Hi everyone!
I filled a 5 gal. corny keg. I force carbonated for 48 hrs at about 30psi. In the keg I have a Flotit 2.0. I brought the psi down to about 12 and tried serving. Nothin’ but foam! I then expelled all CO2 over time to where I could open the keg. I observed that there was no foam on the beer. I closed it back up and started serving at 0psi. Obviously nothing came out and I increased slowly until I got just a small stream. The stream was all foam. I can observe that the beer line is pretty airy (as opposed to a nice solid pale yellow) so the foam is coming from inside the keg. So it’s got to be somewhere between the small dip tube and the flotit. I also checked to make sure that the flotit filter could not be seen above the surface, just the float.
I have no certain ideas, but could pressurized CO2 be entering the line somewhere between the dip tube and flotit? Maybe a hole in the tubing, or incompletely seated tubing on the tip tube or flotit? Or perhaps a bad gasket on your beverage-out post where it fits with your quick disconnect (or something in the quick disconnect)? Do you have another keg to try and confirm it’s a keg-specific issue?
You are over carbonated! 48 hrs at 30 psi is too much IMO. Disconnect your CO2 from the keg and release the pressure from the keg using the relief valve. Shake the keg, release the generated pressure (stop releasing pressure if you start getting foam out of the relief valve), and repeat this a few times at hour intervals. Let sit over night. After overnight rest try to pour a glass and see if it is still all foam. If so repeat the exercise.
If not all foam reconnect the CO2 supply and adjust to around 7 psi serving pressure.
The reason you are seeing bubbles in the beer line is that the CO2 in the overcarbonated beer is flashing from solution at the pressure drop it sees entering the line. Good luck!
I agree with Douglas. I assume you have used kegs before? If not, length of your serving line tubing is important also. Search up balancing a draft system- I think More Beer has a good guide on their site.
I agree with Geometry Dash. I assume you have used kegs before? If not, length of your serving line tubing is important also. Search up balancing a draft system- I think More Beer has a good guide on their site.
I think it could be the CO2 in the beer is too carbonated and is coming out of solution, check the keg for any holes and release the pressure created outside.
If it helps … when I force-carb I go with 48 hours at 20psi and the beer is cold … around 35°. This gives me a nice carb level. But that could be just a part of the issue. I don’t use floating dip tubes so I’m no help there. But I do use the very thin, rigid beer-out lines and they CAN kink if they’re confined in a tight area or if they’re pinched somehow. Any type of obstruction and any type of loose connection can cause this. I had one of my beer-out QDs get loose on me. It was slightly leaking but it was also causing a foamy pour. BUT … it is possible that it’s simply overcarbed beer and there is no other issue involved.
If this is a new kegging set up, you probably need to do some work to balance the lines with pressure.
If this is not a new system and it normally pours correctly, you still have too much CO2. Even if you released the pressure in the headspace, you still have CO2 at 30 PSI in the beer and you’re presumably adding more CO2 into the headspace. The floating diptube you mention has a mesh screen which is very likely knocking out some of the CO2 and creating foam in the line. You’re also knocking out CO2 at the tap and connections which creates more foam. I would cut serving pressure entirely and release the keg pressure a few times over the course of a couple days. You may still have some foamy pours but once it starts to pour closer to normal you can turn the serving pressure back up to your regular pressure.