How cold does the tower have to be?

[TomK]

So, how cold does the tower have to be? I wrapped mine in a beach towel over the weekend to see if it would make a difference (kegerator is on the patio) and when I remove the towel, even the faucet feels cool and is sweating. But, nonetheless, when I open the faucet, I still get what looks like agitated beer for the first couple of seconds and end up with a lot of foam in the glass. Even subsequent pours within a few minutes act about the same (maybe a little better, but not much).

My setup:

Kegerator: True TDD-1
Faucet: Chrome plated brass (I think)
Beer line: ~9ft of new 3/16" from Micromatic
Beer: 1/2bbl Bud Light
Beer temp: 37degF
CO2 Pressure: 12psi
Pour rate: ~90 oz/min
Elevation: 20 ft (Florida)

Thanks,
Tom

[tfvdw2at]

Tom,

Are you reading the temp of the beer by pouring a glass, drinking it fast (or, heaven forbid, dumping it) and pouring another glass and taking the temp of that glass of beer with a calibrated thermometer?

[TomK]

Tom,

Are you reading the temp of the beer by pouring a glass, drinking it fast (or, heaven forbid, dumping it) and pouring another glass and taking the temp of that glass of beer with a calibrated thermometer?

Yes. I've been taking the temp on a second pour with a calibrated digital thermometer and get a very consistent 37 degrees. I'll be adjusting the CO2 pressure up to 13 psi on Cubby's recommendation, but I've had the pressure at points between 12 and 14 psi over the last couple of weeks with the same results.

I've thought that maybe the unit being located on the patio was a problem, causing the cooled tower to warm up. So, I was hoping to reduce the foaming by wrapping the tower in some sort of blanket (that's why I tried the towel over the weekend), but no joy.

Thanks,
Tom

[tfvdw2at]

Tom,

The only spec out of the ordinary to me is your 9 ft of 3/16" hose. The MicroMatic document on how to dispense away from the fridge here:

http://www.micromatic.com/beer-quest...r-aid-106.html

says that when you go from 5' to 12' (long enough for the run) you should drop down to 1/4" hose. Standard hoses on draught towers are 5'. Is there a specific reason you are running 9' instead of 5'?

Besides that the only other thing that I can think of would be glassware cleanliness.

Greg

[TomK]

I extended the length of the beer line to reduce the flow rate in an attempt to address this issue. I ended up at about 90 oz/minute and it did improve things somewhat, by making it a little easier to control.

I don't think it has to do with the glass, because if I pour the initial second or two into another container or let it go down the drain and then move my glass under the flow, it comes out fine. If it was a problem with the glass, it seems to me it would foam when the beer came into contact with it.

Actually, the stream of the initial flow looks to be a little bubbly to me, which then becomes clear after a little bit. That's why I was thinking that maybe the tower wasn't getting cold enough, since it is outside on the patio. So, I tried my experiment with the beach towel wrap and now I'm not so sure that is the problem after all.

Thanks,
Tom

[psychodad]

I'd think if it was cold enough that the faucet was sweating, that tower cooling isn't an issue. Check Scott's blog and read up on the flashlight test.

[TomK]

That's what I was thinking, too. Seems like the tower cooling is working as well as can be expected. I did run the bubble test about a week ago, but I didn't see any bubbles. I can run it again. Just how big are the bubbles supposed to be? Are we talking big bubbles or a bunch of little ones? Hopefully it's enough either way to be obvious, because I have to constantly wipe the vinyl tubing; it fogs up on the outside every few seconds with the door open. Maybe I missed them.

[psychodad]

A few small bubbles over a period of time aren't going to be a show stopper. If they are appearing quickly and making a larger pocket of bubbles, you have a problem.

[TomK]

Well, I ran the flashlight test over the weekend. I tried it as written and dropped the pressure down to 5 psi, then increased by 1 or 2 over a period of time. I ended up settling on a pressure of 14 psi, but all the opening of the door to make the adjustments and inspect for bubbles I think increased the temp of the beerline and tower, because I ended up with a lot worse foam problems than I had originally. So, I won't be running the test that way again. I'm confident in the beer temp readings I'm taking and the flashlight test starts out by saying that it's useful if you don't know the temp and CO2 levels of the beer. It seems to me that if I set the pressure to what the charts say for the beer at a given temp, then I should be able to verify that the pressure is high enough by just doing the part of the flashlight test where you open the tap for a second and then look for bubbles. No bubbles means the pressure is not too low, right?

Anyway I left it at 14 psi to see if that improves anything, but I expect I'll be lowering it back down to 13 psi if there's no improvement.

I'm also thinking that the tower cooling isn't my problem either. As a quick test, I just went out and unwrapped my beach towel blanket from it and poured a half a glass. Measured the temp: 37 deg on the first pour. Then I poured a second glass and the temp was 36 deg. So it seems the blanket works pretty well, no?

I received some parts from MM yesterday that I'm going to swap out to see if any of them are the culprit. Got a new SS faucet and SS coupler. Also bought a 3/16" SS brush to I can give the SS tailpiece in the tower a good cleaning. After that, I'll be out of ideas. Hope something works out!

In the meantime, I welcome any and all suggestions.

Thanks,
Tom