Second try at Newcastle

[Willt]

I just finished the first keg of Newcastle, dealing with every glass being about half foam. I worked on the temp and now have it dialed in at 36.5 - 37 in the dispenced beer glass. I am running at 13 psi, with 5' of 3/16 vinyl hose. The kegerator is a BM23 purchased 5 months ago. Are there any sugegestions for temp, preasure, or line length. It seemed like it was pooring fast and that the beer would come out liquid but have turbalence in the glass that would result in lots of foam. I am at 2000 feet above sea level.

Are there any suggestion for making the second keg a bit more drinkable. I will be cleaning the unit before I hook up the new keg so I should be starting from scratch, other than I have the temp under control now.

Thanks,
Will

[jaeckleint]

Longer line will slow down the pour and create less turbulence. Try 8 feet and shorten if it pour too slow. Sure is cheap enough to try!

[BrewGuru]

13 PSI @ 38deg F will overcarbonate Newcastle, as an English brown ale, I would say no more than 2.2 volumes of CO2 for that beer, which puts your desired pressure at about 7 psig.

Your altitude puts you about 1.03 psi lower than sea level, that and adjusted for rise of approximately 4 feet from the center of the keg to the faucet, you should push at about 9 psi or so. Keeping the Balance is key! About 4 to 5 feet of 3/16" ID tubing is perfect restriction for these settings.

Try pushing at the lower pressure and see how you do, if you've been driving the beer at 13 PSI for long, you might have as much as 2.6 volumes of CO2 in solution, so you may need to agitate the keg and vent to drive some of that off.

Good luck!

[TAPMAN]

The restriction value for gravity is measured from the bottom of the keg to the faucet. Tapman

[Willt]

Thanks,
I will try the lower psig setting. I will clean the lines this weekend and hope to have a new keg in there by Monday. I will let you know how it works.

Will

[Willt]

Got the new keg installed. Running at 37 deg measured with a digital thermomiter in the dispenced beer. PISG set at 8-9 (kind of hard to get exact reasing on the regulator. I can now get a full 20oz glass of newcastle with only 3/4 to an inch of head. Thank you guys for the help.

[BrewGuru]

Glad to hear that you are pouring nicer pints!

If the second pint pours with less head than the first, you might check to make sure the tower cooling tube is routed properly and that your tower and faucet are staying nice and cold.