Regulator Gone Bad?

[Christiansen]

I'm relatively new to the kegerator thing. I've built my own kegerator twice. The first one was an upright fridge where the compressor died. I now have a chest freezer with a temperature regulator. But during the move between kegerators, my beer has suddenly become somewhat foamy. I say somewhat, because it's fine after it starts pouring for a second. After that, it's just great draft beer. I have a suspicion that the problem lies with the regulator. The first reason is because it got dinged up when changing kegerators. The second reason is because I believe what is happening is that while no air flows, the regulator is letting the pressure build up. And it builds up to a point that that is to great and it just pushes foam out. But while it's flowing, it's able to keep it at the right pressure. The thing I'm asking is this: Is this normal for a regulator gone bad? I don't want to spend $50 on a new regulator only to find out that isn't the problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Mill Rat]

You description (first few ounces are foamy as hell and then it settles down nicely) sounds like the last few inches of the beer line to your spigot isn't chilled. This is endemic with the cheaper kegerators that don't have a fan to blow the cold air up into the tower. Does the second beer drawn in succession have the same foam problem?

[Christiansen]

The second beer has the same problem, but not nearly to the extent as the first beer does. I roughly based the design of my chest freezer kegerator on this guy's: http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1986/42894/kegerator.htm There is no tower, just a collar between the lid and the freezer. However, my shank is probably a good 6 inches above the actuall freezer part (the chest freezer I had has weird handles on the lid so I had to use wider wood). I have an old fan laying around that could be placed in there for a bit to blow air directly onto the shank. I'll give that a try.

[MeridianFC]

Sounds like spot foaming around the collar.

[Christiansen]

Sorry, I'm new to this. What exactly does spot foaming mean?

[corkybstewart]

I doubt it's the regulator. My Wife Beer does the same thing every evening. The other 5 kegs running off that same regulator don't have any issues. It may just be that the keg is overcarbonated.

[MeridianFC]

Originally posted by Christiansen
Sorry, I'm new to this. What exactly does spot foaming mean?

When the cold liquid with CO2 in solution hits a warm(er) spot in the line if forces the CO2 out of solution and that spot and you get foaming.

[nestuccaman]

It doesn't sound like a regulator. Try adjusting the pressure in two pound increments. Some beers are more sensitive to pressure than others.

[Christiansen]

I initially used the formula from the link in the stickied post in this forum and played with the pressure from there. The formula says that I should have 15 pounds of pressure. I've been as low as 10 and as high as 20, as well as everything in between. If I go lower than 10, then I get beer without foam, but it poors agonizingly slow.

I have a two keg setup, one of which has had a fan for the past 4 hours blowing from the bottom of the freezer (a cup of water stays at 40 degrees at the bottom) directly onto the shank. While only one keg has the fan, both have the foaming issue.

If I take a cup of beer from the non fanned keg, it will be almost all foam. Then if I get it from the cooled keg, it will be about half foam. But then if I go back to the non cooled one it's a perfect glass of beer.

All this is leading me to believe that it's the regulator. It and the CO2 tank are the only constants between the two kegs. Thanks for your help everybody. Like I said before, I'm trying to rule out everything before I drop $50 on a new regulator. If you think of anything else, please let me know.

[Mill Rat]

Before you drop 50 samoleans on the new regulator, put a pressure gauge on the line. If there's a low side pressure gauge on your regulator, watch that one. It should tell exactly what's going on with your pressure. Check the gauge before you pour that first cup-o-foam, and then as you pour the subsequent cups, that should tell you if pressure fluctuations are your problems. It is very possible that the regulator's balancing valve siticks, but if the pressure doesn't change significantly, you problem is elsewhere. If the pressure does vary, get a regulator from a welding supply. Harris and Victor are good brand names.

[Christiansen]

I'll do that, thanks!