too much head!

[soilpharm]

Hi there all-knowing bn'ers,
I have a problem with excess head. This doesn't happen all the time, but occasionally I will get a batch that always pours with a ginormous head for the first little bit when I am having a pint.

When I pull the handle, there is a rush of foam, followed by the beer. It is o.k. if I pour continuously, but if I wait 10-15 min., the same thing happens again.

Does this mean that my beer is over-carbonated, or could it be a poppet issue?

I have a good 6 feet of beerline from the keg to the tap, and the CO2 is usually set at 5 psi or so to push the beer out.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
SP

[hotrod38]

What method do you use to carbonate your beer? How cold is the beer when your serving it. How long has the beer been in the keg.

[baltobrewer]

More to the point, to what level do you carb your beer? If you over carb it, it doesnt matter how little you push with. Overcarbed is overcarbed.

[BDawg]

Is it a tower? That could be because the line in the tower is warm.

[BadRock]

too much head!

Absolute Rubbish!

[Mylo]

I have a tower that does the same thing. I found a great post on the green board that sums it up nicely (I haven't had a chance to try it out).

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=33447

It is probably a balance thing - but can be caused by several factors. Serving temperture all the way to the tap, as BDawg said - is the first critical factor. I you have a tower, then you should invest in an air blower and a 1" flexible reinforced hose from Micromatic. That will keep the tower and the lines inside the same temp as the fridge.

Using his calculations, the 5 feet of 3/8" tubing that came with my tower is insufficient for a keg at 12 psi. I was planning on replacing it with a longer one.


Mylo

[soilpharm]

Thanks everyone,

"What method do you use to carbonate your beer? How cold is the beer when your serving it. How long has the beer been in the keg."

I cold crash for a couple of days at about 4-5 deg. C, then transfer to the keg, hit it with 30 psi, shake the shit out of it, and let it sit at 30 psi for a day or so, then crank it back down to 5-10. Serve it at 4-5 deg, this tends to happen fairly soon after I keg.

The thing is, I do this with every beer, and the foaming thing only happens occasionally.

More to the point, to what level do you carb your beer? If you over carb it, it doesnt matter how little you push with. Overcarbed is overcarbed.

This might be the case, I aim for 2.5 vol., but maybe it is higher. Should I leave the purge valve open for a couple of days to see what happens?

Is it a tower? That could be because the line in the tower is warm.

It's not a tower. Any additional advice is greatly appreciated
here it is:

[Mylo]

Your beer line is 3/8 ID" - and is made by micromatic or some other high quality beer line vendor? Run those calcs on that page I linked you to. Ideally, you want your beer at the correct pressure for your desired carb level - but you want all that line to reduce the pressure down to 1 or 2 pounds at the faucet. I think you need a longer hose. Don't we all...


Mylo