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different strokes for different .. kegs? .. still foam related

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  • different strokes for different .. kegs? .. still foam related

    hi! i've been lurking here forever but *SEARCH* usually answers any questions i have until today..

    so i bought an older model edgestar from a guy on kijiji about 8 or 9 months ago ( shhh... i know :\ )

    it has worked pretty well so far, i've always thought it could be a bit colder but i just keep the pressure a bit higher
    so it's never been enough of an issue to bother with a screwdriver and all that

    my partner and i drink a lot of beer and have people over so we easily go through a keg in 7-10 days .. we usually get our beer from a microbrew who will put a batch directly into, or transfer it into one of our own three kegs we keep on rotation

    when i went to pick up our latest batch they hadn't transfered it into our keg and they just told me to take it in theirs knowing i'd bring it back..

    well, this is the first absolute nightmare beer we've had since we started going by the keg.. it's like i centimeter of beer in a pint of foam.. if it's been sitting a while (overnight) it literally pours like soft serve .. even if we pour it into a pitcher or a couple growlers.. it's just awful


    tonight i bit the bullet and took the thermostat apart to recalibrate it or whateve (very anxiety inducing.. waiting for the thing to come back on after tinkering with it) .. but i reckon i won't see any difference (if it makes any difference) for a day or two

    my question (finally!!) is: could the borrowed keg have anything to do with this? like i said.. we've gone through several kegs a month with no problem and it's always one of the same three kegs.. the wild card in this new foam situation is the borrowed keg..

    "possibly stupid" bonus question: could the coupling be wrong? is it possible to use the wrong tap on a keg and have it "sort of" work?



    just to emphasize .. i've been lurking this forum since before we got the fridge.. with excellent results! i know the drill of keeping the temperature, and the pressure, and the lines clean, and the glass.., etc. it's just this latest keg i'm not discounting the fact that it's just a massive coincidence that the fridge bit the dust the exact day we got a wildcard keg.. but i'm suspicious .. i have an regular refrigerator ambient thermometer on top of the keg and a cup of water with a floating thermometer at the bottom so i will open it up in a day or two and offer an update.. in the meantime if anyone has any info or advice it would be much loved


    thanks for all the great advice so far
    Last edited by scubahood; 09-18-2014, 03:57 AM.

  • #2
    Not so sure about your understanding of proper balance. If your beer is slightly on the warm side your pressure would actually have to be on the higher side of normal, not lower as you say you have it. The standard questions you have seen here before all apply, pressure, second glass temp and volumes of CO2 for the beer. Is this latest keg a different style than previous kegs?
    What I have: Haier two tap, 525 faucets, tower cooler, 10' lines

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    • #3
      sorry djc.. i edited that post a hundred times and still meant that i had a higher co2 pressure i've corrected it


      the keg appears more or less the same but i've only had sankey so i'm not sure of any subtle differences.. i'm assuming that different couplers don't fit at all?

      the borrowed keg doesn't have a pressure rating on it.. mine say no more than 400+ kpa but i'd be terrified to go anywhere near that lol .. i'm at about 17kpa now .. i think a longer beer line is definitely in order but i'm just confused by the remarkable difference between my kegs and the loaner keg

      i've tried every glass temp from freezer to hot water wash.. the foam comes from the tap. when you open it up there's a distinct one-one-thousand- and then a blast of foam .. and then a stream of foam.. and then a millisecond of beer
      Last edited by scubahood; 09-18-2014, 04:35 AM.

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      • #4
        You are missing most of the points here, and really need to read up on the newbie threads. There are only 2 variables here - temperature and pressure, 1 fixed value based on the beer - v/v, and 2 things that can influence your pour - proper cleaning and line length.

        The keg is the same, D sankey is D sankey and unless you went overseas to the brewery, you have the right coupler. The pressure rating on the keg has absolutely nothing to do with this. The applied pressure from your regulator has a lot to do with it.

        To be clear, the temperature you need is the second glass OF BEER. Not the glass itself. There is a very specific procedure you need to follow to get that temperature. Using a calibrated thermometer, pull a beer into a room temp glass. Immediately dump that off and pull a second beer into that glass. Take the temperature of the beer, not the foam and don't touch the sides of the glass. Again, I think you are not reading the topics or you would understand that. You also need to know the volumes of CO2 (v/v) for the beer, and then using a Zahm Nagle force carbonation chart you can determine your pressure.
        Again, is this the same beer you were serving before, or did you switch styles?

        I think any previous success you had was luck.
        Last edited by djc; 09-18-2014, 05:39 AM.
        What I have: Haier two tap, 525 faucets, tower cooler, 10' lines

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        • #5
          Read any thread here about foam, they are all the same and discuss these topics.
          What I have: Haier two tap, 525 faucets, tower cooler, 10' lines

          Comment


          • #6
            scubahood,
            Can you post brewery, v/v of the beer?
            Sure it could be keg, could be coupler, could be wrong keg spear (that would mean they are using a "S" spear on that keg), heck it could be gremlins.
            Whenever a sudden foam occurs, take things one at a time.
            If you changed kegs check:
            coupler seals (probe, mainly then connection between beer line and coupler)
            If you didn't take coupler off, and left beer in line for extended time:
            Clean gear, double check all seals and connection (especially the shank, use the thin brush, especially if 90 degree)
            That type of foam is way beyond balance, either you have a missing washer or damaged keg, CO2 seems to be mixing with the beer.
            If your gear is good, and still have problems, post back with asked for information+ actually PSI setting (don't know what 17kpa is, can you explain). It could be a bad keg seal, check the seal where the probe goes into the keg. If all is good, then it might be a damaged keg, if you have an "AHA" moment, please post back what happened and what went wrong, thanks.
            KB

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by KillianBoy View Post
              scubahood,
              Can you post brewery, v/v of the beer?
              Sure it could be keg, could be coupler, could be wrong keg spear (that would mean they are using a "S" spear on that keg), heck it could be gremlins.
              Whenever a sudden foam occurs, take things one at a time.
              If you changed kegs check:
              coupler seals (probe, mainly then connection between beer line and coupler)
              If you didn't take coupler off, and left beer in line for extended time:
              Clean gear, double check all seals and connection (especially the shank, use the thin brush, especially if 90 degree)
              That type of foam is way beyond balance, either you have a missing washer or damaged keg, CO2 seems to be mixing with the beer.
              If your gear is good, and still have problems, post back with asked for information+ actually PSI setting (don't know what 17kpa is, can you explain). It could be a bad keg seal, check the seal where the probe goes into the keg. If all is good, then it might be a damaged keg, if you have an "AHA" moment, please post back what happened and what went wrong, thanks.
              KB
              sorry.. i was under the influence when i made these posts

              BUT after pulling the fridge apart and making all sorts of adjustments and basically freaking out.. never got it to pour right but eventually it tapped out so i swapped out the problem keg for a tried and true.. works fine again

              i think the problem was either 1) i let my partner couple the keg for the first time since ever and i dunno? he could have effed it up 2) weird borrowed keg 3) gremlins

              we get beer from a well equipped and knowledgeable u-brew.. fresh raspberries, roasted pumpkin, liquid yeast strains from who knows where?? the v/v is usually around 2 but when it's different you can generally adjust it .. but not with the freak keg haha

              i blame my partner <>>

              no aha moment here, sorry.. just a wrench in the machine
              Last edited by scubahood; 10-03-2014, 01:59 AM.

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              • #8
                scubahood,
                Dude, looks like you are still under the influence, you did have a "A-HA" moment, new keg pours fine "A-HA it was the keg". I doubt it was your partner that put coupler on wrong (pretty simple, attach, turn and engage tap), could be keg had a damaged seal or split spear, just glad everything worked out.
                BTW v/v usually isn't normally anywhere near 2 and really can't be adjusted, if you are saying that you adjust for different beers, sure fine but normally small breweries carbonate all beers at the same level, say 2.5 to 2.9, roughly.
                KB

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