no beer just foam

[cacophony]

Ok, so i haven't gone through the other post's in detail, so i don't think its in here, but here's my question anyways:
i just started kegging, i've got a blond ale on and i've had it at 17 psi at about 38 degrees. the last couple of day thought i've been getting 1/2 a pint of foam before any brew comes out. i did just turn to temp down a click or two, could that be my problem? or is something major going on?
any help would be much appreciated as the 4th is in a few days, and my family expects draft beer at the lake.

[Pseudolus]

17 psi sounds high, so you might be overcarbed.

Also, how long (and how narrow) are your serving lines? If the lines are too short (and/or wide), then the pressure in the beer doesn't have a chance to drop gradually between keg and glass, resulting in overfoaming, even if the beer itself isn't overcarbed.

[BadRock]

What is your serving pressure? I'd try burping the pressure off of the keg and then adding back about 6-7psi to serve. Also what kind of tap are you serving from? If you have a really warm tap you will get a lot of foam until it chills.

[baltobrewer]

No qusestion about it - if you're at 17 psi at 38 degrees, you are overcarbed. To get to 2.5 volumes of CO2 you need to be at about 13 psi. If you've been there for a week, then you need to turn off the gas, reset the reg, then vent the keg, let it sit off the gas for a day, and vent it again. Do this 2 or 3 times to bleed some of the CO2 out of solution, then hook the keg back up to the right pressure and let it come to equilibrium.

This will take a few days; there's no faster way around it. Also, you should ebe using about 6 feet of 3/16" ID bev tubing. If you're using 1/4", that will also be a source of foam...

Hope this helps.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

No qusestion about it - if you're at 17 psi at 38 degrees, you are overcarbed. To get to 2.5 volumes of CO2 you need to be at about 13 psi. If you've been there for a week, then you need to turn off the gas, reset the reg, then vent the keg, let it sit off the gas for a day, and vent it again. Do this 2 or 3 times to bleed some of the CO2 out of solution, then hook the keg back up to the right pressure and let it come to equilibrium.

This will take a few days; there's no faster way around it. Also, you should ebe using about 6 feet of 3/16" ID bev tubing. If you're using 1/4", that will also be a source of foam...

Hope this helps.

+1. You're going to have to uncarbonate the beer and start all over again. I have taken the keg out of the cooler, and set it in a cool room to vent it. CO2 comes out of solution better then.

[mr x]

The other solution is to use longer lines and leave the pressure up.

[Push Eject]

Read this: Balancing a Draft System

[dan.lamb]

Good info, but damn.... you ever see that movies Scanners? That's how my head feels now.