All foam No fizz

[Sidri]

I am after some advice from some experienced homebrew keggers if possible.

During lockdown I purchased a couple of stainless steel mini kegs (10l) with mini gas regulators and some co2 bulbs.

I made two brews up and kegged half of each and bottled the rest. When kegged I added 40g of priming sugar to each keg. After a week the pressure in each keg was around 25-30 psi. I left them like this for 6 weeks. There was never any signs that the pressure relief valves has lifted.

When it came to dispensing, I lifted the relief valve to reduce the pressure to 10 psi, fitted the co2 bulb and set the regulator to 5 psi for dispensing.

Every single draw from both kegs was just foam, if left in the glass for 10 mins it resembled a pint, but, although it had a great head, there was no fizz in the liquid, it had not absorbed any co2. Have i missed a trick somewhere?? This was the case for the entire contents of both kegs.

Any advice would he greatly appreciated.

 

[Leon103]

15g of sugar is more than enough for those kegs, were you serving them cold?

 

[kelper]

Is the dip tube missing? Or loose?

I use 90-100g for 23 litres, so 40g for 10 litres is about right.

 

[foxbat]

I am after some advice from some experienced homebrew keggers if possible.

During lockdown I purchased a couple of stainless steel mini kegs (10l) with mini gas regulators and some co2 bulbs.

I made two brews up and kegged half of each and bottled the rest. When kegged I added 40g of priming sugar to each keg. After a week the pressure in each keg was around 25-30 psi. I left them like this for 6 weeks. There was never any signs that the pressure relief valves has lifted.

When it came to dispensing, I lifted the relief valve to reduce the pressure to 10 psi, fitted the co2 bulb and set the regulator to 5 psi for dispensing.

Every single draw from both kegs was just foam, if left in the glass for 10 mins it resembled a pint, but, although it had a great head, there was no fizz in the liquid, it had not absorbed any co2. Have i missed a trick somewhere?? This was the case for the entire contents of both kegs.

Any advice would he greatly appreciated.

Tap directly fitted on the keg? If so then that's the main reason why. Either a flow-control disconnect or about 2m of 3/16 line between keg and tap will sort out the problem.

 

[MickDundee]

Tap directly fitted on the keg? If so then that's the main reason why. Either a flow-control disconnect or about 2m of 3/16 line between keg and tap will sort out the problem.

I found releasing the pressure to 2PSI at the start of each drinking session solves the problem on a keg mounted tap. At the end of the night, pop the PSI back to storage pressure and all is well.

However I have a Sodastream set up so it’s a fair bit cheaper to top up the pressure to 12PSI again after each session than it is with the 16g CO2 bulbs.

 

[Dads_Ale]

I think you beer is likely to be over carbonated. 30 psi is too high to leave it at for any extended period.
The foam is the C02 coming out of solution so when is subsides the beer is flat.
The type of dispense also can produce foam as others have said but the source is likely to be over carbonation.

 

[Bill_g]

I had a lot of similar problems when I first set up my keg fridge with taps. There is quite a lot of info online regarding balancing pressure with tube lengths but even with quite long 3/8" tubes nothing was working for me. I finally fitted flow control valves which was far better than using long tubes & more easily adjustable. However the real problem was my regulator which turned out to be hopelessly innaccurate. Finally I built an Arduino controlled secondary gas regulator which could very accurately pressurise from 0 - 15 psi. I now pressurise to 8 psi. This gives a bit of carbonation on the beer very similar to hand pump delivery, which is what I was looking for.
The problem described here is clearly over carbonation. There are two factors, firstly the CO2 dissolved in the beer & secondly the pressure above the beer needed to push it out of the keg. This has been identified in previous answers. The knack is to balance these values during the carbonation and storage of the beer. Too much dissolved CO2 & it will foam regardless of the top pressure. Temperature is also a big issue & carbonating to the right pressure at the required delivery temperature is the ideal. I tend to set my keg fridge to 10C, the top pressure of 8psi then gives me the carbonation I require after about two weeks of conditioning. I do not add any priming sugar to the keg.
I appreciate that I'm describing a fairly elaborate set up, but the rules still apply for a simple set up and with some improvisation you should be able to approach target conditions. The great thing I find is that with top CO2 the beer lasts for a very long time with the last pints out often being the best. This means it's quite practical to have a few Korny kegs on the go and there's no fear of having ruined beer.

 

[Sidri]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Just to expand further, the dip tube was fitted correctly, and the tap snaps directly onto the keg lid, but the kegs were just left in the garage at ambient temperatures. I'm still scratching my head to my none of the co2 had been absorbed by the beer. I will into longer line lengths and new flow control taps. I think may need to go down to the force carbonation route to ensure pressure control and put the kegs in the fridge.

 

[kelper]

I force carbonate while the keg is in the fridge. It only takes overnight. But I fill my kegs from a pressure barrel. So the beer is already carbonated. I drink from either, depending on the PB's temperature - it's on a stone floor in the hall.

 

[Drunkula]

'm still scratching my head to my none of the co2 had been absorbed by the beer.

I was absorbed into the beer - read above. It just comes out because the change in pressure on serving just makes it all come out again as froth. You need cold, some choker line (3/16") and ideally flow control.

 

[Bill_g]

Yes, I'd agree with the above. The beer starts off too warm & too carbonated (i.e. it does have CO2 absorbed). As the beer comes out of the tap it experiences turbulence and a sudden drop of external pressure. i.e. say the keg is at 28psi, it's 28psi above atmospheric so it experiences a drop of 28psi. The result is a mass of tiny bubbles of CO2 or in other words foam. The idea of having a long line (preferably 3/16) is that it presents enough flow resistance to drop the excess pressure at the nozzle down to just enough to deliver at a sensible dispensing rate. The beer must then be cold enough to retain the required amount of CO2 in solution. Low temperature keeps the partial pressure of the CO2 down to a point where it fizzes in your mouth rather than all fizzing out in the glass.
I would experiment with lower carbonation pressures and refrigerating the keg. Also don't trust your pressure guage, it may be wildly out at the low pressure end of the scale. More rapid carbonation can be achieved by rocking the keg under pressure (some videos on Youtube), top pressure carbonation requires a bit more patience.