ICE CREAM BEER

[Madison]

Now here is my problem. I have kegged 3 brews now using two commerical Kegs. The first was great till I got 3/4 oft the way in and then all I got was ice cream beer (all froth and little liquid). The 2nd keg lasted for half, I spent the rest of the keg adjusting line lenth from 3m to 1m with pressure combination from 100kpa up to 170 and back down to 50, with no success.
For the third Keg all the lines and the tap have been triple cleaned. The fridge has been fitted with a TEMPMASTER regulator to hold exactly 4 degrees. The first glass poured through 6m of 6mm line at 4 degrees 100kpa after waiting 4 days at 200kpa for carbonation was great. The rest all ice cream. The is no sign of any extanal leaks but you can see the beer in the line turn to foam in front of your eyes, even when the pressure is incresesd back up 180kpa.
Should I change to post mix kegs? Is there something I am overlooking?

[lethaldog]

sounds like to much preasure to me, try turning the gas off then letting some preasure out, i only turn my gas on at the moment when it gets to low and even then im pouring at about 5-7 psi

[rwh]

Yeah, if you can see it turning to foam in the gas line, then your problem is either too high carbonation or too low pouring pressure. But there's a limit on the upper end of pouring pressure where the flow in the tap changes from laminar to turbulent, effectively shaking up the beer, again causing too much head.

My conclusion from reading your description: overcarbonation is your problem.

So, start with a lower carb level and work up. The way I normally do it is cool the keg, then attach the gas at 200kpa. Then shake the keg for 5 mins, detach the gas, dial down the pressure to serving pressure (75kpa on my setup), "burp" the keg, reattach the gas, and pour. If the beer is still undercarbonated, repeat the process. Stop when either a) you start to get a bit too much head, or b) the beer is carbonated enough.

If your current kegs are too highly carbonated, burp them at regular intervals over a period of a day or two and see if that helps.

[Madison]

Thanks for those suggestion I'll try them and I will let you know how it goes.

[Brewaholic]

Hi mate if you are using cold kegs you shouldt run at more than 70 kpa or it will absorb co2 and after a while it will get overgassed but the trouble is the beer breaking up in the line if you run under 180 kpa but ive found if you have the shortest line possible it will pour only the lines lengh worth of froth then the rest perfect giving you the perfect head i use the 50 litre kegs aswell they are great and you can buy the odd keg of bought beer if you are inbetween batches

[Madison]

Thanks Brewaholic. Can you please tell me if you still gas the brew for 48hr at 200kpa then release the pressure to 70kpa? When you use a brought one do you change setting at all?

[Brewaholic]

Hey mate, i shake my cold keg for roughly 60 seconds and its pretty close with the gas on full but if yours was pouring good to start with and was fizzy enough i would just stick with what you know i dont touch bought kegs theres so little head space on a full one it only takes a few pots to drop down to the reg pressure.