Too much head now...

[imahawki]

OK, I got my check ball/retainer issue solved thanks to the forum here. Now that my beer is flowing I'm getting about 50/50 head beer. It appears what's happening is that the first shot out of the tap is mostly foam and then it turns to beer in a second or so but what this means is when drawing a pint, the glass is overflowing with foam by the time its half full of beer. Once everything settles, the beer drinks just fine.

-I've got a Danby kegerator set to 40 degrees (was set to 36 but I upped it a bit)

-C02 set to 10psi

-I'd say 3.5-4 feet of beer hose, but not positive. I can measure if this is very critical.

-Beer is torpedo of Fat Tire

-I'll sheepishly admit now that the keg was allowed to come to room temperature for about 3-4 days before I got the fridge setup

Thanks in advance.

[yddraig]

The problem is that the tower is NOT insulated. I have the same kegerator and the same problem. I keep the temp cranked all the way down and the beer stays about 40-42. The fix is to get a new higher quality kegerator the work around is to pour until it stops foaming, about 2 seconds. Let the glass sit until the foam turns back into beer, about 2 or 3 minutes, and then continue pouring. You should get about 12 oz of beer with a nice 4 oz head.

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with Tabasco and home brew

[yddraig]

Also I replaced the supplied 1/4 beer line with about 5 feet of 3/16".

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with Tabasco and home brew

[imahawki]

How much did the larger beer line help? I'm thinking about installing a fan a la psychodad (I think that was his name) from here on the forum.

[Scott Zuhse]

Wait a second. That post did not mention a larger beer line but a longer beer line. Readjust your thermostat to acquire 38 F beer temp. If you reside at sea level, set pressure at 14 PSIG and install five feet of 3/16" Inside Diameter (ID) tubing.

As to the tower, try to use a fan to force air up the tower but install so that the air can return back into the box.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[imahawki]

A think the lenght of beer line IS about 5 feet. I'll double check though. And its already 3/16, for some reason I was thinking it was something else. I'll double check the lenght. I'm near sea level. What specifically does a LONGER beer line do???

[Scott Zuhse]

Increases the resistance to the flow of beer as it passes through. The more resistance, the slower the flow. Never adjust pressure of 100% CO2 to control flow.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[imahawki]

I bought the 5ft. of pre-assembled line from you over the weekend. I checked and the line is about 2.5 feet long, not anywhere NEAR 5ft. Hopefully that will help right there.

[jayfredweb]

quote:Originally posted by imahawki

OK, I got my check ball/retainer issue solved thanks to the forum here. Now that my beer is flowing I'm getting about 50/50 head beer. It appears what's happening is that the first shot out of the tap is mostly foam and then it turns to beer in a second or so but what this means is when drawing a pint, the glass is overflowing with foam by the time its half full of beer. Once everything settles, the beer drinks just fine.

-I've got a Danby kegerator set to 40 degrees (was set to 36 but I upped it a bit)

-C02 set to 10psi

-I'd say 3.5-4 feet of beer hose, but not positive. I can measure if this is very critical.

-Beer is torpedo of Fat Tire

-I'll sheepishly admit now that the keg was allowed to come to room temperature for about 3-4 days before I got the fridge setup

Thanks in advance.

[JSH]

I also have a Danby with the same issue. Once the hose in the tower and the tap cools via the flowing beer the foam is normal.

I just learned to like ice cream for the first pour of the day. Was thinking of insulating the tower but after a few perfectly poured beers couldn't be bothered anymore.

Another thing I noticed is that the tap gums up quite alot overnight(i think because the warming up tower dries the reside in the tap) making the first pour very difficult to pull. This results in a slow opening of the tap and therefore more turbulence in the flow and therefore foam. I addressed this issue by lubing the tap between kegs. The amount of ice cream I now get is quite low even when the tower/tap is warm.

[jayfredweb]

I apologize for the empty response. I hit something wrong i guess???

quote:Originally posted by imahawki

OK, I got my check ball/retainer issue solved thanks to the forum here. Now that my beer is flowing I'm getting about 50/50 head beer. It appears what's happening is that the first shot out of the tap is mostly foam and then it turns to beer in a second or so but what this means is when drawing a pint, the glass is overflowing with foam by the time its half full of beer. Once everything settles, the beer drinks just fine.

-I've got a Danby kegerator set to 40 degrees (was set to 36 but I upped it a bit)

-C02 set to 10psi

-I'd say 3.5-4 feet of beer hose, but not positive. I can measure if this is very critical.

-Beer is torpedo of Fat Tire

-I'll sheepishly admit now that the keg was allowed to come to room temperature for about 3-4 days before I got the fridge setup

Thanks in advance.

I'm having the exact same problem!!! I recently purchased a True (TDD1) Kegerator. I removed the single tap tower, and replaced it with a 4 tap tower from micromatic. The new tower has the insulation (inside of the steel lined with foam), and I ran the Cool Air Tube (a feature of the original kegerator) up into the new tower.

User yddraig said that the problem might be that the tower was not keeping the beer cool enough. I'm not sure what i can do to fix this problem??

The only additional thing i could do, would be to cut a larger hole in the top of the kegerator. The Stock cut hole isn't even close to 3" and I've stuffed, four beer lines and the air tube through it. Any suggestions?????[?][?][?]

[imahawki]

Well, I installed the longer beer line I purchased, and honestly, if I had to guess, I'd say the foam is worse than it was stock. Now if I pour multiple beers in a row, the 2nd, 3rd, etc. are worse than they were originally.

[topgun3208]

mmmmmmm did I hear sumthin bout too much head?[:0] didnt know there was such a thing

From the land of pleasant living, the Chesapeake bay
Mark

[Stefan]

Is it possible there is a kink in the line? It doesn't make sense that a longer beer line would give more foam. Maybe you shook the keg up while installing the new beer line. Maybe the tempurature fluctuated in the process. Once everything levels out, maybe it will be better. You still should pour off the initial foam because pouring beer on top of foam makes it worse.

Stefan

[Scott Zuhse]

Did you mention that the new tower had four steel or possibly stainless steel tubes wrapped inside of a foam jacket? If this is a air shaft tower, this should not be the case. Please advise.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[imahawki]

Well, the problem is fixed. I had a keg (5.33 gal torpedo) of Fat Tire. I bought the keg cold 3 days before I took delivery of the kegerator. When the kegerator was delivered, I put the keg in and tapped it (yep, let it get warm AND tapped it warm). I finished that keg, and throughout the process, the beer always tasted fine even though it was a PITA to pour because of the foam. I put in a torpedo of Boulevard Wheat straight from the store, it never got warm, and I gave it some time to settle after tapping it. NO FOAM, PERFECT pours.

As far as the tower/lines, it is the vinyl or whatever lines you sell directly from the keg to the tap, no stainless steel lines. The tower is metal and uninsulated. But like I said, even the first pour after a day of sitting is perfect now.

One last thing though, what should the CO2 pressure be for the Boulevard Wheat? I think I have it at 12psi right now.

[JSBrackeen]

Wanted to make a point here to everyone.

The best bear manufacture in the world always suggest not letting the first part of the beer you get touching the glass.

Stella actually calls this step 2 of the pouring ritual "The Sacrafice". I personally take the work of 600 Year Old Brewery.

Do not take my word for it go to http://www.stella-artois.com/main.jsp and read about the pouring ritual under enjoying.

The problem is not with the unit it is with the instructions on pouring.

[beerboy52]

JSH--

The faucet gums up because the faucet breather holes are getting clogged. They allow the air to get behind the beer as it flows (much like turning a 2L bottle upside down-needs air behind it to flow). Remove the faucet and check the two breather holes. At a minimum, ream out with a toothpick, but brush out the faucet whenever you can.

[imahawki]

Where are these breather holes? Could you provide a little more detail?