100% Foam - pressure too high or too low?

[campbelltf]

Here's the stats:
Summit kegerator
Tower blower installed
6' of 3/16" line bought from a brew shop
1/2 keg of Dogfish Indian Brown
Beer temp 37-38 degrees
leak tested repeated with no leaks currently

I bought the keg in late January, hooked it up and cranked the kegerator temp down (it's an old hand me down and has had problems getting cold), set the PSI to 13 waited a day, first beer a little foamy immediately followed by a perfect one. Ran like that for almost a week then my newly filled CO2 tank went dry. Turns out I had a leak in the regulator. Took a couple days, but refilled the tank, fixed the leak after reading some threads on this forum.

While reading I found the magic 38 degree parameter. I didn't have a thermometer at the time so I put a glass of water in the kegerator. Checked it the next morning it was frozen solid! Whoops. Lowered the temp and bought a thermometer, now I have the temp in water glass to 37 and the foam coming out the tap at about 38.

So there's the problem. Once I got the temp up, I get nothing but foam, 100% thick foam. I very thoroughly cleaned the coupler, beer line, shank and faucet with beer line cleaner. I have over the last couple of days ran the psi up from 12 to 18, venting the get between changes and letting each setting sit for about 12 hours. I do see bubbles form in the beer line. I did the leak checks, checked the keg head - it looks brand new. Read the FAQ's here about temp and pressure. The pressure article says that both low and high pressure can result in foamy beer, so how do I know which I have? I have a call and an email into Dogfish for their temp and pressure recommendations, but no answer yet. Thoughts?

[mp_cs]

You have bubbles in your beer line and your glass of water froze correct?

If your PSI setting was still 13psi and you never had it lowered while you were that cold, it's possible you over-carbonated your keg.
Bubbles rising through the beer line indicate CO2 breaking out of solution.

Turn off CO2, release pressure on keg via safety valve and shake keg up a few times releasing CO2 in between times, then turn CO2 back on and let keg settle. Might not work though but is worth a try.

[campbelltf]

At the time when the glass of water froze, I did have the psi at 13. I have since corrected the temperature so I have 37-38 degrees using a chug test and water in the glass and have been varying the psi trying to find the right setting.

I can certainly try your suggestion to de-carbonate the keg.

[mp_cs]

For one thing stop adjusting your PSI so much, once you have a set beer temp you can set CO2 accordingly.

I'm not particulary sure what sam adams should be set at, i'm not a fan but someone will chime in i'm sure.

[sedmond]

So it poured fine before you increased the temperature? I suspect the thermometer is not calibrated and the temperature of the beer is too high. Cup of water froze before turning up temperature so bottom of Krator was below 32F, but beer in keg may have been at 34F or so. Water in a glass at bottom of Krator may be a couple degrees colder than beer. Do you have a fan that stirs up the air in the Krator? I would turn temperature and regulator back down to what worked before and then make small adjustments from there if necessary. But you may have to bleed off CO2 first as suggested above.

[cubby_swans]

Originally Posted by mp_cs

I'm not particulary sure what sam adams should be set at, i'm not a fan but someone will chime in i'm sure.

Wouldn't help, since he's serving Dog Fish Head Indian Brown.

Have you contacted Dog Fish Head and asked them what volumes of co2 their beer is kegged at?

edit... never mind. Saw you have an e-mail to DFH. Keep on them. In the mean time, I would suggest 12psi at 38F, as that is most common. And if you had it at 13 or 15 or 18, and you're beer was coler than 38, you may have overcarbonated it.

[mp_cs]

Originally Posted by cubby_swans

Wouldn't help, since he's serving Dog Fish Head Indian Brown.

Duh! Must have read that on another post. HA HA HA

[campbelltf]

I did as mp_cs suggested and bled off the CO2 with a little shaking in the process over the course of an evening. It has greatly helped the foam problem, though not completely alleviated it.

I was wondering about the thermometer myself, so I performed the crushed ice in the glass test and he thermometer read 29.5 F. It's a less expensive (read cheap) digital that I can't calibrate, so I'm adding roughly 2.5 degrees to it's display until I get a better one. With that known lack of precision, I'm getting the second poured beer to register 35.5 F (plus 2.5 makes 38 give or take).

I finally received a response from Dogfish. The brewmaster recommended 40 degrees and between 6-8 psi for a short draw system. Yes, I triple checked what he wrote and what I just typed. So I've put it on 8 psi, but would welcome incredulous responses and recommendations.