I recently purchased a new Insignia single tap kegerator. I hooked it up according to the manual, set the co2 to 12 psi, and turned the temp dial to 5 of 6., there is a 5' beer line. For days it's only been pouring glasses of foam. Not just the first pour, every pour. I bought a tower cooler thinking that was the problem. Now it pours glasses of really cold foam. Inside keg temp is around 37. Poured two glasses of foam and measured temp of beer after it settled and it was around 38 F. I'm using Blue Moon beer and in live in PA with a elevation of about 800 ft. Could a washer be missing or something? It's just straight foam. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I love these threads. Here is some reading material for you. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/foaming.193492/ https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/help-with-balancing-my-system.248243/ Also a quick google search for Blue Moon volumes revealed the following, from a forum: This is directly from Coors regarding Blue Moon. Thanks for your call. We are always interested in hearing from our consumers. As requested, the recommended keg pressure information is listed below. --16 pounds of pressure at sea level with a temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. --For every 2 degrees increase in temperature, you need to increase the pressure by one pound. --For every 2000 feet above sea level, you must increase the pressure by one pound. Example: If you have beer at 40 degrees Fahrenheit and you are 2000 feet above sea level, the pressure of the keg should be 18 pounds.
From the looks of it, you should return the Insignia to Best Buy. Just cut your losses now. I'm not trying to be a dick here but honestly, a $350 kegerator is just not possible. You already spent money fixing this junk in what, one week? Right out of the box it needed modifications. What is that telling you? I have to take the hard line approach here because too many people are getting fleeced. We have dozens of threads with literally hundreds of responses dealing with how to fix foamy pours. Insignia is a brand known for low cost electronic equipment. When Beverage Air starts making HDTV panels then we can take Insignia kegerators seriously. You can also ask the appliance guy at Best Buy. They are selling the POS and they should at least know something about the product. They don't because kegerators are not DVD players. What is that telling you? Best Buy and Insignia have no business taking your money. The good news is for about $700 you can get a pretty good kegerator, and very good used kegerators are available on Craigslist and especially restaurant supply stores. Cheers.
Thanks for the reponses! I adjusted the co2 to 16 per Coors recommendation. After waiting a few hours I tried again and it is still straight foam, but seems to come out very rapidly now. There are no bubbles in the beer line at all. I agree that this is a low cost kegerator but my wife got it for me around Christmas and I haven't had a chance to hook it up until now. Unfortunately it is past the return time in their policy. Even if it is low cost, all of my numbers line up. Inside temp is 37, beer is 38 F. CO2 is now 16. The fridge is cooling the beer so I'm thinking that it is either a regulator issue or a connection issue somewhere in the system. Do most home kegerators pour beer very rapidly?
Keep thinking. Again not trying to be a Dick. Um, professional kegerator $1300. Decent kegerator $700. Your kegerator $350. Do you want us to go through all of the short comings? Do you have $400 to bring this back to decent? Do you want to learn all the ins and outs of draft beer? If you say yes then ok, review all of the older posts. And get ready. Otherwise suffer shitty pours and lesson learned. It's nothing more than basic hardware and physics. But that is not what Best Buy is selling. They are selling at a price point. Congratulations. Cheers.
Did you read the threads from @Seacoastbrewer 's post? All you need to know is in there. First hint: you are pushing 16psi beer through a 5' line . . .
You need a tower cooler which as a by product of doing its job will also circulate the air in the box.
