Not even sure if I’m posting this in the right forum. I just bough a 1/6th barrel of BJ’s Heferweizen the circle paper on top says it was brewed April 6th 2014 (today is Oct 5th). When I asked the manager he said to set psi between 21-30 psi. The bartender said 14-18 psi and that their beers come pre-carbonated. My keezer is set to 41 degrees with a 1 degree difference. We let it settle for 6 hours and the first beer popped and coughed and came out super foamy and tasted foul. Any ideas?
If the beer is already carbed which it should be, you only need a small amount of CO2 to push the beer out to the tap. I would turn the CO2 off at this point or bleed some of the pressure off the keg and try again. I would not set it higher than 10 or 11…
As far as taste the CO2 is not the problem.
The bad taste can likely be attributed to the fact that it’s a hefeweizen…blech :lol:
Thanks for the replies… Spoke with BJ’s Brewmaster he thinks the gave me a bad batch he was actually surprised they gave me one brewed 6 months ago. We will see… Thanks LovinBeer. Hahah Danny I don’t mind Heffe’s and its my wife’s favorite so I prefer to keep the missus buzzed and happy
smart man
Yeah, 6 months since brew date. I’d be returning that today.
… but once you get your new keg, you’ll need to balance your lines unless you and the misses will blow the keg in a couple days.
For my hefeweizens, I carb and set to 18psi for 40F and have 12ft lines based in the height of my taps.
BJ’s is going to replace the Keg.
So the wife and I just drove 6 hours to CA to buy Allagash White (her favorite in the world). Now I really have to make sure that I balance the line (didn’t even know it was a thing until yesterday)
I’m using Perlick 3/16 tubing 3 psi resistance per foot.
The beer shank length is 4" with a 1/4 bore
22" from center of keg to beer shank end
Keezer is set to 39 degrees with a 1 degree variance
12" from tap on top of key to keezer tap system
I called Allagash and they said they carbonate at 2.5 (which is on the lower end for wheat beers) So according to the charts 2.5 CO2 at 39 degrees I need to set the CO2 psi regulator to 12 psi.
This is where I’m having the most difficult time. According to three separate calculators for beer line length I should be at?
Calczilla say 2.33 feet (seems way to short)
Crocket Brewing says 3.6
Excel BeerLine Calculator says 4’10"
This seem like an area I don’t want to skimp on, yet to go from 2.3 to 4’10" seems pretty important
Set your regulator to deliver the volumes of CO2 appropriate to the beer style (or your personal preference).
Get beer lines that are too long. I started with 10 feet.
Cut the beer lines down six inches or one foot at a time until you get the amount of foam you prefer at the flow rate you prefer.
[quote=“Old_Dawg”]Set your regulator to deliver the volumes of CO2 appropriate to the beer style (or your personal preference).
Get beer lines that are too long. I started with 10 feet.
Cut the beer lines down six inches or one foot at a time until you get the amount of foam you prefer at the flow rate you prefer.[/quote]
Good advice, though I started with 10’ lines and stayed with 10’. They pour a little slow, but hey, I’m drinking beer, how big of a hurry am I in anyway? And, I can regulate the head by either pouring down the side of the glass, letting the beer drop into the glass, or somewhere in between. :mrgreen:
A little piece of advice-- don’t buy 6 month old kegs. 6-day? Great. 6-week? I’d pass. 6-month? Forget it! This is like a bakery selling you a 6 month old loaf of bread.
I’m a little confused about all the talk of balancing systems. I’m definitely no expert, but all did was buy the “Foam Free Tubing” kit from NB with picnic taps. Once I bought faucets, I cut the picnic taps off with a sanitized razor blade and inserted them onto the shanks. I have never had a single problem. Am I just really lucky or does NB’s foam free kits just take all the guess work out of the equation? The only adjusting I do is adjusting from 9 to 12 psi depending on beer style. My first pint of the day might get an inch or so of foam but that’s it.
