Help with foamy keg

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Thirsty
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Help with foamy keg

Post by Thirsty » Thu Mar 16, 2017 7:34 pm

Hi. New here. Wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.

I kegged a batch of beer a few weeks ago in 2 kegs. Did my usual routine to carbonate which is pump them up to 30, roll them around for 20 mins and them put them I the fridge for a few days. After using both kegs for the last few days one is consistent foamy (more than half foam) and the other has near zero foam. They are dispensed with the same gas line and pressure (12psi) and the exact same cheapo plastic tap and long line.

So, same beer, same equipment, I'm at a loss what's the difference. A wild guess is that the pickup is picking up air somehow? On the foamy keg the output line is half air after a pour.


Any suggestions? I suspect I need to wait till it is empty and check replace oring etc

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darciandjenn
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Re: Help with foamy keg

Post by darciandjenn » Fri Mar 17, 2017 7:52 am

I've had hop particles get stuck in the line and / or QD that caused excessive foaming in the past.

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Re: Help with foamy keg

Post by chalmers » Sat Mar 18, 2017 4:18 pm

Agree with D&J, any little particulate before/during/after the QD and hose is a great nucleation site, which helps to knock the CO2 out of solution. Take a look at those lines, and post, and maybe diptube if all else fails. Good luck!

Thirsty
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Re: Help with foamy keg

Post by Thirsty » Sun Mar 19, 2017 5:20 pm

QD=quick disconnect?

Could be before that for sure but the same one is used on both kegs. Seems I would need to open the keg to check anything before that. Have always been told not to do that till the beers gone? :)

mthibodeau
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Re: Help with foamy keg

Post by mthibodeau » Sun Mar 19, 2017 5:23 pm

Disconnect the gas, slowly bleed off pressure and open it up. Right now it's basically un usable so can't get worse right?
Kegged:
Bottled: Chocolate Orange Stout, Barkshack Sparkling Ginger Mead, Cherry Berliner
Fermenting: Fruit (havent decided yet) Lambic
Considering: Imperial Chocolate Raspberry Stout, Fir Tip Ale

Thirsty
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Re: Help with foamy keg

Post by Thirsty » Fri Apr 07, 2017 11:50 am

Just wanted to follow up here.

My second keg started doing the same thing mid pour. It was almost empty so I just finished it off and when I opened it up I found a hop right in the spring near the out connection.

Then I took the dip tub out of my first keg. It wasn't really plugged up but I cleaned it out. It was very loose at the top where the long tube connects. I don't know if it is supposed to separate there and could of been picking up some air but I put a little bit of plumbers tape on it and slapped it all together. Pours perfect now.

Thanks for the help

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LiverDance
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Re: Help with foamy keg

Post by LiverDance » Fri Apr 07, 2017 12:30 pm

there should be an o ring on your dip tube where it meets the main body of the keg. it fits snug between the diptube lip and the keg.
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

Thirsty
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Re: Help with foamy keg

Post by Thirsty » Thu Apr 13, 2017 11:02 am

Ya, that's there for sure but the dip tube itself is 2 piece which was unexpected. There is a 1" flared bit with the o-ring that slips into the keg but then the tub itself slips inside the first smaller piece. It was that extra connection, inside the keg, that was loose.

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