ is right on for 12 psi. A More Accurate Approach to Draft System Balancing « SeanTerrill.com

This is the critical question. If the first beer is truly carbonated and the second beer is truly not, then something unique is occurring.

Its not that the second or third beer isn’t carbonated, they just seem to be less carbonated. I jacked up the psi to 14 and it seems better now. I may cut the lines down a bit as well.

I use 6’ of 3/16" lines at 8psi with the kegerator set just above freezing. This seems to maintain good carbonation levels on a multitude of beers. However, if I am having company and will be pouring multiple pints, I’ll turn the CO2 up to 10 psi. to get a better pour with the right amount of head. This small adjustment does the trick on my system.

Most of the time with my regular usage of a couple of pints a night, the system works on a “set-it-and-forget-it” basis. But, part of being a bar keep or tapsman is controlling the system for every situation. So, your system sounds pretty normal to me.

I’m at 40 degrees.  10 psi for most ales.  No adjustment needed.  I also have a low carb mild ale on tap.  This one sits on the shelf in my keezer and has less than two feet of line.  Set at 6 psi.  No adjustment needed for this one either.  It’s all about calculating the correct line length taking line inner diameter, regulator psi and height from keg to tap into the formula.

It sounds like you have more head on the first pour and less on the subsequent ones, the actual carbonation is the same.

This points to warmer lines than the keg and its a typical issue.

Adding a small fan to circulate the air will alleviate this to some degree.