Foaming

The beer has done nothing wrong, so no punishment due to it.

This question comes up regularly and a search in this Forum will point you to the correct solutions.

Basically, you do not adjust psi to eliminate foam. Your beer has a preferred carbonation level that you want to maintain. Your supplier or a Google search will reveal this number (expressed as volumes of CO2). If you really can't find anything use a mid-point like 2.5 volumes. You want to set a psi that corresponds to a temp that will achieve this level (search Google for keg/carbonation chart, lots of them out there).

You must determine the temp of your beer, this means investing in a decent thermometer. Ignore air temps, you want to know your beer temp. Use this number to determine the psi to give you the desired carb level.

Cut your lines to balance your system. Here's a tutorial. This looks a little complicated, but it's the correct way to solve your problem. The simplest method is to start extra long (10+) and trim a little bit down until it is balanced. I am 99% sure a four foot line will never give you good results. That's right, you adjust your line length to reduce foam. The only time you change psi is if you change temps or add a beer with a different carb level.

It may take a week+ to get all of these variables straightened out as it takes a long time for temps and psi to stabilize after adjusting. I don't know any shortcuts here. Some of your symptoms point to inadequate tower cooling, but you really want to tackle the entire balancing problem first.

 

And as you are searching and researching, you don't have first glass foam, you have foam. First glass foam is fixed by a tower cooler, foam is fixed by balancing as PortLargo is pointing out. To properly determine your temperature you need to pull a beer into a room temp glass, immediately dump it and pour a second beer in the same glass. Then use a calibrated thermometer and take a reading without touching the sides of the glass. Then you take that reading and your volumes of CO2 and go into a force carbonation chart.

 

know that you aren't alone. your problem is the same as probably 9 out of 10 posted here.

you should also know that each time you adjust the regulator you are screwing with the dissolved CO2 in the keg. up and down etc will eventually change the beer so much that you can't be sure what is going on.

so patience. minor adjustments. wait a day. then minor change and wait again.

also, you problem is your beer line is not cold enough. you may have a tower cooler but it isn't working.
Cheers.

 

OP - you should take a look at the lines before you pull a beer and then 30 seconds after you pull a beer. Are they solid beer or are there pockets of CO2? Do you see bubbles moving towards the high spots of the lines? Pockets indicate imbalance.

 

Here's a link to the chart they are talking about:

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

You need to have the temperature & pressure set for the beer you are drinking. Normally, as long as you are close, you won't have problems. But you are trying to fix a foaming issue; so take these 2 parameters out of the equation by having them set correctly. After I did that, I still had beer coming out a little too fast, which created to much foam for me. I put on 10 ft of beer line and have been in heaven ever since. But I started with the temp & pressure first.

 

Just another thought I see your beer line is only 4ft. They recommend beer line length to be at least 6 to 8 feet so I would replace the line and then give it another try and go from there

 

I have had this same problem with my beer. I have a picnic tap set up on one and a tower for the other keg. The one in the tower always pours foam for 2-3 seconds and then resides to liquid. I have done a lot of attempts but cannot get it balanced. I though I too was getting first glass foam but that's not the case for me either. I don't even want to put any of my really big expensive beers in there from fear of wasting too much of it. I had a 12 ft line and that didn't do it. I'm now at 5-6ft of line. While the picnic tap has a 4 ft line on it and I get perfect pours with it with a nice head.

 

This is because that exposed line is heating up a couple degrees above the keg temps. Thats why its foaming up until it cools the line down. Doesn't take much of a difference for the beer to foam up.

 

Temperature, volumes of CO2 and a force carbonation chart to get pressure. With 12' lines you were definitely doing something wrong if you still had foam.

 

@DougC123
My beer comes out at 39 degrees from the keg.

 

measure the temp of the foam only. i bet it is not 39 degrees.

truth is that even with the best system there is always a short blast of warm beer, and that is the foam problem. busy bars and restaurants can live with it because after 4 pm the beer flows fairly regularly. our direct draw air cooled systems will almost always suffer from a few fractions of inches of warmish beer line, no matter what we do. a good commercial system can fix these last few ounces but it is simply not worth the investment for the typical home bar (and it is usually not worth the investment for the busy bar either).

gulp the foam then pour the rest.

Cheers.

 

And what beers are you pouring, and do you know the volumes of CO2 for those beers?

 

Sadly, i got home from work and began to do some tinkering with the system but i have now floated both of my kegs. I have thought about getting a cooling fan but i realized that wont fix my main problem. I just seriously do not want to be putting expensive brews in there to keep trying it. The next 3 beers i have lined up, are big and expensive brews. @DougC123 i have kegged 3 batches all at about 2.3 volumes of CO2. 2 brown ales and one blonde(ish). All beers carbonated at serving psi (10) without any changes what so ever. I never changed the dial on the last two kegs i had on draft. The one with the picnic tap pours a good head, but the tower pours foam. When i had the 12' hose, i was using pin lock and my liquid post poppet was bad. I think it was sucking in air and i replaced the poppet and it seemed to work much better but still a lot of foam everytime you pull the handle. I have seriously done my research and i still cannot get this issue resolved. I just bought me a brand new keg and i am going to keg about 1 gallon into it using the tower and see if i have bad fittings/ connections. (I do not think that is the problem). One thing that sounds a little contradictory is that if i use a longer hose, i'll have more residual beer in the line, causing more first glass foam. I am not doubting the advice, i just am at a loss on what to do. Thank you guys for the help and patience. @billandsuz i measured 69 degrees on the foam on what little beer i did pour out into my glass when i got home. Although, im not so sure how accurate that may be since i barely got any beer.

 

the beer going to the tower faucet is not refrigerated. warm liquid holds less gas than cold liquid. the warm beer goes into the glass first and that is 69F foam. followed by cold beer.
the picnic tap sits inside the refrigerator and therefore is always as cold as the keg beer. no foam.

you need to get cold air into the tower. that is done with a tower fan. that will solve 99% of your foaming problem.

line length slows down the velocity of the beer at the faucet and makes pouring a glass manageable. i like to see about 6' myself as it is a nice compromise. too much more and the beer flow is variable and slow. too little and it will be a fire hose.

Cheers.

 

Billandsuz
Thank you, I will upgrade my line for sure. Now for a fan, whah is the best way to run a fan inside? My drain plug already has my co2 line running through it. I'd hate to put a whole in the kegerator.

 

For the tower cooler (this what you need, not just a fan) all you need to do is get a small wire to the outside, I'm pretty sure you could snake it in the same hole as the CO2 line. The power supply for these fans is essentially the same as a cell phone charger, so the wires are small. You basically cut the plug off, feed the wire through the drain hole, splice the plug back on and you are ready to go.

 

@DougC123
I'm buying the fan that has the hose with it to put into the tower. Is that what you're referring to?

 

Yes, that's what you need.