HELP!! End of teather with Keg Setup

[Haggy]

Ok..somebody please help, I am at the end of my teather with my keg setup.
I have followed all the directions for beer line length, gas methods etc - however when I go to pull a beer, it pours well for the first little bit, then turns to froth This is the same when using a cold glass or a warm glass. Before pouring I even burp the keg, then add a little pouring pressure.

Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.

REgards
Chris

[chadjaja]

What is your set up? Fridge, freezer, taps, picnic tap, line length and diameter and pourring pressure?

Could be a number of problems all working against you.

[Clean Brewer]

Could well be over-carbed....

Need more info....

CB

[drsmurto]

In addition to all the info we need listed above, the temp your keg fridge is set to is needed.

Could be either over carbonation or you might be getting air in the line causing it to froth up.

Stupid question but..... are you kegs below your taps?

[Haggy]

Hi,
Thanks so much for replying - I apologise for the lack of detail in the thread.
I have a fridge setup, 2 taps on the door, two kegs in the fridge. Only 1 keg connected at this stage. Fridge temperature I cannot confirm for sure.
Beer line is 8mmx5mm - at a length of 3m. Top of kegs would be below tap spout. Pouring pressure is VERY VERY low, needle only just moves on the guage.

Please let me know if anymore details are needed. Getting so frustrated and thinking of going back to commercial beer!!!!!

[chadjaja]

Your beer line length is long even with 5mm line and if your pouring pressure is that low I doubt there is enough pressure to pour a decent beer. I know it sounds funny but sometimes the cure is MORE pressure. I suggest you pour a beer and test the temp of it in the glass or a thermometer in a glass of water in the fridge. After all CO2 pressure for carbing and such is temperature dependent as the Dr suggested.

Are there bubbles in your beer line? Bubbles especially those near the disconects usually means not enough backwards pressure and a slight turn of the gas up helps. Are there any kinks in your beer lines or are they neat and tidy? Have you checked all your lines and connections? Are you sure the beer isn't overcarbed after all that Easiest thing is to write a list and tick off things as you go to problem solve.

[drsmurto]

You say that you read all the info about line length and gassing methods and yet you don't know what temp the beer is at.

You NEED to know what temp the beer is at before you can use the spreadsheets floating around to work out line length and gas pressure!

I am going to take a stab in the dark and guess you don't have any temp control on your keg fridge. So you likely have a temp of 4C at the most, all the fridges used in my brewery easily get down below 0C.

A bit of basic physics/chemistry - the lower the temp, the more gas will dissolve in a liquid.

Hence, you NEED to know the temp of your beer otherwise its likely you will make beer snow cones.

How did you carb the beer? Did you prime the keg with sugar (if so, what amount did you use) or force carb (method? time? pressure?).

EDIT - the 3m of beer line, is that 1 piece or does it have joins in it?

[Haggy]

Hi there,
Thanks again for all the replies. To date I havent got the temp of the fridge yet - but I am getting there.
I have some pics of the setup - can some advise how I post them?

REgards
Chris

[warra48]

To post pictures in a post, you need to first have them on an external program, and you import them from there.

I use Photobucket. It's a free program, and easy to instal from the internet.

What I do is this, remembering I use a Canon digital camera.

Upload photo from camera to Canon Program on my PC.
Export from Canon program to my desktop. I generally tend to reduce the size to that suitable for web loading (it's an option on my program).
Sign on to Photobucket.
Load photo into Photobucket.
Once loaded into Photobucket, go to the album with the photo in it.
Under the photo are 4 bars of code.
Copy the last of the 4 codes.
Paste the code into your post.
Submit post, and the photo will load automatically.

Sounds a bit complex, but it's really quite easy.