Noob with initial pour foaming issue

[rickswa]

Hey everyone. I got a kegerator as a gift a few months ago but have been chasing my tail and pulling my hair out trying to get it to work properly and I'm finally at what I think is a dead end. The unit is a Edgestar BR3002BL and initially had a TapRite 3" stainless double tower on it. The main problem I have had since day 1 is when pouring, the initial pour (entire pint glass) would be VERY foamy and subsequent ones would be fine. Then when time came and you went to pour the next round, it just repeated the same issue. I had thought it was the tower not being insulated that well and causing the lines to warm so I purchased one of the iron pipe towers from TappedBeer which is insulated on the inside with what seems to be a foil faced flexible honeycomb type insulation that extends out the bottom of the base about 3". I also used Perlick 630 faucets. When I first went to install it, the hole seemed very tight with the insulation so I took a dremel and removed some of the material from the adapter inside the kegerator that keeps the tower from wobbling. I have two kegs in it; Michelob Ultra and Founders All Day IPA. I am at 6000' above sea level elevation and when the tower was ordered, I had them put 10' lines of 3/16" ID poly tubing on it. The TapRite had shorter lines so I thought that may have been part of the problem. I'm running the kegerator at 36 degrees (had it at 34 but thought maybe bumping the temp up would help) and the psi on the ultra is set at 17 (any lower and it just seemed flat) and the All Day IPA is at 14. The temperature of the first pour (in glass) was 41 and the second was 38. The distance from the nut on the beer line to the faucet is about 18". The subsequent pours after the first seem really good, but I'm just sick of pouring beer down the drain or not being able to walk up and just pour a beer without getting a glass of foam. The odd thing is that my brother has the exact same tower with zero issues so I'm at a loss. The only difference between his tower and mine is the elevation (he is at 800' and I'm at 6000' and a difference in the kegerator itself which could affect clearance going up). I'm pretty much at my wits end with this thing and just wonder if anyone is able to help me in any way to get this thing working properly. I've attached photos of the first pour vs the 2nd, the carbonation of the 2nd one and also the amount of room that is left after the 2 lines go up to the tower. The Ultra is even more foamy that the All Day in the photos on the first pour. Basically the ultra fills all but 15% of the glass with foam on the first pour. THANK YOU to anyone who can please help me.

[makats]

Just a noob chiming in, but from what I've read so far you might want to try installing a tower cooling system if possible, which should help maintain even temps for your poor and perhaps reduce the head on the first pool. I've also heard (although have not tested myself) that on a decently balanced systems, adding a flow control faucet can help tackle the remaining excess/lack of foam.

[rickswa]

Thank you ver much. Tower cooler coming today and plan to do the flow control faucet as well. I

[sn00ky]

I second the cooling fan. Before pouring your first, pint, feel the tap. Is it warm? Pour the 2nd, is it now cold? If so, then that transition is your problem. Balanced lines are important for carbonation / pour speed, but if it's pouring correctly the 2nd time, its more with temperature of tap, then balancing. Flow control is a nice feature, but it's a "patch" to a problem, rather than a permanent solution (though they are definetly easier). I had flow control but sold it as I found it wasn't getting used since balancing my system.
Just my 0.02

[rickswa]

Thank you for the info. You're correct, after the first pour everything seems fine. I can run about 2-3 ounces of the IPA and then get great pours as long as I do them immediately after that but I have to pour out about a full pint of foam for the ultra to work properly. It just seems if I lower the pressure any below the 14 for IPA and 17 for Ultra, it tastes flat.

I installed the cooling fan and tubing up the tower but it didn't do what I was hoping for. I think it's the T design of my tower and it's just not getting the cold air out to the shanks. I'm going to try to disassemble the tower a bit and see if I can get a T for the cooling tube inside the T of the tower and see if that helps.

From what I've read, the 10' lines should be ok given my tower height and the psi I'm using. I might just put the old TapRite tower back on and see what that does with the fan also.

Thanks again for the help.

[rickswa]

just wanted to post the update on my results. I got the tower super cooler fan from and put it in my iron pipe tower but unfortunately after about an hour and a half of cooling, it didn't really do anything. I put the taprite tower back on and tried after 30 minutes with same bad results but after an hour of cooling, the IPA was MUCH better and was just a little more head than normally desired but still way better than before. The Michelob Ultra was still in its own world with a full pint plus of foam before I could get a glass to pour. So at least it's progress for now and maybe I can keep doing small steps to get this working normally.

[djc]

What do the beer lines look like for the Ultra after it has sat for a little while - pockets of CO2 or solid beer?

[rickswa]

unfortunately LOTS of air pockets. Large bubbles in it. There was one right out of beer line on the coupler end. I have all the beer line coiled neatly on the keg, but I just cant seem to win with this ultra. I brought the psi down to 14, let it sit for a few days and still bubbles. Brought it up to 15 and still major bubbles in line after it sits. None in the IPA though so at least I have one that I seem to be making progress on.

[bp_82]

rickswa I just PM'd you on this as well. Sorry to ask a somewhat unrelated question, but on a bit of time crunch. Can you tell me the distance from the center of the tower hole on top of the BR3002BL fridge to the front edge of the fridge? I have mine on order, but need to form the hole in my concrete counter prior to delivery of the fridge. Assumption is its centered on the fridge from left to right, but it appears from picture to be around 18" from the front edge of the fridge putting it around 7" from the back edge. I am posting this here as well in case someone else may be able to grab this dimension for me. Much appreciate any help.

BTW: Any update on getting better pours from your setup?

[Dalone55]

I was more interested in the temperatures. If your Kegerator is similar to mine, the temperature set is the temperature that the compressor turns off at, not the temperature of your liquids.

My Kegco XCK-2472 uses a Carel controller. I got the unit used. Cleaned it up. Cooled the kegs. Started pouring foam. Lowered the temperature to 33 degrees and still foam. I lengthened the lines to 9 feet (~5300 elevation). Less foam. I noticed that the unit was warming to 48 before the compressor was kicking on. Consequently my beer was halfway between the two. The difference between the set point and when the compressor comes on is referred to as the differential. Someone had set rd (differential) to 15. I set it to 10 thereby lowering my beer temperature to 38 which is supposedly optimal. 24 hours later, NO MORE FOAM!

I too am a noob. Everything is a learning experience.