First Time Kegging - Overcarbination

[PortlyPorterGuy]

I've kegged for the first time but I managed to overshoot my carbonation level I think. When I pour at 10psi I get all foam. The weird thing is its not a steady flow of foam, it's more like when you open the tap on your sink after the plumber is done doing some work and there's a lot of air in the pipes. I just get a lot of gas out of the tap with very little liquid.

If this is actually overcarbination, can I just leave the release valve open for a while or is it better to just keep shaking the shit out of the keg and burping it?

Thanks again BN army,
-Portly

[Bugeater]

Before we can consider whether it is overcarbonated it would help to have a little info about your system. What is the the temperature of your beer? What is the length and inside diameter of your beer line? How did you go about carbonating your beer.

One of the most problems of a new kegger is a system that is not balanced. If your line is too short or has too large an inside diameter, you will get all foam as you described.

Everyone has their own way of carbonating a keg. Mine is simple. I hook up the keg at serving pressure and let it sit for a week. Some folks hit it up with 30 psi and shake the crap out of it and repeat the process a few times. The later method often gets the beer over carbonated.

If you answer the questions, we can help you solve your problem in pretty short order.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[keggermeister]

Try fooling with your dispense pressure first, turn it down to 5 or so. see if that helps. If it doesn't then you have to bleed pressure. yes you have to agitate the beer to get the co2 out of sollution. it will most likely take a few "burps" to get the carb level to drop much.

so did you leave it at 10 for like a week or carb with high pressure (30 PSI) ???

[PortlyPorterGuy]

The beer was 45 degrees when I racked it into the keg. I set the CO2 pressure on 17 and did the shake pressurize, shake pressurize routine over and over for a while. Then I left it alone in the fridge for several hours before I tried to pour my first glass of foam. In hindsight I should have just set it to 10 PSI and left it alone.

I've been shaking the keg and burping it continuously for what seems like forever and I still get the same thing. I even tried dispensing at 3 PSI.

BTW I have a cobra tap with maybe 3 feet of line.


Thanks[/i]

[DannyW]

BTW I have a cobra tap with maybe 3 feet of line.

That's likely your problem. Even if it is the proper 3/16" ID high restriction dispensing hose that is quite short. If it is larger diameter and/or regular hardware store tubing then it will be even worse.

Rebuild your line with at least 6' of the right line -- D1700 is the part number at morebeer.com, but I prefer 850743 from superprod.com for its low temp flexibility -- and see if that fixes things.

[Thirsty Boy]

Slightly off topic.

When people do the "shake" method of carbonation, why do they usually put the pressure up higher than the correct pressure for the volumes of C02 and temp?

I shake the bejeezus out of my kegs to carbonate them, but I do it at the correct carbonation pressure and then there is no chance that you can overcarbonate.

If I want, I can still be drinking the beer 20 mins after I put it in the keg, but no chance of going too far.

So why overpressurise??

TB

[linuxelf]

Here is a really good article (from the green board) detailing balancing a kegging system.

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=33447

[DannyW]

When people do the "shake" method of carbonation, why do they usually put the pressure up higher than the correct pressure for the volumes of C02 and temp?

Supposed to save time. 30psi and a couple if minutes shaking probably gets you in the neighborhood of what you would get with 10 or 15 min of shake-and-wait at 12psi.

I'm with you, though. If I am going to do the shake thing, I do it at serving pressure.