Pressure problem

[paul eidsness]

I have the pressure at 10psi, and the beer flies out so fast, and it's nothing but foam. Whatever beer is left at the bottom of a glass of foam is flat. I thought the regulator was toasted, so I bought another. SAME THING. I've read till I'm blue in the face. I have this thing hooked up correctly and in the right order. The only way to get a pour is to back the preasure down to virtually nothing and then I have flat beer. Did I end up with two defective regulators?? At ten pounds, it's like a jet engine when I open the faucet. What's the answer? Should I have a longer line from the keg to the faucet? It's only about 2.5 feet now... but why would that make a rat's butt worth of difference? Thanks for any help...

[THE ICEMAN]

You did not mention the inside diameter of your current line. 2.5 ft is not enough to slow the flow of the beer. You need to start with 8 to 10 ft of 3/16 id beer line. You can trim back the line about 6 in at a time to get the flow that works for you.

Also, what is the liquid temp of your beer? Use a calibrated thermometer to take the temp of a second pour.


THE ICEMAN

[paul eidsness]

pressure problem

Thanks for the advice. I hope it's that easy! I'll give it a go and let you know if that fixed it. Not sure I understand the physics though.... what difference does it make how long the hose is? Why would there be any pressure drop in a hose that doesn't have any holes in it? And what's the dealio with the temperature? It's a refridgerator the beer keg is in, one of those cylinders, I think 5.5 gallons? Oh, and then if the longer hose works, why would I want to scale it back? Less to clean? Thanks for the help!

[paul eidsness]

pressure problem

Oh, and I checked my hose, and the internal diameter is 3/8ths. Twice what you say I should use. Could that be the problem?

[mrindal2008]

yeah man im having the same problem but i also think that my tap was messed up so i bummed on from work and i just tried it... id say its about 2% better than it was but now what im going to do is upgrade my hose length im not going to mess around im going to go from my 5 footer to somewhere around 12 and cut it back till i have something that i like. and yes the diameter being 2x as big will really affect whats going on... it has to do with resistance and balancing ive had people explain it to me 100000 times and i still dont really understand why it works that way but that's your problem imo. GL man and ill let you know if it solves my problem as well!

[Hophead]

The beer line is not just for transporting the beer from the keg to the faucet. It also controls the pour rate. You MUST get your hands on at least 5-6 feet (10 would be great) standard 3/16" BEER line. It can't be just any piece of 3/16 tubing, it won't work. At 10 feet, the pour might be a little too slow but you can adjust that by simply trimming off 6" at a time until it starts to pour at a comfortable pace - just don't go below 5 feet. I bet you'll settle somewhere around 7-8 feet.

Once you have that taken care of, you then need to concentrate on getting the beer to come out of the faucet at very close to 38 degrees. Pouring good tasting, properly carbonated draft beer is a little more complicated than just putting a keg in any ol' fridge, adding some CO2 pressure and pulling the tap handle. Each beer has a certain amount of carbonation from the brewery and you must maintain that level of carbonation for it to taste right and pour correctly. The CO2 pressure you apply is determined by the volume of CO2 in the beer from the bewery and the EXACT temp of the beer. You can't guess at this.

What kind/brand of beer did you tap?
Where are you located (elevation has an effect too!)
What is the temp of the BEER? (Pour one in a glass, chug it then pour another. Take the temp of the second beer.)

If you take care of the beer line problem and get us some answers to these other questions, I'm sure we can help you start pouring perfect beer!

[budchip]

Can you tell me the correct pressuer for a 1/4 keg of bud light

[daswerve]

I think 13-14 PSI @ 38 degrees is right for Bud Light

[TomK]

Yep, that looks right to me for Bud Light: 13-14 psi at 38 deg @ sea level.