New to tap faucets

[ilikeminis]

So I recently bought a fridge and a couple faucets/shanks/beer lines, yada yada. I'm running a wheat beer out of a corny in the fridge through 4 feet of 3/16" beer line, through a shank/faucet. This all sounds pretty standard to me. I listened to the brewstrong episode on the perfect pour and I think I'm doing this correctly. Anyway, most of the time I get a decent amount of head on the wheat (3/4 beer, 1/4 foam). But when I wait a good amount of time between pours (from one day to the next), the very first pour or two has a great deal more head (2/3 foam, 1/3 beer). It subsides fast enough to not be a terrible problem, but it's still annoying. Should I have gone with longer beer line? A lower pressure (but then i might be undercarbonated)? I also have an amber running from a T off the same co2 tank (ie, same pressure) and it seems to exhibit the same behavior (maybe slightly less foam, but that's probably due to the amber vs wheat). One thing I've noticed is that the wheat seems to have a much more "large bubbly" foam than the amber, which is much creamier with smaller "bubbles". As I said, this may be purely due to the different styles.

My real issue is with the huge amount of foam on the first pour after a long rest. I have noticed there isn't as much condensation on the tap after this rest, so I assume the beer in the line (at least close to the faucet) is a different temperature than the beer still in the keg. Any suggestions? Or do I simply have to live with a pour or two of foam?

-Andrew

[Whitebeard_Brewer]

Where are the beer lines?? Is everything enclosed, like inside of your fridge/freezer, or do you have a dorm type fridge with a tower on top.....if you have a tower, chances are that the beer in those lines are a tad warmer than the beer inside, in which case will give you some extra foaming. Could be that the first couple pours the next day are just a tad "over-pressurized" and it just all settles down after the pressure has been relieved by pulling a pint ot 2.

Might get a few more relies, and some will be asking, what the pressure is set to, what is the ID of your beer lines, how long are they....etc, etc etc, all that will make a difference.

[Bugeater]

It sounds like you are close to right. 3/16" beer line is the right stuff but 4' is a bit short. When first setting up a kegerator it takes a bit to get everything balanced out right. I generally advise folks to start with 6' of beer line and check the pour (after everything gets chilled back down). If the pour is too slow, just cut off 6" or so. If still too slow, cut a little more until the pour is right. I find that 5' is usually about right. If you look around, you will find charts showing how to figure out correct line lengths and such for a good balanced system. These will get you in the ball park but there will always be a few small variables not accounted for. For this reason you start out with more line than you think you need. You can always trim it, but it is impossible to add it back.

Wayne

[boobookittyfuk]

i typically fill a glass half full if the beer line has been sitting for a day or so and dump the beer. what happens is the cold beer hits that warm faucet and you'll get extra foam. Usually that next pull i do on the line is a nicely poured beer.

bar do the same thing. usually when they open up they go through all the beer lines.

[jgourd]

What really happens is that the volumes of CO2 in the beer is a function of temperature. The colder the beer is, the more CO2 can go into solution (into the beer). If your tap lines are warmer than the beer in the keg, then over time (a few hours) some CO2 comes out of solution and remains as bubbles in the line. When you pour later, this first little bit adds friction and causes turbulence during the pour resulting in more foam. But once that warmer beer has been cleared from the lines, the pour is fine. Longer lines won't change anything here. The only solution is to keep your beer lines cold (as cold as the beer in the kegs). If you can't do this, then just chunk the first half glass of beer or so as someone else suggested.

[ilikeminis]

Hey everyone,
Thanks for the replies. The stuff about CO2 coming out of solution at warmer temps sounds along the lines of what's going on in mine. I'm probably just losing a few degrees in the beer that is in the line towards the faucet and that's what's happening. I also realized I mistyped in my initial post. I am using 3/16" ID line at 5 feet (not 4 as I accidentally wrote). I'm using a fridge I got on craigslist and everything is contained inside it. So chances are I'm just getting a bit warmer beer that sits near the faucet overnight. Thanks for the help. Does anyone have an idea how to bring that up to get less foam? Or is it just gonna be a sad fact of the design of my kegerator?

[manwithbeers]

Longer shanks give more thermal mass and transfer the cold to the faucet better. Trying to better balance the pressure using longer lines wouldn't hurt either.

The temperature of the beer, the pressure on the beer and your elevation (ASL) also plays a part.

[Quin]

I'm using a fridge I got on craigslist and everything is contained inside it. ...Does anyone have an idea how to bring that up to get less foam? Or is it just gonna be a sad fact of the design of my kegerator?

It could be that the beer is slightly overcarbonated. You might try disconnecting the gas for a day or two and turning down the pressure a couple psi.