When your pouring from the picnic tap are you holding it wide open? If it’s not wide open, the flow will get constricted at the tap causing foam issues.
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Yes you are right on that point. I think the flow was too strong and I did not keep it wide open. But when I did, I noticed it looked like a solid stream of beer but at the high velocity it foamed in the glass. So maybe this is much more of a pressure/ flow rate issue.
I put an ESB into a keg on Wed… cranked the PSI up to 35… Yesterday morning I turned the gas off, pour a pint last night and its pretty good… Picnic tap is about 14" long… This was brewed 3 weeks ago this coming Sunday… Sneezles61
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Sneezles, that sounds great. When you turn the gas off, do you then bleed off all the pressure in the keg and then do the pour immediately after? And then how will you set your serving pressure for the long term?
Tom
When I force carb, I set it to 30 psi for 24-36 hours then drop to 20 for 2-3 days. I have flow control faucets so I turn the volume down for the first few pours until the keg equalizes at my serving pressure of 8-9 psi. I never bleed my kegs anymore. 15 psi for 36 hours will not overcarb your beer. Check THIS article if you are looking for some more detailed information on how to balance your system. This should get you close and then you tweak it for your system and preference.
Rad
Thank you Rad, that is a great article and the Q&A below it are also helpful.
Tonight I will give my 10 ft line a try, and if the calculations are correct I should be cutting off a few feet to get my optimal balance. I am using a picnic tap if that makes any difference. Maybe when I get this all solved I should just make it a real keezer with a couple of taps.
Here is a calculator that provides proper line length for a given CO2 pressure.
Tom, although unlikely, is it possible that your low pressure gauge is reading too low ? Or maybe that something is not connected or configured properly? At very low pressure in the keg, it should be taking a few seconds to fill a 12oz glass through 5 feet of 3/16" line. If you bleed off ALL the pressure, you should have no flow at all.
Thanks Steve. The regulator seems to be ok, although I would have to swap it out to be sure. It’s a new out of the box Taprite 742hp.
I need to be a bit more methodical in my troubleshooting. Maybe I did not bleed down the keg enough when dialing back the pressure before. This time I will turn off the gas, completely bleed the keg, wait a minute then bleed again. Then try to pour and of course have no flow, I will then apply 2 psi to start and gradually bring it up. If it still acts strange I will change out the regulator with the other one I bought for my son.
I am sure it’s a matter of me getting too excited and changing too many things in the wrong manner. The shotgun approach.
While you’re at it, check your barbed swivel nut and picnic tap for blockage. I once had a swivel nut that wasn’t properly deburred, and the chaff ended up being the cause of excessive foaming. Of course, I didn’t find this until after days of troubleshooting, and tearing everything apart and putting it all back together.
I will do that voltron, thanks for the tip as it sounds like something that would happen to me.
You don’t need to push the beer out fast it’s not soda pop. Slow and steady fills the glass
Yes I am trying for that…seemed the other day all I could achieve was rapid fill. I have a better understanding now thanks to you guys … So hopefully this evenings test goes a little smoother.
I just did a pour with my 10 ft line. Turned the gas off, turned the regulator down to zero.
Got no flow after bleeding off the keg.
Turned the gas on, then slowly turned the regulator increasing. When I heard gas flowing I checked the tap, got a perfect pour. With almost no pressure showing on the gauge.
I guess it’s possible a brand new regulator or gauge is no good. This would be very dissapointing as I thought the taprite is a good product.
Just seems strange as I thought with that line length I would have had to crank the pressure way up.
Have to check the regulator docs and see if I was supposed to do something during the set up. I don’t think so.
Take a close look at the gauge face. Does it appear bent? It doesn’t take much to bend the thin tin gauge face. Carefully pushing back on the gauge body may free it up if the needle is getting stuck on the face.
The gauge seems fine, needle is straight and free from any obstructions. I went through the trouble of connecting up the regulator that is on my sons keg (another new Taprite, but had the gray adjustment knob). , and of course with my 10 ft line I had to crank up to over 20psi to get a pour, just like I would expect. So I guess I have a bad regulator. Is there a better brand than Taprite? Thanks to Steve on this forum for putting that idea about a bad regulator out there. I would have never guessed as it seems to function and I have no leaks, just does not seem to have linearity from off to whatever PSI.
Thank you to all for your help.
Cornelius regulators are probably considered the gold standard.
Edit: Taprites come apart fairly easily. Disassemble the body and look for any debris, blow it out with compressed air, then put it back together.
Maybe I will try that … in parallel with getting a replacement. Its the first use, so I don’t want to get blamed for hosing it up by taking it apart.
I think these things are tested or they are not… before shipping. maybe just checked for leaks.
Any opinions on the Micromatic regulators? Its clear I should have something for a backup. Plus I may want another one to get another keg going and may as well have a full back up instead of having multiple kegs depend on one unit.
If it’s under warranty, I’d get it replaced instead of taking it apart.
I haven’t touched a Micromatic regulator in over a decade, so I don’t know if they’re the same quality as they were in the past. They certainly have brand recognition, however.
Funny, all this crap I went through… and it was the one component I had the most faith in. I bought it from moreflavor.com so we will see what kind of help I can get. Just bought it the end of April and it sat in the box in my house until I was ready to keg last week.
I just ordered a micromatic with a “y” output for two kegs. It will arrive my next Friday anyway. I can at least keep the beer carbonated and manually adjust for pouring. I just am a bit nervous as now I have no idea what pressure I was carbonating with. I really have to rely on quality control for this stuff as I don’t have a calibration lab in my basement…
do you think moisture in the keezer can screw these up? although the other regulator is right next to it with no problems.
If gas is flowing, but the gauge isn’t reading, there could be a blockage in the Low Pressure port to the gauge, or the gauge is faulty.
MoreFlavor has a 1 year warranty on manufacturer defects, so I’m sure they’ll replace it - no questions asked.
