I’m relatively new to kegging. I bought a half barrel of Coors to share with some friends coming into town. I let it sit for 24 hours, tapped it yesterday, and one day later am still getting tons of foam, almost all foam actually. I’m running 36F degrees and 12psi. I have noticed small bubbles forming in the beer line right above where it connects to the coupler. These small bubbles combine to form a larger air pocket after a few minutes. I’m thinking this may be the cause of the foam but I’m unsure what to do about it?
12 is pretty high. Turn your gas off, blow the gas by pulling the the pin on the side of the taphead, shake the keg, repeat. Put your gas back on at like 5psi.
Thanks, I will try this. 1) do I need to untap the keg first before trying this? 2) how long should I pull out the pin for and 3) everything I’ve read online said between 10-12psi, is that not actually the case? Sorry for the basic questions.
Just turn the gas off. Pull the pin until no more CO2 is coming out. Basically the same theory as shaking a pop bottle. CO2 sometimes gets into solution in the beer, which makes the beer itself foam more. As for what pressure to push it, it's always better to play it safe by starting low, and work your way up.
I’ll let you know how it goes. I also want to reseat the coupler and apply some keg lube I bought just to rule a loose seal out of possibilities. What is the process for removing the coupler on a full keg? Just turn the gas off then decouple or is there more to it?
Last question - if I start at 5psi and determine I need to go up, do I just turn up the pressure on the regulator and it flows into the keg or do I need to do something else?
I'm not a home-bar aficionado, but (to reiterate @BBThunderbolt) it seems to me that one should turn off the gas, bleed off any and all pressure that's in the keg, then decouple. Depending on how much headspace remains in the keg before decoupling, you might get beer spewing out if you don't relieve the pressure. Hopefully with more experience than I will chime in, but as has been suggested, start with a low pressure, give it a day for the CO2 to get into solution of the beer, do a test run with beer to a glass. Repeat with a pound or two at a time until the beer in your glass is satisfactory. Other folks might have additional suggestions to help troubleshoot. Some questions you might be asked: What kind of fridge/kegerator do you have? You say you're "running 36F degrees". Is that the temp inside the fridge/kegerator or the actual temp of the beer as it exits the faucet? How long and what's the diameter of your line? Is it a reputable brand? Does your fridge/kegerator have a tower cooler? Wishing you luck.........
Thanks for the helpful answer! When you say “bleed off” you just mean pull the pin until no more gas is coming out? 36F is the temperature I have the keg set to. The inside is pretty close to that and the beer comes out just slightly above that. I am running a tower cooler. The lines seem pretty short maybe 4 or 5 feet but unfortunately I need the keg tomorrow and won’t have time to change out the beer lines. The keg is an Edgestar model.
I'd consider the possibility that ice has formed in the keg. A temp of 36 is pretty low, and the bottom of the cooler could be below freezing. I don't have a good solution, but I'd think about raising the set temp to a higher number. A 40F temp should provide a good temp for drinking. If this is the problem, I don't have a detailed idea of how to cure it.
Thanks for the helpful suggestion. I placed a cup full of water in the keg 2 days ago to test the temperature it is actually chilling to and thus far that has not frozen thankfully.
I have a different approach to your problem. Instead of adjusting just your pressure I suggest you take a good look at temp, pressure, and line length. It's common for a new setup to have one or more of these parameters out of whack which results in foam. Here are two lengthy threads that address almost all the things that can go wrong and how to adjust them. It's a long read, but pretty sure the answer to your foam is in here: BTW, a 4 foot beer line is almost always going to give you problems. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/foaming.193492/ https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/help-with-balancing-my-system.248243/ If you are not familiar with beer carbonation charts do a google search to find how to set the correct carb level.
Thanks for the links. Unfortunately I need the keg tomorrow so I won’t have time to replace the beer lines. Going to lower the pressure as someone suggested earlier in this thread and hope for the best. When I do get time to switch beer lines do you have a recommendation on brand/type or a tutorial for changing lines? Thanks!
3/16" ID, 7/16" OD. Buy from a supplier that is for the beer market, and not from a hardware store. Ideally, get a product called TPE, thermo plastic extrusion. That stuff is the most advanced currently and provides 3.0 psi of restriction per foot. It is oxygen impermeable. Vinyl beer line is also fine, provided it is NSF 51, and possibly NSF 61 as well. Start with 6 to 7 feet. This forum has a lot of useful information, and I caution you avoid rando YouTube "experts". Seriously such seriously bad info out there. I mean, it is mind boggling. Know too that Coors can be tricky to balance. 37F at 11 psi, 15 psi of restriction is where I would start. And then checking temps, etc. Feel free to check in frequently. Get a pitcher or two for your event. You pour into the pitcher and the foam will settle. People will gladly pour from a pitcher. Cheers
Okay so I’ve released the excess gas, decoupled, applied keg lube, made sure seals were tight, set the psi to 5 and then recoupled. The problem now is that my psi gauge reads 0 and there is virtually no pressure coming out of the keg. Any ideas? Do I just need to let it sit?
And just for reference, before I bought this keg I had 4 pounds left in the tank so I don’t think it’s empty.
Your description is a little confusing. If you've set 5 psi and it's gone to zero, that indicates your tank is empty. Pull your pressure release valve and if you don't get a big SWOOSH then it confirms empty. I'm guessing this is a new rig for you and it's common to have a leak on initial setup, resulting in an empty tank in a day or two. Just make sure all your valves are open and try increasing pressure to make sure. If really empty you want to do a serious leak check with the new tank. Just search this Forum for "leaks" and there's plenty of tips of how to troubleshoot. Also, if you do get the pressure back to 5 psi expect the beer to be near flat. An example would be to open a Coors bottle, let it sit for 'bout 15 minutes, then start drinking. Pretty sure the results will be bad. That's why you really want to balance at the correct temp/press.
