Hi all, I just started a micro brewery at Cuzco-Peru at 10,000 ft of altitud. I had brew my first batch of beer last week, used a celullose press filter and artificially carbonated it in a conditioning tank to 1.2 Bar at 2°C, and a couple of days later I kegged into 30 Lt Euro Kegs. My system configuration is the following: - 4 ft 3/16" vynyl hose from keg to tower - 1/4 hp Flash cooler - 4 ft 3/8" vynyl hose from cooler to tower - 2 ft of distance between tower and center of keg The keg is at 10°C, and the beer is served at 4°C (after cooler) I've tried serving at 15 psi and I only gotted foam, next I tried at 20 psi and the first serve was OK, then only foam. At 25 psi and 30 psi the same thing. I' don't know what else do! And if the altitude is messing with the system. Please help! PD: sorry my english I'm a native latin american.
Just based off my own system, and my favorite local tap room, serving pressure is around 12psi. Maybe you're too high on serving pressure.
I don't completely understand your setup, but in your case there are four reasons that are likely giving you too much foam: Your beer is overcarbed. If you're really at 1.2 bar and 2°C this is a carb level of 3.2 volumes which is high. Your line length is too short. This results in too little line resistance, foam is a result of turbulence. This can be corrected with longer lines. Temperature is rising as you pour. Not sure I understand your 10°C keg then a 4°C cooler. But lowering the temp should decrease off-gassing (cold liquid loses gas at a slower rate). If your second pour has more foam that could be the result of the cooler not working correctly . . . warmer beer will off-gas (foam) more. Your decreased pressure at 10,000 feet will cause CO2 to off-gas quicker. At your level the air pressure is about 32% lower than sea level . . . this means the bubbles will leave the beer that much quicker. No work around for this problem. My guess is #2 and #3 are problems you can attempt to correct. Have you tried to measure the actual temperature of the beer when it is poured? Is this temp the same after the second pour? I would install a much longer line, maybe 12 feet of 3/16", and see what happens. You might consider reducing the carb level some (#1) . . . what style beer is this? Probably some combination of the above will solve the problem.
Pressure in and pressure out wouldn't need changed, due to altitude, would it? If I had to guess, I'd say no.
You need to balance the system. You have too much pressure, not enough line length. Try 10 PSI, after venting the keg several times with the CO2 off to reduce the carbonation.
Simply keep the beer at 2-4*C and you should have a lot less foam...the system is closed so altitude shouldn't have much to do with it until poured...drink fast : )
Altitude affects atmospheric pressure, which changes the absolute pressure, which means that dispense pressure (the pressure which your regulator gauge shows) needs to be adjusted accordingly. A rule of thumb is that you need to increase your dispense pressure by 1 psi per 2000 ft above sea level.
I'll plead ignorance here a little bit, but I live at 4,000' and although I do not use a flash cooler I can't imagine storing kegs at ~50*F after carbonation and expect them to pour correctly.
I think you have a few issues that need to be investigated and corrected. I also think that a professional brewery should be paying for professional advice to correct their system. Not that we can't help, but if you don't know how to set up and maintain a system, then don't set up and maintain a system. Pay someone who knows how to set up and maintain a system and your life will be much easier. It's your beer and you want it to be perfect. You will end up paying a lot more to fix mistakes when you inevitably come to this conclusion. So with that said... your choker line seems to be very short. 4' of 3/16" is not nearly enough resistance. we like to see about 8 seconds per pint. you are likely pouring from a fire hose and creating a lot of turbulence in the glass. once the correct pressure is determined you can add length. at your altitude you should be serving at roughly 17 or 18 psi. I have never balanced a system at such an altitude though. flatlander myself. use of a flash chiller is probably not a good idea in this instance. you need to get the beer carbonated to the proper vols, and the applied pressure required to do this is temperature dependent. so that is one issue. you also need to serve the beer with proper applied pressure to maintain vols, and that to is temperature dependent. I am not exactly sure how both could be done simultaneously. a flash chiller is typically used to lower the temp of properly carbed beer right before the faucet and then we are going from low 40s to low 30s for "extra cold" beer. I think you are asking a lot to try and dispense from a warm keg. you can carbonate at any temperature in theory, but as the temp goes up, the pressure needed to achieve your vols go way up as well. that pressure is going to be a lot more than you want to dispense. if you have any length of line that is not kept cold, you will pour foam. 4' of unconditioned choker, if that is the case, is not going to work. the line must be kept cold. this explains why the first pour is foam and the second is not as bad and I am pretty sure you have not addressed this issue. changing your pressure constantly will make it difficult if not impossible to know what the dissolved co2 concentration is, the vols. all changes take time to have an effect. change things up and your beer will be over or under carbonated. and maybe carbonated correctly but you'll never know. finally, calculate your vols. 1.2 bar at 2°C doesn't mean much to us here in North America. we need to know the vols, or the psi you applied at what temp and for how long. Cheers.
