Beer Kegs Under Construction
Tap Legend Also referred to as
Typically Fits
"D" System = American Most Domestics & Microbrews
"S" System = European Many Imports
"U" System = Guinness Guinness, Smithwick’s
"A" System = German Slider Many Germans & Belgians
"G" System = Bass Bass, Anchor Steam, Boddington
Trouble Shooting Guide
Foamy Beer – What are the Causes?
The 3 most often causes of beer foaming up are:
The temperature of the beer keg
The balance of the draught beer system pressures
The cleanliness of the draught beer system
First, the “shaking” up of the keg from the ride home will cause it to be foamy for the first 30 minutes or so, but if all else is correct, it shouldn’t be foamy much after that.
Your CO2 pressure for the Keg Refrigerator should generally be at 10-12 Lbs. PSI. No higher. If your beer is just foamy, but pouring normal, then your pressure is correct. If the beer is pouring fast and foamy, the pressure is too high in the keg itself. Either the gauge on your regulator is reading wrong (which you will have to adjust “blind” and to feel), or it is correct but the pressure in the keg is still too high. To relieve pressure in your keg, the coupler (sometimes called a tapper or tapping device – the thing that actually taps the keg) should have a pressure relief valve on it the usually has a small key ring attached to it. Pull this to relieve some of the pressure from the keg. You should do this every time you lower the CO2 tank pressure.
Another reason might be that your keg is not cold enough. You want it to be between 32 and 40 degrees F (not too cold to freeze the keg). You can purchase a thermometer at any grocery store. Be sure it’s the refrigerator type and not the oven type.
Beer line isn’t long enough. Coors is the only one we know of that has a recommended beer line length and it’s a minimum of 7’. So if your beer line is too short, this may be a cause.
CO2 getting into the mix before the faucet. This is a rarity, but sometimes a coupler will have a faulty washer (or the keg top itself) that will allow CO2 to get into the beer line when the beer is being poured. If all of the other possibilities above are not the cause, this might be your culprit.
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