Beer Forum

Ok, so i haven't gone through the other post's in detail, so i don't think its in here, but here's my question anyways:
i just started kegging, i've got a blond ale on and i've had it at 17 psi at about 38 degrees. the last couple of day thought i've been getting 1/2 a pint of foam before any brew comes out. i did just turn to temp down a click or two, could that be my problem? or is something major going on?
any help would be much appreciated as the 4th is in a few days, and my family expects draft beer at the lake.

17 psi sounds high, so you might be overcarbed.

Also, how long (and how narrow) are your serving lines? If the lines are too short (and/or wide), then the pressure in the beer doesn't have a chance to drop gradually between keg and glass, resulting in overfoaming, even if the beer itself isn't overcarbed.

What is your serving pressure? I'd try burping the pressure off of the keg and then adding back about 6-7psi to serve. Also what kind of tap are you serving from? If you have a really warm tap you will get a lot of foam until it chills.

No qusestion about it - if you're at 17 psi at 38 degrees, you are overcarbed. To get to 2.5 volumes of CO2 you need to be at about 13 psi. If you've been there for a week, then you need to turn off the gas, reset the reg, then vent the keg, let it sit off the gas for a day, and vent it again. Do this 2 or 3 times to bleed some of the CO2 out of solution, then hook the keg back up to the right pressure and let it come to equilibrium.

This will take a few days; there's no faster way around it. Also, you should ebe using about 6 feet of 3/16" ID bev tubing. If you're using 1/4", that will also be a source of foam...

Hope this helps.

baltobrewer wrote:No qusestion about it - if you're at 17 psi at 38 degrees, you are overcarbed. To get to 2.5 volumes of CO2 you need to be at about 13 psi. If you've been there for a week, then you need to turn off the gas, reset the reg, then vent the keg, let it sit off the gas for a day, and vent it again. Do this 2 or 3 times to bleed some of the CO2 out of solution, then hook the keg back up to the right pressure and let it come to equilibrium.

This will take a few days; there's no faster way around it. Also, you should ebe using about 6 feet of 3/16" ID bev tubing. If you're using 1/4", that will also be a source of foam...

Hope this helps.

+1. You're going to have to uncarbonate the beer and start all over again. I have taken the keg out of the cooler, and set it in a cool room to vent it. CO2 comes out of solution better then.

The other solution is to use longer lines and leave the pressure up.

Read this: Balancing a Draft System

Good info, but damn.... you ever see that movies Scanners? That's how my head feels now.