beachtrader
10-22-2008, 12:42 PM
Okay, so you just bought your new kegerator, or you made one from a freezer.
You hook it up and the beer comes out all foam. WTF?
Before you go nuts and spew all your beer out here are some common problems with draft beer:
1. Your keg of beer should be around 38 degrees in temp. If the keg temperature varies a lot, it will impact how the beer pours out. If the beer is too warm, it will be foamy. If too cold, then it could over carbonate and be foamy. You really got to hold the temperature steady. To figure out the correct temp, and to see if you kegerator is reading the temp correctly, put a glass of water in the kegerator and leave it there for a long time. Then take the temp of the water with a very good instant read thermometer. If this reading differs from the reading on your kegerator note the difference and keep it in mind for the future. The beer inside your kegerator is the temperature of the water, not what the reading says on the outside of the kegerator.
2. If you are using a standard beer (american made ale or lager, think miller lite, etc.) you want your CO2 pressure to be between 12-14 pounds at 38 degrees if you not in the mountains or below sea level. This is a setting which should get you decent results. Your beer should pour at one ounce per second when it comes out of the faucet. If you crank the CO2 up really high you will get foamy beer.
3. If you have a really short line between the keg and the faucet (less than 5 feet of 3/16" hose) you might be fast pouring foamy beer. 5' is usually the correct distance if your keg is less than 5' away from the faucet. A shorter line means faster pours and foamy beer. If you line is shorter you might have to reduce the CO2 or get a longer line.
4. If you have a nick on a seal of the keg or the adapter to the keg, you will have foamy beer. Got to have new unbroken seals.
5. If the first few pours of the beer are foamy, but then the beer pours alright afterwards, it means your tower is uncooled. When the cold beer hits the warm line and warm faucet in the tower it foams the beer. After a glass the line in the tower is cooled and the faucet is cooled so the beer pours correctly. You have to live with this or cool the tower.
6. Your beer pours foamy into some glasses, but not others. It's the way you wash the glasses. There is a residue on some of the glasses or they are rough on the inside creating foam.
This should correct most foam problems. Foam is mainly the result of incorrect temperature and CO2 level. If you shoot for 38 degrees and 14-16 lbs. you should eliminate most problems. The tweaking is getting your kegerator to this level. If you have a problem with temperature with your kegerator now you know why some kegerators are so much more expensive. What you pay for is true temperature control. That $1k in money goes to a cooled tower which holds your keg at a constant 38 degrees.
You hook it up and the beer comes out all foam. WTF?
Before you go nuts and spew all your beer out here are some common problems with draft beer:
1. Your keg of beer should be around 38 degrees in temp. If the keg temperature varies a lot, it will impact how the beer pours out. If the beer is too warm, it will be foamy. If too cold, then it could over carbonate and be foamy. You really got to hold the temperature steady. To figure out the correct temp, and to see if you kegerator is reading the temp correctly, put a glass of water in the kegerator and leave it there for a long time. Then take the temp of the water with a very good instant read thermometer. If this reading differs from the reading on your kegerator note the difference and keep it in mind for the future. The beer inside your kegerator is the temperature of the water, not what the reading says on the outside of the kegerator.
2. If you are using a standard beer (american made ale or lager, think miller lite, etc.) you want your CO2 pressure to be between 12-14 pounds at 38 degrees if you not in the mountains or below sea level. This is a setting which should get you decent results. Your beer should pour at one ounce per second when it comes out of the faucet. If you crank the CO2 up really high you will get foamy beer.
3. If you have a really short line between the keg and the faucet (less than 5 feet of 3/16" hose) you might be fast pouring foamy beer. 5' is usually the correct distance if your keg is less than 5' away from the faucet. A shorter line means faster pours and foamy beer. If you line is shorter you might have to reduce the CO2 or get a longer line.
4. If you have a nick on a seal of the keg or the adapter to the keg, you will have foamy beer. Got to have new unbroken seals.
5. If the first few pours of the beer are foamy, but then the beer pours alright afterwards, it means your tower is uncooled. When the cold beer hits the warm line and warm faucet in the tower it foams the beer. After a glass the line in the tower is cooled and the faucet is cooled so the beer pours correctly. You have to live with this or cool the tower.
6. Your beer pours foamy into some glasses, but not others. It's the way you wash the glasses. There is a residue on some of the glasses or they are rough on the inside creating foam.
This should correct most foam problems. Foam is mainly the result of incorrect temperature and CO2 level. If you shoot for 38 degrees and 14-16 lbs. you should eliminate most problems. The tweaking is getting your kegerator to this level. If you have a problem with temperature with your kegerator now you know why some kegerators are so much more expensive. What you pay for is true temperature control. That $1k in money goes to a cooled tower which holds your keg at a constant 38 degrees.