The damned thing is giving me fits. I put a keg in it yesterday, burped the keg, and I'm still getting nothing but foam out of it.



I've adjusted the CO2 bottle down to about 4 PSI, trying to keep the foam down, but so far to no avail. Can anyone help??

Have really cleaned the lines and tap lately?

A little dirt will give you foam.

Yep, that is one reason everything is out of balance; I ripped the entire thing apart, replaced the lines with new ones, and scrubbed everything thoroughly.

What type of keg? Commercial or ball/pin-lock? What did you initially pressurize it to? I bet it needs to be burped more.

Kharn

It's a commercial. Initial pressure was about 12, but I burped it again when I lowered the pressure.

Bump for more help.

How many feet of beer line do you have from the keg to the spout?
Normally they drop 2psi per foot, so a balanced system results in zero PSI at the spout, a common setup is 5' of line with ten PSI set on the regulator.

A commercial keg will accept a lot of CO2 into solution due to its size, you'd need a long burp to get the pressure out.

Kharn

I don't know if it is the same for you, but when I changed my lines it was foamy for a while.  It eventually got broken in.

turn off the gas until it pours normal-

I've got just about 5' of line. I'll leave the pressure where it is at the moment, but give the keg a long burp. I'll see how it pours tonight.

Is this your first keg in this system?  If not, is it the same beer you've used before?
Are you using commercial beer line, or are you using regular food-grade hose?  Beer line makes a big difference.

Kharn

It is my first keg system, and a fresh keg. The lines are beer grade lines. Don't recall the name of the tap, but it is a good commercial one; I replaced the cheap POS that came with the kegerator.

Have you used the kegerator before?  If so, did it work fine?

If so, it must be the keg.

I just pulled this from probrewer.com

Troubleshooting the problems that can occur is an important part of maintaining a draft system. Start by placing a rinsed, beer-clean glass at a 45° angle under the faucet, open the tap all the way, and...

• No beer is coming out. When troubleshooting, always check the most obvious thing first. Is the keg empty? If it is, you will feel a rush of gas coming from the faucet as gas escapes from the keg through the line. Is the coupler on the keg correctly? Is the carbon dioxide tank connected, is it full, and are the toggle valves open? Is the line frozen?

• Flat, headless beer comes out. The head goes away too quickly or doesn’t form to begin with. Check the regulator gauge for proper setting. Is the beer glass clean? If the head forms, then quickly disappears, the chances are that the glass is to blame. Head on beer is quickly destroyed by oils, so greasy food and lipstick can ruin beer foam. Did you pour properly?

• Foamy, overcarbonated beer comes out. Is the keg empty? Is the regulator set to the proper pressure? Is the keg storage temperature at the proper temperature of 36° to 40° F? Has the keg had time to settle? Did you open the tap all the way? On a long-draw system, is the coolant cold enough? The glycol reservoir for the coolant should stay right around freezing, plus or minus two degrees.

• The beer starts out fine, but then the line “burps.” There is a warm spot, kink, pinhole, soil deposit, or bad seal somewhere between the keg and the faucet. A full keg might be sitting on the hose in the walk-in, crimping the line. Get the lines cleaned. Check insulation and seals.

• The beer doesn’t taste right. Have the lines been cleaned recently? Beer lines should be cleaned at least every three weeks, preferably weekly. Are the glasses beer-clean? Is air being introduced to the beer somewhere?

• The beer is darker than usual or cloudy, and it doesn’t taste right. Clean the lines. Check the expiration date on the keg. Has the keg been tapped for more than three weeks? Is the keg getting warmer than about 45° F during storage?

• There are little black flakes or slimy chunks in the beer. Clean the lines. Clean and maintain the faucets. Don’t panic, though; these flakes and slimy chunks aren’t harmful — just disgusting. Sometimes a line cleaning will loosen deposits that appear in subsequent beers.

• The first few pours of the day are all foam, but then it’s okay. This means that your pressure and temperature are not staying the same. If your beer cooler gets a lot of traffic during the day, the temperature will rise. Your gas regulator is set to give a good pour at the daytime temperature. Overnight the beer dissolves more CO2 because the gas pressure stays the same but the beer gets colder.

If you can limit traffic by storing only kegs in your keg cooler, this will fix the problem. If you can’t do that, try hanging a slatted plastic air-barrier screen in the doorway to minimize cold-air loss. If this isn’t possible, try turning off the valve from the carbon dioxide regulator at night. Just don’t forget to turn it back on in the morning.

• The last third of a keg is foamy. This is the same problem as above. As the beer is replaced by carbon dioxide in the keg, the area of contact between the gas and the beer stays the same, but the volume of beer is smaller. This allows the beer to dissolve the gas more quickly.


I wish I had a kegerator to troubleshoot.

It is my first kegerator, but yes, I used it last year. The results weren't spectacular then either. If I were to hazard to guess, I'm not getting the Co2 balanced right. It's given me fits on more than one keg, so I tend to rule the keg out.



I've shut the CO2 line off this morning, and gave the keg a good burp. Should I do it again in a little while?

i'd try it w/o gas until it doesn't dispense, then turn on the gas @ 4-5 psi. or, you could try nitrogen.you do have a nitrogen cylinder,don't you?

I have found that you will need to burp the keg several times over the first several days up to a week to get it to calm down. Also, make sure that you open the tap all the way when you pour yourself a beer. A half open tap will result in foam too.


Good luck, and I hope you have good beer flowing!!!

What kind of beer is it?

Are you opening and closing the tap fully and rapidly?

What temp is the beer?

How long has it been since the keg was moved?