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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.