My kegerator has been going strong for four years. Aside from figuring out the initial CO2 settings, I have never had foaming issues. With the last keg though (Manny's Pale Ale, Georgetown Brewing Co.), my pours started foaming something fierce. After finishing the keg I reloaded (Samuel Adams) but the foaming issues continued. My CO2 canister is low and I will be changing it, and hope that will fix the issue. I have run low on CO2 before though without foaming issues. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
More likely (though not necessarily) a bad gauge. <$10 and a snap to replace. Worst case, you'll have to replace the regulator after all and you'll have a spare gauge that you'll use eventually.
Since the gauge is on the regulator assembly, billandsuz would still be right!!! Curious Mike, how does a bad gauge create foaming problems? OP never said he adjusted dial. It be nice to know if a bad gauge acts like a bad regulator, and how would one know? I'm assuminghis co2 gauge is reading normal since nothing was said about it other then being low from apparent usage. Thanks for any insight; I am not a regulator operating specialist!!
If the gauge reads 10psi when the actual pressure in the keg is 15, you'll quickly end up with badly overcarbed beer and a foam problem. If the gauge is working correctly, that would not be the case. Which is why I think it's more likely to be a bad gauge than a bad regulator. The gauge is not part of the regulator, it's simply attached to it. It seems overkill to replace a perfectly good $50+ regulator just because it comes with a new $7 gauge. Would you replace the engine on your lawn mower because the spark plug was bad?
