Kegging Issues

mike frohlich wrote:

I clean with PBW and sanitize with IoStar because it does not foam. Lot's cheaper too.

Thanks alot Mike!!

I clean with PBW and sanitize with IoStar because it does not foam. Lot's cheaper too.

What do you all recommend for santitizing kegs?? I've been using Star San and its been WAY to foamy for my liking. Any other ideas as to what would work best and prevent/minimize those undesired suds...

I had it set to 30PSI for two days, bled the gas and set the pressure down to 10psi and have tried going a little lower too. My fridge is set between 42* and 45*. Right now it is at about 8PSI. The beer that does come out doesn't seem overly carbonated. I will try unhooking and bleed off the CO2 every couple days and then try to start over.

Igraf wrote:

I am just getting into kegging and have my first kegged batch which has been on CO2 for a few weeks now. I am having a severe foam issue. When I watch it looks like the beer is coming out by the ball lock disconnect foamy. It eventually cleans up but as soon as you close and re-open the tap it creates a ton of foam again. I though I may have a bad connection on the disconnect so I have re-done that. Does anyone have any ideas on what I should try next or who would be willing to stop by to see what I'm talking about?

Cheers! Ivan

It's hard to precisely diagnose your problem without asking you a couple questions first. Since you said the beer has been on CO2 for a few weeks, do you know what PSI you've carbonated it at? Secondly, what temperature has it been stored at while carbonating? If you've had the PSI fairly high (in my opinion 20PSI and above) for that several week period, while cold, it may be overcarbonated. There are a number of topics online on how to deal with that condition and I can look some of them up if you feel this is the culprit.

If that's not the case, have you tried to bleed any excess CO2 from the keg, then verify that it's at a moderate serving pressure, say between 5 and 8PSI? It's possible you have excess CO2 in the keg, causing your beer to foam up as you serve it.

Edit: Looks like Mike was a little quicker on the draw, but you get the idea. Hopefully the info helps!

How many PSI are you pushing it at? It sounds to me like your CO2 is coming out of solution. Worst case scenario, take it off the co2, bleed the co2 off the keg, and let it sit for a week or so, then start your process over again.

If you want to force carbonate your beer, 10-12 psi for 5 days should do it, or crank it up to 35-40, shake the keg a few times during the course of the day, and it will be ready to go in 1 1/2 days. Be sure to then drop it back down to 8-10 for serving purposes.

A little more info, might help to solve the problem. A few weeks at how many PSI?

Cheers!

I am just getting into kegging and have my first kegged batch which has been on CO2 for a few weeks now. I am having a severe foam issue. When I watch it looks like the beer is coming out by the ball lock disconnect foamy. It eventually cleans up but as soon as you close and re-open the tap it creates a ton of foam again. I though I may have a bad connection on the disconnect so I have re-done that. Does anyone have any ideas on what I should try next or who would be willing to stop by to see what I'm talking about?

Cheers! Ivan