I need help 1st keg

[redwing]

1. Molson keg born on date Dec. 29, 05 is this a acceptable date for a keg?

2. New kegerator do you need to clean tap and lines before you hook-up for the 1st time?

3. Using clean glasses and pitchers, I'm getting large heads on the 1st pour from the tap. What am I doing wrong?

4. What is the ideal temp and presure to use for Molson?

5.I have no bubbles in my glass after a while. What is causing this?

6. I live a mile high in Denver. What do you do for this elevation?

Thank-you for your help
Tom

[Scott Zuhse]

1. Date should be fine
2. Not necessary but can be great practise.
3. It is not you - if pressure is right, might be warm tower.
4. 38 degrees F @ 14 PSIG if you are 1000' or below.
5. If you are using dish washing detergent, there is a film on the glass reacting to the carbonation.
6. Refer to # 3 and set pressure to 16 PSIG if you are at 38 F.

I live in Central City. E-mail me if you need additional assistance.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[redwing]

Scott,
Thanks for your reply,
I'm home and I turn up the CO2 to 16psi my temp is 36 and the system is made by Micro Matic. When I pour my 1st glass lot of foam, then I poured a pitch and was just fine nexted, I tried pouring a glass and got about 1/2 foam in glass. What could be the problem, wiht pouring into a glass?

I did not use any soap with cleaning the glass. Used cold water.

I have read most all of this sites info to solve these problem with just my 1st kegerator.

This is a great form for us newbe's to kegerators

Thanks, Tom

[YuenglingFan]

This may have nothing to do with your prob, but I experienced a similar thing. I could pour pitchers just fine but glasses are half filled of foam. I noticed that when I watched the pour...in the first second, the beer looked cloudy (foam would start in the glass) but then clear up. Someone on here told me that the foam builds on itself making the glass full of foam and it fills too quickly before you get the "clear" flow I mentioned above.

The solution for me was pour a glass for about a second until the beer goes clear...dump out the half glass of foam, and then continue to pour. Works every time in my situation!

I know this isn't very scientific, but sometimes its worth trying a simple approach!

--------------------
John
Cincy, OH

[redwing]

Thanks Yuengling,

I will try this.

I have read alot of the posts on this board to try and learn about my new kegrator.

I have never tried Yuengling beer. What is this beer like? Ale, lager, wheat, stout.

Thanks, Tom

[YuenglingFan]

No prob...hope its that simple!

I just got my first kegerator as well and found this site to be a great resource!!

As for Yuengling, its the oldest brewery (I think) in the US. Its brewed out of PA, but they have limited distribution to the east coast. I would say its a rather inexpensive beer, and common as Budweiser in the locations its distributed. They have Lager, Porter, Black/Tan that I've tried, and then the cheaper canned "lite" beers.

I prob make a bigger deal out of it than anyone that can get it regularly, but I grew up in Ohio about 30min from the border to PA so it became a treat to cross the border to get this beer (Lager/Porter). It became such a treat that when I moved to Cincy, I took advantage of a trip in the PA area and drove a keg home 5+hrs to christen my kegerator with my favorite beer!

--------------------
John
Cincy, OH

[redwing]

John,

I grew up in Detroit and moved to Colorado 23 years ago and missed my Molson beer. I was glad when coors and molson got together last year. Now I can have molson in the keg.

Tom

Thanks, Tom

[mmwmark]

To be sure that your glassware is "beer clean" try scrubbing the inside of the glass with table salt, then rinse the glass in cool water. This will remove any soap residue from the glass. Pour a beer, look at the bubbles, there should be no bubbles sticking to the side or bottom of the glass and the head should be "close,white, and tight" IE the head should be nice and creamy with no "fish-eye" bubbles on top, and the head should stay for a long time. As you drink the beer (that's the best part of this test!) you should see the foam "lace" down the side of the glass. AH, I can taste it now! Try it! Cheers...

Mark Stirrett, Regional Manager Micro Matic

[FootBallFan]

What I've been doing until I can get around to getting a blower to cool my tower is to start the pour into a freezer mug until the beer runs clear..then I set this foamy freezer mug to the side and immediately fill a beer stein (that I just rinsed with water) and get the right amoutn of head...then when I finish the glass of beer I pur the beer from the freezer mug into the steiun...It's now even colder than the origina; and the foam has settled..Then I rinse out the beer glass and do it all again for the next glass...

The interesting thing is that when I pour the beer from the freezer mug into the glass, the bubbles are extremely tiny...where they were normal sized in the glass. that came straight from the tap.....I'm guessing that the tiny bubbles (no Don Ho jokes please...LOL) are due to the lowered temp of the beer from the freezer mug....

Anyways, that's my temp fix for the foam problem....and it keeps me from wasting any beer. by dumping foam...

[USMC - Retired]

I would be more inclined to think that the "tiny bubbles" are a result of the CO2 coming out of your beer as it sits while you drink the first one.

Semper Fi,
The Gunns

"Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin

[FootBallFan]

The thing is that the first beers bubbles that come up from the volume of the beer stay large till the last second...then when I pour the colder beer into the glass from the freezer mug, there are kazillions of these tiny bubbles being released, and they stay tiny as more are released.....it's not like there is less gas being released, just different sized bubbles...instead of a fewer number of larger bubbles, there is a much higher number of tiny bubbles...these bubbles are probably 1 percent of the size of the larger ones....and they keep coming for the duration of the drink, staying small, just like the other bubbles stayed large...

Very odd, magical stuff this grog is!

[Scott Zuhse]

Does your tower have a flex tube inside it with cold air routed through? If not, you may be experiencing gas breakout due to the difference in temperature at the tower.

quote:Originally posted by redwing

Scott,
Thanks for your reply,
I'm home and I turn up the CO2 to 16psi my temp is 36 and the system is made by Micro Matic. When I pour my 1st glass lot of foam, then I poured a pitch and was just fine nexted, I tried pouring a glass and got about 1/2 foam in glass. What could be the problem, wiht pouring into a glass?

I did not use any soap with cleaning the glass. Used cold water.

I have read most all of this sites info to solve these problem with just my 1st kegerator.

This is a great form for us newbe's to kegerators

Thanks, Tom

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[shaggyboiler]

I think I have this same problem. Where the tower is getting warm. What is the best way to keep the tower cool?