Kegerator produces to much foam

[yellowlimited93]

Let me start out by saying that I reserached old posts to try and find my answers and did not come up with much.

Yesterday I bought a Danby Kegerator. I have read how horrible they were, but the store I bought it from said I could keep it for a few months and still return it if I was not happy. My problem with the kegerator is to much head. I have not checked the liquid temp in the unit yet (will do that today), but the beer seems ice cold out of the tap. As I type I have the psi set on 14, but have been playing with it. When I called danby tech support, they told me to set the psi to 5. I thought 5 psi was way to low but I still tried what they suggested. The beer poured a lot better with only a 1/4 glass of foam or so, but the taste was just off. With the pressure back up to 14 psi like I have mentioned the beer taste great, but not till the foam finally dies down. Any help or suggestions would be great. Btw, I have a 1/4 of coors light in the kegerator. Thanks for all your help in advance

[edramshaw]

5lbs is way too low. These guys will say anything to get you off the phone. I believe you are getting foam because your tower is not cooled. The beer in the tower warms and when you pour a beer the foam shoots out first and causes the rest of the beer to foam as well. Try this, open the tap for a few seconds until the beer clears. Quickly grab another glass and open the tap again. Are yo able to pour a decent beer now? This would indicate the beer is cooling the lines whereas the system should be doing that. If you search a little more you will find posts on installing a blower into the tower to solve this problems.

[yellowlimited93]

Ok, I did what you described and it did not work. Both glasses still had 3/4 head in it. Also, I checked my liquid temp, and it is a constant 40 degrees. Any more recomendations. Its a coors light keg as mentioned. Psi, ect.

[edramshaw]

You would want to get the temp down to 38 min., this is also a problem with the Danby's but you can replace the thermostat. You could also check the black seal on the keg which is inside where you tap the keg. Dry this off and inspect the ring, is it damaged? What size tubing are you using both ID and lenght? It should be about 5 feet of 3/16" tubing to be properly balanced. Let me know...

[yellowlimited93]

I looked all over the internet on little things to do, so that the danby will chill better. The beer is now at a constant 38 degress. The seal on the keg also looks good. I have no idea about the tubing b/c I used the stock tubing that came with the kegerator. I played with the psi, and at 5 psi the beer pours perfect, but I know thats not the psi I should need. Is it possible that the gauge is just that much off? When I recieved the kegerator I noticed that the low pressure gauge was lose and when I called danby tech support, all they told me to do was to try and tighten the screws on the back of the gauge. I will call back this week and demand a new low gauge. Thanks for all the help so far and let me know if there is anything else you can think of.

[edramshaw]

Other Danby owners could chime in but I am pretty sure they do not come shipped with the proper sized tubing. Why I am not sure but this could be your culprit. Reference the Micromatic website for articles on balancing a system to get the whole scoop but essentially you need to build enough restriction into your system to offset the pressure yuo are using. If there is only 2 feet of 3/16th's tubing than that may very well be balanced for 6 lbs whereas 5' would be right for 14lbs. This would ensure a clean pour and properly carbonated beer. Estimate the lenght by seeing how much line is in the cooler and adding about 14" for the tower.

[chadschloss78]

mine came with the proper i.d tubing but the length was at 6.4 feet, which was a little long i thought. the problem is because : 1) the tower is not cooled and the diameter of the hole to the tower needs to be enlarged to 3", 2) the danby temp. will never maintain an accurate temp.(contantly shutting off to defrost) 3) coors products are more carbonated than others and require 1-2 psi more than other beers if i can remember from what scott posted awhile back. (search for coors, coors pressure/psi) and then you need to know how far above sea level you are to make the correct pressure settings. if you cant get your liquid temp lower then 40 as you stated, you have to adjust your pressure for temperature as well. ideal would be 14 psi at 38 degrees out of the tap at sea level. (coors add 2psi)

for every two degrees warmer (than 38 degrees) add (1) psi higher. for every two degrees colder(than 38 degrees) subtract (1) psi. so to get you on track with your current setup at or less then 1000 feet sea level (i think) then you would set it up like this: set the danby control to the lowest setting and save that temp. (i think it only will set to 36 degrees) set your regulator (if you dont know the proper way, search that too) to 17 lbs. (normalally at 14, add 2 for coors products, and 1 lb for the temperature 2 degrees over 38. if you are above the sea level range, search on that to find out how much more you have to add to the pressure to overcome that resistance. this should get you in the ballpark if i am not mistaken. you still may have issues with foam due to the warm tower issue, but your beer will not be flat.

try this, and dont expect immediate results. let it sit for awhile. hope this helps. -chad

[psychodad]

Other Danby owners could chime in but I am pretty sure they do not come shipped with the proper sized tubing.

My Danby which is approximately 18 months old came with 5 feet of 3/16 beer tube and a 3 inch tower which apparently has a standard faucet.

Where my foam seemed to come from was the temperature being different from day to day. Once the temperature problem was addressed, I was able to work on balancing the keg properly. And then of course there are things like proper pouring technique, beer clean glasses, etc. But if the temperature isn't fit for beer storage or dispensing none of the other parts of the puzzle are ever going to fit.

[yellowlimited93]

Ok, I will do some of the things you all suggested to see if I can get my system balanced. After having some friends over, and us trying different psi settings, we noticed that when the psi is in the upper stages 14-18, the beer has an off taste. When its set at the 5-6 psi it tastes perfect as well. Like most of you, I might just take this system back and pay a little more money for a better brand kegerator. We will see how things work for now..thanks for all the help.

[yellowlimited93]

I just measured my beer line and it seems like it is around 4 feet. Like I mentioed, I am not sure what ID came with the kegerator, but maybe the 4 foot line explains some of the probblem?

[yellowlimited93]

After talking to everyone on here, and calling danby several times, I think I am just going to take back my kegerator. I just dont feel like fooling with the kegerator anymore. Intead, I have been looking at the summit/sayno kegerators. Anyone have any comments about these products. Thanks for all the help again!!

[Beer Dr]

Save your money until you have enough for a Beverage Air

[topgun3208]

when I first got my unit back in '05, I drove myself nutz with the foam issue. not anymore, my thermometer on top of the 1/2 keg is 42f, on the bottom it is 36f. I run my psi @ 8 and a bit slow pour but a 1" head and no more foaming issues.

[yellowlimited93]

I decided to just take the danby back. It was just to much trouble. After reading many reviews on the site, I decided to stop in by sears to see about their kegerators. Well..the day I stoped in they were having a special, but long story short, I walked out the door for 580 including taxes. Thats only 50 more bucks then the danby was. Well, two days later the thing is working perfect. My beer is at a perfect 36 degress, pressure is at 12 psi, and the beer taste great. This was a keg that I thought already went flat due to low psi for the danby. The only problem I have is minimal foam in the first pour like everyone mentions. I let the beer sit for a minute or two, continue to pour and I have perfect pours the rest of the night. After I went though the first keg of coors light, my friend purchased a 1/4 keg of yuengling for me. Not my favorite beer, but I am not going to complain it was free. But just wanted to say the new unit is a night and day difference between the danby. I next want to try a cheap keg of pbr and see how that pulls off in the new kegerator. Thanks for everyones help, and thank you to the board for being full of so much usefull information.