2 seconds of foam?

Kegging
1

Not Sure if this falls under the same category as excessive foam or something like that - but here’s my issue.

I have a picnic tap (5ft line - basic setup from kegconnection) and whenever I go to pour, for a split second I get regular beer - then for about 1.3 seconds I get pure foam before reverting to normal beer again. Problem is that once there’s foam in the glass, its impossible to complete the pour without a mess.
I have actually kinda fixed the situation - I pour for the first 2 seconds into a plastic cup, then continue with my regular pour and then after a couple of minutes I can top off from the plastic cup that has now settled.

I have noticed that when I start to pour, the line doesn’t seem to be full of beer - is that the problem or is that normal?

I also have noticed that when I’m done with my pour, I can see air in the line like some of the beer is going back to the keg.

Any info to point me in a direction would be appreciated - I used to think that I was over-carbed but even with pressure down to about 3, it still happens.

I’m close to getting the ok on getting a real tap, but this is kinda souring me on the whole setup.

Thanks
Brian

2

Maybe a nucleation site in your lines. I had something similar happen, where hop material got stuck in the out poppet on my ball-lock keg. I would suggest replacing the lines, and cleaning the valve.

Hope it helps.

3

What does your setup look like? My guess is the beer in the line is warm. It foams out then is replaced by cold keg beer.

4

That happened at party I had, I think the warm beer line might be it. What I did was when approaching the keg I would let the person behind me pour first. They thought I was being polite.

5

Great advice above! :cheers:

6

well - its all inside a chest freezer with temp control, so it shouldn’t be that different in temperature. I was hoping it was gonna be something stupid I was doing, but I think I’ll splurge the $10 on another tap assembly and see what happens

7

What’s your serving pressure?
I found 5’ to be too short, 7.5’ at 11 psi works great on mine

Not a magic number, I have four taps and buy 30’ feet of line.

8

I like to serve at about 10psi. Hadn’t though of line being too short, most of the calculators told me I was ok - but I guess that’s possible. Maybe I’ll get a longer line - I’ll try anything at this point cos while its ok for me, its kinda embarrassing when other people are over

9

Depending on the height of the freezer, you may be surprised at the temp difference between the top and bottom. I have a fan in my freezer moving air for this reason after researching prior to my build.

http://billybrew.com/keezer-updates

"The fan is what I mainly want to talk about.

The problem was that the top of the keezer was much warmer than the bottom because of the collar. The collar doesn’t have any cooling coils running through it, and we know cold air sinks, so that area stayed a good 14°F warmer than the bottom.

That meant the lines were warm and that first pour was always a warm and foamy one. No good.

The fan is used to circulate the air. It doesn’t have to be very strong, it just needs to get things moving.

After installing the fan, the temperature different between the top and the bottom went from 14°F to 3°F. Not bad.

Here’s how I built it."

10

Hmmmm…

Thanks for the info - I am gonna grab a couple of thermometers this weekend and check this out. It is true that my sensor is at the bottom of the keezer. That could definitely be the issue. Thanks Hades