Plugged dispense line?

[Stingo]

I just tapped my cornie keg tonight to taste my new Bitter.

I used the keg as a secondary, dry hopped with 1 oz whole leaf Goldings, and let go for 6 days in the basement at 70 degrees, then to my garage for 40 degrees over three days.

When I tapped it I got all foam and very little flow at all. I vented several times even shook the keg a bit wondering if I have some sludge or hop particles lodged in my out tube. The tube is the long type with a slight bend at the bottom. Is this tube my problem and is it likely plugged? Should I trim it off 1" to avoid this?

Am I having another problem I do not know about?

I did eventually get enough foam and little beer for 2 glasses of Bitter, not too bad really!

Thanks

[Blkandrust]

Sounds like maybe your beer was to warm or maybe your dispensing pressure was to high.If your dip tube was clogged i doubt if you would even get foam through.Shaking the keg only made it worse.

[Stingo]

The temp in the garage for three days was 40 degrees so I doubt the beer was too warm. My pressure was at 10-20 lbs so I vented and turned pressure down to 3 lbs, still got foam. Not sure what to look for next.:confused:

[danno]

I'd pull the headspace pressure, take off the beer post, and check the poppet first. it's much smaller and more likely to clog up... you can also pull the dip tube and check it, but my bet's on a clogged poppet...

[Fast_Eddy]

I'd venture that you've considerably over carbonated your beer. Probably happened after you kegged it and it was still fermenting a bit.

You can "uncarbonate" it by repeatedly bleeding all of the head space pressure over the course of a few days.

[BluesHarp]

Same thing happened to my IIPA; I just turned off the CO2 and kept filling glasses, letting them settle, adding a little more, drinking it..repeating until it had settled down. Then I turned the regulator to 8psi, and all is well, with a near perfect pour!

[Stingo]

When I try to pour all I get is a tiny pee of foam that eventually turns into beer. It takes about 5 minutes to get two glasses. My dispense line is all foam - but tiny very tight beads that I would rather see on top of my glass of beer!

Ill take apart the beer out connection and see if it is plugged with hops and if not then Ill remove the dip tube and see what that shows.

I'll report when I can.

Thanks everyone!

[MrMethane]

If your recipe was high in protein you'll get a lot of head. Wheats are notoriously bad for this, did you happend to add any wheats to your beer?

I remember trying to pour my Belgian Wit, I had to pour a full glass of foam first, then i could pour a glass half beer, and half head. Then only after that could I get a nice pour.

That was my first kegged batch. I thought I had set up the keggin system wrong until I made made next beer and had no problems with excessive head.

[Stingo]

I put in a 1/3 lb of wheat actually.

Turns out my poppet was plugged as was my out tube. ONce cleaned they flow just fine. Now I see I ahve too much carbonation and so I will try to de-carbonate as suggested earlier.

One thing I noticed is that my regulator told me I had 10lbs of co2 on the keg but when I turned it off, vented the keg, then turned the co2 back on nothing happened, no co2 in. So I turned my regulator down to zero tried it again and found at what I was trying to set at 1-2 lbs would not even let co2 in the keg. I had to turn it up to what it said was 10-13 lbs before I got any co2 flow into the keg. so maybe my regulator is bad too???

I figure for pales and bitters I just turn up the co2 until there is minimal flow and dont worry about actual settings. Any suggestions?

[danno]

your regulator is fine. after you pull the headspace pressure, the beer gives up co2 to equalize with the headspace. that's why no more co2 went in until after you were back up over 10 psi, where you originally started...

[Stingo]

Life is now good. Getting clear and smooth Bitter with a bit of creamy head. Thanks all. See pic.