Foamy Beer at Altitude with new Kegerator

[effnish]

This should be moved to the home section but I'm too dumb to get it there on the first try or to move it there.

I got a Danby Kegerator for my birthday and after a pony keg of killians I still haven't got the thing dialed in. The first half of the keg was just a disaster, an inch of beer in every glass of foam. Towards the end of the keg I could get a decent (80% beer 20% foam) pour if I was pouring beer regularly. I've modded the Danby a little based on a few posts I've found here and finally got it so the beer tastes cold while still having some room to drop the temperature further.

Danby Kegerator Mods:
Placed the temperature sensor in a small (~2oz) bottle of water
Placed 2 33kOhm resistor across the temperature sensor (~8deg difference)
Added 20ft of tubing to the beer line.

Setup:
Altitude = 5,400 ft
Beer Temperature = 38deg (measured in the glass post pour)
CO2 Pressure = 22psi
Beer Type = Killians
Tubing Length = ~23ft

I adjusted the C02 pressure until there were no bubbles forming at the top of the tower. Is this the correct place to look for bubbles or should I look at the lines closer to the keg? I really feel like I have way too much tubing in my setup but adding 6ft (8-10ft total tubing length) didn't seem to do the trick. I'm happy with the pour rate, but the foam is still problematic.

About the only thing I know of to try is to drop the beer temperature down another few degrees, perhaps to 34deg or so and pray for the best.

I'm also considering adding a blower to the Danby to keep the tower cooler, but I'm tempted to return the thing if I have to put much money into it to get a decent pour.

Thanks for the help.

[effnish]

What a difference a new keg made. I finished up the Kilians and moved on to a full keg of Bud Light and things are working much better. Once I got the keg cooled down to ~38 degrees the pours were much better. I'm wondering if I messed up the last keg trying to get the Danby temperature problems under control. I still get a little foam when I first open the faucet but even that only results in 2-2.5 inches of head.

[Scott Zuhse]

I tip for dispensing would be to stop pouring after the initial foam hits the glass. Dump this out and start with clear beer. It is impossible to pour clear beer on top of foam. You will be much more successful dispensing and have less foam head.

[DCullender]

Just curious, what pressure are you running with 20ft of beer line? Also, what size line are you using?

Thanks,
Dennis

[boomer1]

Does anyone know how to solve the Killians issue?

I am have exactly the same problem effnish is having with me first keg of Killians. Altitude is about the same. I have about 3.5' of beer line and it foams at all pressures.

Do I need to add line to control the pressure at the dispensing point?

Thoughts?

[effnish]

The 20ft of tubing was 3/8" as I couldn't find any 3/16" at the time. I've since moved to about 8ft of 3/16" tubing and that seems to work better. I never managed to tame the keg of killians but the follow on keg (Bug Light) seemed to work a lot better. Towards the end of the keg I ended up with a lot of foam which I suspect was the result of some overcarbonation while I was on vacation. I was running about 17psi according to the regulator with the beer at 38deg measured in the glass.

Is there a rule of thumb to use for the amount of beer line to use? Micromatic on their homepage suggest nothing more that 5' but it seems like I would need a little more because of the altitude. It seems logical that if I need to bump up the C02 by a couple of psi that I would also need a few extra feet of tubing to reduce the flowrate.

thanks again.