System and recepticle cleanliness, Temperature, and Pressure are some basic facts every home draught beer enthusiast must know and understand before attempting to serve draught beer.
1. Cleanliness: All glassware must be "Beer" clean, absolutely no residual cleaning solutions, or especially, "greasy" deposits must come in contact with the product. Also, the tapping system must be clean from the coupler to the mouth of the faucet.
2. Temperature: I keep my Beverage-air kegerator as close to 32 to 36 deg. F. as possible. With a 3/16" beer line 3 ft. long it works perfectly.
Keep in mind, beer will not freeze until 27 or 28 deg. F.
3. Pressure: Most domestic and imported draught beers contain a natural internal "Beer" pressure of 12 to 14 psi. So you must try to maintain this pressure all the while you are tapping your beer. Anything less allows the natural CO2 to escape into the reduced pressure atmosphere which will deminish the taste of the beer and "performance" of your system. NEVER, if at at all possible, counter pressure any draught beer with just air. The CO2 will disolve into the air allowing the product to go flat, and it will begin to "oxidize". Hint: Of every 2' of rise above the keg add 1lb. of pressure from your regulator. This may need a little experimentation, but it will keep you in the ballpark for a good system performance.
I have many more critical points which will be of help to everyone. Please contact me at
nmkline@fast.net. My draught beer experience spans 38 years, which includes the brewing and packaging of draught and package beers. I will be more than happy to share it with anyone needing help and or assistance.
Thank you, Noel Kline.
Toll Free Orders:
1 (866) 291-5756
Very helpful tips!
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