Attack of the killer Foam! Help please!

[HiWay]

I'm the proud owner of a new tower kegerator. The first day my friends and I built it we were having a few foam problems. We assumed that the keg (1/4 Yuengling) took quite a beating on the drive home, we also dropped the pressure down to around 8 PSI.

The next day, the first beer was a little foamy - from what I read this is to be expected with a tower mounted tap due to tempterature difference, and the rest of the beers were near perfect.

I did not drink any yesterday and today I tried to pour one and got a huge hiccup of foam then a full glass of foam, followed by what turned into flat beer. I inspected and saw a few air pockets in the tubes. I tightened the clamps a half turn and turned the temp back up a touch. I suppose enough time hasn't really gone by to see if this does much yet ~6 hours. I returned the pressure to 10PSI and don't see any air pockets yet, but they were forming every 30 minutes earlier. I will provide an update tomorrow, but I don't think anything is fixed because I don't know what changed over the course of a day to begin with.

Also, I understand temperature and pressure, but should my new 5lb tank be at the top of "order new CO2" on the gauge already in the cold environment? I know if i take it out it's around 600PSI. I need to pick up a thermometer to get a sure fire temp reading, I'd guess it's around 35F now. Ice was building on the evaporator (the "freezer" on the mini fridge) earlier which is why I turned the temp back up a touch.

Any ideas would truely be appreciated, all I want is a good beer when I get home from work

Update: 30 mintues later, air bubbles are back in the beer line, gathering at the top of the tap, with a few on the way to to the faucet

[HiWay]

Huge air pockets in the line this morning

[Buck]

Remember, most of the time the problems with a beer system come from temperature not pressure. What you did was let all the co2 out of your beer by turning the pressure down to 8lbs. The natural carbonation in most beer is around 12lbs at 36 degrees so turning the pressure to 8lbs makes the beer flat over a short period of time. Turning up the co2 now might put some carbonation back into the beer.Now that your keg is cold try turning the pressure back to 13-15lbs and see what happens. bubbles in the beer line usually mean that the system is starving for pressure.

[HiWay]

Will try that when I get home from work - ~how long will it take to realize if it makes a difference? also how much of a difference in flow/foam can a couple degrees F cause?... So more pressure can create less foam???

[HiWay]

So, I don't get it. The pressure is around 13PSI, I either forgot I turned it up last night or something. Anyway, the first ~6+ inches of hose coming out of the top of the keg/tap to the tower is pure air. The rest is mostly beer on the way to the tower except a small air bubble in there about mid way.

Also should the CO2 hose be easy to just pinch with my fingers, this is just a curious question, I figured I should be able to feel some sort of pressure.

[psychodad]

There should be a check ball in your keg coupler to prevent beer from reentering the keg. Make sure it is in there, it isn't unheard of for it to come out. And it really isn't that hard to pinch the co2 line with your fingers, 14 or so psi isn't quite all that much.

[indianaroller]

How long is your beer line?

Air bubbles can be caused by pressure being too low and the carbination of the beer is being released. This will cause the "hiccup" and will give you foam.

You may need to cool your tower.

Report back when you have got your temp. between 36 - 38 for 24 hours.