I recently finished building my kegerator for my home bar. It is built out of a small freezer that sits in a closet behind my bar. The beer lines run through an insulated "tube" out the side and up into a box mounted to the wall. Inside the box is where the shanks come through the wall. I have a fan circulating cold air through this whole set up (i'm waiting on a liquid thermometer to check the temp). The rise from the bottom of the keg to the faucets is 51 inches. I started with 3/16th line. The shortest I can get it is 4 feet 1 inch. From what I've read I will probably have to switch to 1/4 inch line. To balance my system I need less than 4 feet of 3/16th. My first beer was Revolution Brewing Bottom up Wit. 2.52 volumes CO2 38 degrees 11.5 psi. I have not been able to get a good poor out of it. At first I knew nothing about line balancing, and was getting about half beer and half foam. It quickly got worse, and is now 100% foam every poor. My last effort was to try to balance the lines as is. I am at 13.8 psi, which according the the formula I found should be balanced for the line length, type and height. And It is still 100% foam. I have two additional concerns. 1) The keg may be getting close to empty. It's a sixth barrel, and I can't tell how much is left in it. 2) When I first put the keg in, the fan that is circulating the cold air in the freezer got unhooked. All the cold air sat at the bottom, and may have gotten below 20 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period of time. That problem has been fixed, for over 2 weeks now, but could it have effected the beer to the point that the keg is ruined? I am currently trying to get my hands on a slim quarter barrel of Coors light. Its cheaper and I won't feel as bad wasting poors trying to get this right. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. -Jason
This comes up with many new keggers, search this Forum for "foam" or "help" and you can see how others solved the problem. Here's a couple of good ones to start with: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/foaming.193492/ http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/help-with-balancing-my-system.248243/#post-3183725 You have the right idea on learning how to balance . . . but your train jumped the tracks on this technique. You definitely want to keep the 3/16" line and I'm 99% sure you will want to increase the length. The "line length" calculators are notoriously inaccurate because different manufacturers have different resistance for the same diameter line. They're okay to play with, but most keggers end up getting something too long (10+) and simply whacking it until it pours properly. Example: my 12psi/39F beers need an 8' line to give a good pour. To relieve stress, order about 25' of 3/16" line . . . you'll have a spare for when you change styles (carb levels). Also, you should have an accurate thermometer and measure the actual beer temp . . . this is key to balancing. Until you know this number you're shooting in the dark. Oh yeah, expect a day+ for temps to stabilize after making a change. Fans are good, but it's unlikely your beer froze. Standard rules: if it tastes good then keep drinking it. I would be worried your insulated tube isn't cool enough, but would tackle the overall balancing problem first.
You can't do much without knowing the beer temp, guessing doesn't really get you there. For a short draw system I would ignore the line length formulas. Use temperature of the second pour, volumes and a chart to determine pressure. The rise also doesn't matter. Stay with 3/16 line. In a lot of instances people go longer on the line to slow the flow of properly balanced beer. If you have air temps in the 20's you are likely running this system way too cold, a typical swing for air temps might be 36-40. If you are applying 13.8 psi to really cold beer you are over carbing it. As temp goes lower, so does pressure. In the end you need to know and control you beer temp, air temp means nothing as it is too volatile and changes much more rapidly than liquid temp.
And the fast typing award goes to PortLargo. I was working on my response at the same time, but apparently great minds think alike.
I got the 20 degree temps when air wasn't circulating, and I had my sensor too high. It was set to 38, but the cold air settled to the bottom. I didn't realize that for a week or two. I had the pressure between 10-12 psi at that time. So if I am understanding you guys correctly, I need to get a more exact temp reading, and get that adjusted to the 38 degrees I am aiming for. Then set the pressure to the 11.5 psi (or what ever pressure matches the temp I end up with) for this specific beer, and start with longer beer line and then trim it down until I get a good poor? How do I know if my line is too long vs. too short? I just noticed that with the current set up I have (13.8 psi 40 degrees air temp) I have air in my beer line. of the 6 inches i can see, I have one long air bubble just outside the coupling, and some smaller bubbles at the end of that. Do you guys have a recommended thermometer (preferably from Amazon, so i can do two day shipping). Will all foam I havn't been able to get a good beer temp. I was going to get a liquid thermometer to put in the kegerator next to the keg, and one to test the beer when i finally do get a pour.
The CO2 bubble in the line says you aren't balanced. Any thermometer will work. The only downside to a beer line too long is a slow pour. 10' is a great place to start.
Thermoworks anything. The Thermapen is the hands down best digital thermometer available and it really isn't up for debate. So there. It is usually $99! I have the RT 6000 and that is also a very solid digital thermometer. Can't be beat. Have a bunch of them actually. I think $19? Also Thermoworks is a great company. Do the research and you will see. Anyone who cares will rate Thermoworks very highly. Stay with Doug and Largo on this and you'll get great pours soon enough. A relief to see someone who actually read something before posting "Help I have foam!" which happens all too often. Cheers.
A couple of things about freezers: When you set the temp to give you 38° the compressor doesn't put out 38 degree air. Instead it runs like Dale Jr at Daytona . . . wide open. A typical freezer should output somewhere near minus 20°F, this is what your keezer is doing. This super cold air mixes with the inside air and when it gets a little below the selected setting, it cuts off. So when measuring air temps it can be all over the place (running vs static). The closer you measure to the evaporator plate the colder the air. This is exactly how your home fridge/freezer works and it's why we ignore keezer air temps. It's doubtful (IMO) that the 20° you measured was representative of the beer temp even if your fan was inop. This may be a problem. Your keezer really needs good air circulation to be efficient. Overall a freezer (or fridge) produces heat. Freezers need good air circulation and it's best to have a good space between the sides and the closet walls. Consider a vent fan if you notice the closet getting warm. Freezers are more efficient when full. If you have extra space throw in a 5-gal bucket of water (or two) . . . this minimizes temp swings and overall will use less energy. Also, once stabilized, the water temp will approximate the beer temp. Without seeing this, I would bet a beer the temp in this space is above your beer temp . . . it's just hard to get cold air to move up without some sophisticated fan/duct-work. If that's the case you will have foam on the first beer you pour even when your system is balanced. You can prove me wrong by placing a glass of water in the space, let it stabilize overnight, and measure the temp. The entry level thermos from Thermoworks or even CDN are decent, plus you can use them for other cooking chores. But it must be calibrated (search youtube for a good technique). While waiting for a thermo you probably should tackle the beer which is most likely over-carbed. If you had it at 13.8 for over a day your beer will have too many bubbles. To adjust, remove the gas and vent the headspace pressure to near zero. The beer will off-gas and in a hour or so will fill the headspace again. Depending on how much of the keg is beer or headspace you may have to do this 2-3 times. Then set the proper pressure and let it stabilize (a little bit of trail and error here). These changes can take a couple of days. Good luck and fire away again if you hit a snag.
Update: Progress. Beer was definitely over carbed. Followed some recommendations to take care of that, changed back to an 11 foot beer line I had already, checked the temp in the freezer to be within 2 degrees of where I had it set. Instantly had a noticeable improvement. Unfortunately, I now know that the temperature in the box where the beer goes thru the wall is high. mid-upper 40s (air temp). My first poor I get half a glass of foam. Dump, and second poor I get slightly more head than I want (line isn't balanced yet, still have air visible above coupler), but not horrible. I already have a fan blowing air out of the freezer into the box, should I try a bigger fan, or is that just going to be more the of same? Another thought I had was putting some bottles of water in the box with the air line. Will this help keep the cold up there or no?
When you say you have a fan blowing air out of the freezer, do you mean a tower cooler which delivers cold air directly to the back of the shank or do you mean something like a desk fan pointed in the direction of the beer lines? You need the former - deliver cold air directly to the shank, and you need to have adequate room for the air to return to the freezer. That air returning keeps the beer lines cold.
I get the idea you still don't know your beer temp. This is critical for balancing. FWIW, my keezer air temps swing 8° (± 4) and beer temp is rock steady. Any water in the box area will equalize with the air temp and give no relief.
Ok, I thought the water might help hold the temp in the box better. I have a computer fan wire to blow air into the box in one pipe, and then returns in the pipe that has the beer lines running thru it. You can feel the air blow back into the freezer, I'm just not sure where it's losing its temp. I've got a thermometer on the way, and I am finally able to get a good enough poor to check it, so I will have that soon. I'm not sure I can adjust the beer line untill I get the temp @ the shank figured out.
