Fort Collins Kegerator Repair Man Needed!

[Colo Keg Head]

Does anyone in Northern Colorado (Fort Collins) know anyone that could make a house call to help get my kegerator tuned up?

[fretlessman71]

Allow me to vouch for my friend here - I'm no help to him in this regard, but methinks he's tired of foamy beer.

Colo Keg Head, you might take a few minutes and describe the problem in detail here in this thread, and see if the experts here have a few clues - maybe it's something simple and DIY-ish...

[Colo Keg Head]

Even after reading through everyone's suggestions on this forum to eliminate excessive foam from my newly purchased kegerator, I continue to get excessive (and I mean excessive...) foam when I pour.

Here's my situation...1/2 barrel of beer, 36 degrees, 5' of 3/16" ID. If I run it at any pressure even slightly over 5 PSI, incredible, undrinkable, wasteful foam comes out.

[fretlessman71]

So why no help for my friend's kegerator? I'd have thought you guys would have been all over this like white on rice... :confused:

[steveh]

I have no experience at all with a "kegerator," though I've tended bar on many occasions. Are you pulling the tapper all the way open, or are you sort of babying it open, half-way of sorts? That can definitely give you more foam than beer.

S.

[wortchillergoal]

Are you sure the regulator is operating to factory spec? Could it be the barrel of beer is bad?

[psychodad]

I assume this kegerator has a tower. I'm also going to half guess this is a Danby.

I'd verify that the beer is indeed 36 degrees. Check this by taking the liquid temperature with a calibrated thermometer. And the way you want to do this is by drawing a glass, chugging it and then drawing a second glass and reading the temperature. this is because the beer in the tower is going to be warmer than the beer in the keg. This warmer beer allows the co2 to come out of solution causing foam.

Also if this second glass is less foamy than the first. This is an indication that the tower needs cooled. The co2 coming out of solution as mentioned causes foam and you cannot pour beer through foam without making more foam.

And Steve is correct in that you need to open the tap fully. And when you do, you want to snap it open and snap it closed quickly. Pulling the tap handle from the bottom of the handle instead of the top helps in doing this.

[steveh]

And when you do, you want to snap it open and snap it closed quickly.

Yep. That's exactly what I was talking about -- too many inexperienced pulls of glasses of foam for me in the past!

You can pull from the top of the handle, just be sure you're pulling it completely open, not "babying" it.

Interesting about the "true temps," have to keep that in mind for my friend when he has kegerator trouble.

S.

[psychodad]

I mentioned the temperature thing because the OP indicated that he had it at 36. And that is something the Danbys are notorious for. The lowest setting on the Danby is 36, but the actual liquid temperature is often far above that.

However that is not to say that getting it cooled down that far is going to solve all the problems. Colder beer absorbs more co2. But knowing what the temperature is rather than assuming a cheapo digital display from China is accurate removes a variable.