Pressure question

Brewing Processes
1

I just recently upgraded to kegging and am loving it.
My first beer on the keg (Amber) was at high pressure, lots of foam and I had to be careful not to spill. My IPA, the second beer on my kegerator, comes out quite slowly, even after the sediment. It is still carbonated and tastes great.

I am wondering where the difference comes in to play.
I feel like I did something wrong on the second keg.

FACTS:
first beer poured fast and foamy
second beer pours slow but nothing wrong with it
connected to the same CO2 and beer connectors
second beer has been carbonating for 1 week
first beer poured fast as soon as I put it on
CO2 line is split to 2 kegs in the kegerator

Any info would be great. I want to learn!

2

How long are your beer lines? And what pressure are you serving at?

3

The pressure reads 20.

(20 of how much per what I don’t know)
I don’t have a way to set the pressure, only a way to read it as far as I can tell.

4

How long are your beer lines and what temperature are you serving at?

5

We’re you careful not to get hops in the keg, or have the hops in a fine mess bag if you dry hopped? I have plugged the dip tube and also plugged the poppet with hops. My solution is to now rack with a paint strainer fine mesh nylon bag over the racking cane.

6

That’s probably the problem - hops in the keg. It still comes out, should I do anything about it or just leave it for this batch?

7

Relieve the pressure and remove the beer out dip tube for cleaning and sanitizing.  Make sure you take pressure off the bail before you unscrew the poppet.

8

If the flow stops completely, you can disconnect the tap, and the pressure. Vent the keg with the Pressure Relief Valve. Use a wrench and pull off the out post. Pull the dip tube and clear it. Inspect the poppet, and you may have to remove from the post to clear out the hops. Sanitize, and reassemble. Put the pressure on, and purge the keg a few times with the PRV. Drop the pressure to 10 PSI, attach the tap line and see if it flows. You might want to clean your tap too.

9

Is 20psi your serving pressure?  That’s pretty high.  At 45F and 20psi, you’ll end up with 2.94 volumes of CO2.  Unless your lines are really long, it’s going to come out foamy.  You regulator should have a knob or screw on the front to adjust the pressure.