[Scott Zuhse]

Ouch! That isn't just a tear or cut, that is a crater! The pressure will byp*** the keg and will drive itself right into the beer stream as it leaves the keg. Take this back for a refund.

As to the move to the refrigerator form the kegerator. You must determine the temperature of the beer at the keg after it has acclimated to it's new home. At 38F, you may want to adjust to 14 PSIG. 12 may take care of gas equilibrium at the keg but may not do the job when the faucet is open.

Conduct a pressure leak test. Gauges are difficult to set correctly if the system is not tight. Finally, the faucet and shank will probably pick up some heat and this will cause gas breakout right behind the faucet. Not much can be done to overcome this. Recommendation would be to allow this initial shot of foam to hit the gl***, then close faucet. Dump this small amount of waste out and start over with clear beer. You will be much more successful pouring the beer since it is physically impossible to pour clear beer on top of foam.

As to dropping the pressure to five pounds to overcome dispensing issues. No, unless the Dundee Honey Nut Brown Ale is already flat off of the packaging line. Find out what the specification of carbonation in volumes is and that will determine the PSIG for your dispensing system.

Or you can do the same thing that hundreds of bartenders perform at retail everyday - keep tipping the foam off of the gl*** as they dispense until they think they have a good gl*** of beer. Not! This bad habit results in substantial waste and flat beer since they knocked all the carbonation out of the beer while dispensing.