Dispensing pressure for keg system.

[Lewis]

My beer is finally carbonated and ready to drink (Thanks for all your help guys!) However i am pouring nothing but foam i have tried turning the regulator down as well as up but am able to find the correct dispensing pressure. I am using 3 meters of 5mm line to my beer gun and using about 30KPA of pressure but still get foam. It does clear after a while but is very annoying when you have to wait for it to go. Any ideas??

[Dogger Dan]

Ahh. Lewis,

I can't relate those pressures tonight to imperial, sorry. Make sure the tap is open full throttle, that is normally the biggest issue. And if you have a POS Cobra tap, throw it out and spend 20 bucks on a good tap.

I am assuming your beer is also flat in the glass when the head subsides.

Dogger

[grabman]

Lewis, I use 100kpa to pour, i have same length hose etc so give that a go.

Sometimes too much foam can be casued by too little pressure rather than too much. give it a go!

Grabman

[Lewis]

Tried 100KPA and the foam hit the bottom of the glass like a bomb and splashed everywhere. I have tried everything: Clean Glasses, Dispensing pressure up, down, left and right. Just dont know what it can be. I am getting foam as low as 20KPA. The head disapears after 5 minutes and the beer is not as sparkling as it should be. is the hose too long? have i over carbonated the keg? Too much pressure? Too little pressure?

[Lewis]

just noticed something whilst trying another pressure setting. I have foam in the dispensing line going to my beer gun is this normal. could that be the cause of all my woes? I have searched the forum but not many posts are helping my cause as i have tried all that they recommend even checking for leaks in the lines.

[Hillbilly]

I too have found that there ar'nt many guidelines on how to set up the keg system, there should be something somewhere that can tell us that when using say 5mm line that it should be only 2 or maby three meters long, might want to set the system up to perfect, might even ask if Grab would wanna come up the hill to give me hand setting it up.

[General]

Hey Dogger,

1PSI = 7 Kpa

[grabman]

no worries Hillbilly, drop me a line when you're ready to go. I'm waiting still for my chillzilla from US, should be here soon, then watch out world!

Lewis the foam in line doesn't sound right! Did you purge excess pressure from keg before dispensing? I always turn gas off after carbonating and purge gas then turn gas on to 100kpa and no problems!

Also if tap come through fridge door and gets warm you may have to pour off a 1/4 glass or so to remove warm beer from line, this can be a problem!

[Shaun]

Lewis

First the issue of foam in the beer line not solid liquid. You should see a line full of liquid while pouring and at rest. Some small air pockets may appear after siting for a while. The foaming can result from over carbonated beer or the o-ring on the beer dip tube leaking.

Second the gun only pouring foam. I can not help you with the pressure you need to pour at as this is subjective and dependant on, type of beer line used, length of the line, type of tap, temperature that the beer is and the beer itself. You need to play around like you have been and find what works for your setup. As to why it pours foam only this normal indicates over carbonation. You can fix this by taking the keg out of the fridge bleeding all of the pressure out of it then let it sit for 1/2 - 1 hour then bleed again leave again then try pouring, keep bleeding until your beer starts to pour well.

With practice you will get to know your beer and system and how much to gas and what pressure to pour at. Keep at it the beer when you have it all worked out is worth the wait.

[Dogger Dan]

Sure the keg is full? Maybe it s empty

check the fitting and the clamp. sounds like a leak

Dogger

[tyrone]

What do you mean you have already carbed the keg it should be flat!

[Lebowski]

I'm having the same problems. Beer just comes out as foam then tastes flat. Did you find a solution?

[grabman]

yours still no good Lebowski!!!

Need a hand! drop me a line if you do! Could swing around on Saturday maybe!

[Lebowski]

With the passionfruit beer I seem to be able to get about half foam half beer after letting the tap run for a while into a bucket (bit of a waste of beer.. but the passionfruit beer is a bit.. 'interesting' so i dont mind too much).

Just tried the dark ale again after leaving it for a while at 90kpa and it still comes out as mainly foam and tastes flat tho am going to have a bit more of a muck around this arvo with higher/lower pressures.

Where abouts do you live grabman? Dont want to make you drive all the way here if its something obvious I missed.

Edit: Just fooled around a bit and im starting to think it might just be the temperature of the tap, was able to pour a pretty decent beer just now after letting it run a bit again. But if i have to let it run a bit every time im going to be wasting a fair bit of beer :/

[Shaun]

The solution to this is to very slowly turn on the tap (before you all shout me down I know all on all off, however this will cool the tap) until you get a dribble of beer coming out of the tap. This dribble will cool the tap when the tap feels cool turn the tap off then turn the tap on fully and pour normally.

[Lebowski]

thanks for the tip shaun, will give it a try later and let you know how it went

[grabman]

I'm in Bassendean Lebowski, no sweat to drive to Nedlands. Let me know!

[Hillbilly]

If ya don't mind Lebowski, might tag along with Grab, I just cracked my first keg 2 days ago and got it right the first time ( must of got lucky ) but I'm keen on knowing more about kegging.

[grabman]

just say the word lebowski and it looks like the cavalry is on it way

[Lebowski]

Am going to try the letting the tap get cold before pouring tip to see if it makes a difference.
Sounds great just have to check if the gf has any plans I have to attend on sat Pitty I only have some pretty gross passionfruit beer for you guys to save from the bucket