Shiner is foam and flat

[Amateur Kegger]

Recently purchased the Nostalgia 2100. Have my temp at 35 degrees and beer in the cup temp at 37. The beer I'm getting is all foam and flat. Psi is set at 9-10. What in the world am I doing wrong? The keg is Shiner Bock freshly tapped.

[djc]

Read here about balancing. How are you taking your beer temperature? Do you know the V/V for Shiner? Do you have first glass foam, or all glasses are foam?

[toddq30]

I am sorry if I am asking questions already stated in this forum. I have been pulling my hair out with a keezer I just finished. I have a 1/6 barrel of Blue Moon. I have 8' of 3/16" vinyl hose; it is coiled so that it (for the most part) exits the sankey coupler and continues upward 6" to my faucet. I have my keg set to 14 psi. The top of my keezer sits at 38F and the bottom of my keezer at about 36F. The speed of my pour is fine, but my line develops air gaps that originate at keg coupler. I have checked all threaded connections and they are tight; I have inspected the seals on my keg and coupler and they all seam fine. I have no clue what to look at next...any help would be appreciated.

[djc]

You are not properly balanced. You do not have a leak, you have CO2 breaking out of solution. You need to take the temperature of the beer by pouring into a room temperature glass, immediately chugging or dumping it and then pouring another beer in the same glass. That's your beer temp. Blue Moon has a v/v of 2.7. From there you can use a force carbonation chart to determine your pressure. You can also skip the science if you'd like and just bump up the pressure 2 psi and wait a day. I would also move you lines down lower, there is no reason to keep them at the warmest part of the box. Foam free pours come from keeping the temperature uniform from top to bottom, so a fan may also help you here.

[toddq30]

djc,
Thank you for your reply. I will make those changes this weekend and reply on my progress. I have kept the lines toward the top because I read a post that mentioned sags in a line can cause c02 to come out of suspension. I am new at this and there is so much advice on this issue, its hard to determine which solution should take priority. Thanks again, and I will let you know how it goes.

[djc]

The sags in the line do not cause the CO2 to break out, they are just the places it collects. Clearly a misguided person who advised you of that. Being unbalanced causes breakout. Pressure too high - liquid saturated and cannot take anymore CO2. Pressure too low - not enough pressure in the system to keep the CO2 in solution.
Usually the issue is too low unless you have had the pressure up way high for an extended period of time or you have a broken gage on your tank.

[toddq30]

djc,
After following your guidance, I got a reading of 36F in my second glass of beer. I am assuming that temperature is acceptable. I increased my pressure to 16# and it is seeming to help the situation. I still get a pretty foamy first glass, but the second glass is improving. One question I have is that I am at 5280' in elevation so I am not sure if that is going to affect my situation when trying to balance my system. Thank you,

[djc]

The rule of thumb I've seen for that is 1 psi per 2000 ft, but some report having to go a little higher. A foamy first glass is expected without having a tower cooler - the lines in the tower are warmer and when the cold beer from the bottom of the keg goes through it foams. Actually the line higher in the box is warmer than the keg as well, your measurements show that. The idea is that in addition to properly balancing, you need to keep the temperature consistent from keg to faucet. A tower cooler will solve two problems for you - first glass foam and circulation in the box to normalize the temperature throughout. At 16 are there still gaps in the line, or is it all beer?

[toddq30]

I have a chest freezer that I have converted into a kegerator. I installed a 2x4 bezel between the lid and the freezer and that is where I installed my shank for the faucet. All of my beer line is contained in the keezer until the shank. One thing I need to change (based on your earlier post) is to allow the beer line to drop to the bottom of the freezer. At this point I still have it coiled at the top. At 16 there are no more air gaps in my beer line. I'm thinking...drop the beer line down and put a fan in the keezer to normalize the temp. I know I am getting close, and again, appreciate all your advice.

[djc]

Yes, you are almost done. Good deal.