My buddy has a kegerator with a single tower. He keeps the thermostat set at 35F. His pours are extremely foamy even when he has the pressure set below 5 psi. I am not sure of the diameter but the length of the line from the keg to the spout is probably about 10 feet. I thought that maybe the first pour is foamy because the tower is at ambient room temperature however each consecutive pour is very foamy as well. Any obvious advice I should give him?
That is pretty darn cold…but I would say to ask him how he is actually pouring the beer. Is the glass at the right distance, is it angled properly?
As an aside, with that length, he should still be serving at 10-12 PSI (in general).
Dirty faucets, dirty lines, or clogs can cause lots of foam. I sometimes get clogs in the liquid poppet from stray dry hop bits
Another mistake that plagues college keg parties is noobs not opening the valve all the way. I see this at bars as well and I just shake my head.
Thanks. He pours correctly and I poured a couple the other day and was baffled. I have 4 kegs on and have never quite experienced what he has going on. Maybe I should just tell him to start by replacing the lines. Also theses are commercial kegs with sanke connections I believe.
Assuming clean lines/taps and correct line length and diameter, that really only leaves over carbonated beer in the keg. His regulator may be bad but they normally fail by dumping all the CO2 out via a leak.
I would start by taking the tap and line out to visually inspect them. Then clean them no matter if they look clean or not. I’d probably just replace the line if it’s cruddy at all.
Is this a sanke (commercial) keg or is it a corny keg?
Did this just start or has it been a problem for a long time?
Just looking for more angles to look at this with you.
Paul
Agreed with the above. Also I’d remove and inspect the liquid post (and poppet)for clogs. Like Steve said, hop particles can clog up the poppet/post. And I wonder too if the beer’s overcarbed - at 35F and 9 or 10psi, you’d get 2.5ish volumes. Chris - I know you said even below 5psi it’s foam, but where does he leave the pressure set ?
every time I had foam issue it was poppet related or the dip tube.
Let’s see it seemed to be maybe 7-8 psi at most when he showed me and turned it down. I will have to ask what he normally keeps it at but I am pretty sure it is below what would be needed to overcarb.
Let me repeat that he is having issues with commercial 1/4 barrel kegs.
Sorry, overlooked.
Oops sorry man.
No worries dudes. I appreciate the insight. He has had his system for quite some time and never had this issue. Seems that cleaning or replacing the line is the first step.
Infection possibly? Has this happened w. other beers?
It seems to have happened with every keg he has bought in the last 6 months or so.
Is there a huge temperature difference between the keg and faucet? How does an immediate second pint pour? A neighbor of mind had lots of foam due to the temp difference. We insulated his line which helped a little, but he really needs a tower fan.
-Tony
Consecutive pours immediately after each other are still very foamy.
Give the faucet and shank a good cleaning as well.
In that case, I’d soak everything from the D connector to the faucet in BLC and visually inspect everything.
-Tony
Is every single pour foamy, like if you pour a second glass immediately after and still get tons of foam?
Yes. Consecutive pours are not quite as foamy as the first but still very bad
Commercial kegs may just be carbonated higher as well as the warmer lines from the tower. And also the rise could factor in there too.
But like others have said, there could be something else going on here too. I do, however, doubt that dirty lines/faucets would cause this kind of a foam problem. It just doesn’t seem like it would affect it that much.