[Wayne]

Scott:

I have the MicroMatic jockey box with 120 ft of coil. We live in Michigan and usually drink Moosehead, that we keep well-iced. Foam remains a recurring problem. The beer looks foam-less going through the line between the keg and the jockey box, and it is liquid coming out of the faucet. But once the beer hits the pitcher or glass, it foams up badly. Often, pitcher is 90% foam, 10% liquid.

A few questions:

Do you think the beer is overcarbonated? (It usually takes us 36 hours to kill a half-barrel.) I have experimented with pressures between 12 and 30 psi at different stages of keg fullness but can't really correlate the pressure with results. If the CO2 is oversaturated into the beer, you wouldn't really see it until the liquid hits air, right?

If oversaturation is the problem, what is the solution for a two-day keg? Should I blow off the pressure from the keg periodically? Should I depressurize overnight if the keg is not being used then?

Once and for all, what is the proper CO2 pressure to use for a jockey box?

Could the faucet be contributing to the problem? I'm using the least expensive faucet that came with the MM jockey box kit. I clean all parts after each use. Would a better faucet provide a better (more-liquid) pour?

Appreciate your help.

Wayne