I'm wondering if other people have this problem: The first beer I pour for the night seems to just leap out of the faucet. After it runs for a pour or so, it seems to settle down. The beer's not over carbed and set to about 2.5 CO2 volumes. The shanks are 3" with a 15/16" hole drilled for them. The line is 3/16"ID and 10' long. The pressure is set to ~11PSI. The temp is pretty consistently at 39F, but I have my controller allowing 4F variance. The faucets are cool to the touch but probably not 39F. The only finger I can point is that the faucet gets warm on the outside and will pour foamy beer until the line cools off from running beer from the keg. Is this right?
The first beer I pour for the night seems to just leap out of the faucet. After it runs for a pour or so, it seems to settle down. You have just described my demeanor at the start of happy hour. Seriously: your symptoms indicate warm faucets and shanks . . . but I'm having trouble accepting that as the source of the problem. If your faucets are 80F, the cold beer passes through it quickly so there should be minimal transfer of heat. In a 3 inch shank your volume is .046 ounce which is nothing to worry about. In the 10' of beer line your volume is only 1.8 ounce which is still pretty trivial. Your beer is served from the bottom of the keg, so anything after 2 ounces should be the temp of the bottom of your keezer. You might measure your temps at the bottom of the keezer and at the collar. This might start to give you a clue if there is a big difference. And we're not talking air temp here, rather stabilized temp of liquids (suggest using a bottle of water for the test). BTW, I keep my keezer diff at 8F and the temp is pretty steady at 39F.
The faucets would be around 65F basement temp. The feel cool to the touch, so I'll try to see if a thermometer can read even lower. I'll also check the bottom of the keezer temp vs the top. It is kind of strange that my Ranco always reads out 39 when I check it, but the dif is set for +- 4F. I checked it with another thermometer when I first finished the keezer. It was spot on. Maybe time to check again.
