Sunday, December 4, 2011

Air in your beer lines?

Though I don't have the collar on or the shanks installed yet, I have a chest freezer stocked with 3 kegs right now. They are all connected via picnic taps.

With the newest keg that I put in, it poured mainly foam and there was a ton of air pockets in the beer line (clear so I can see them).  I know many first think "you need to balance your system". I'd agree with that if it wasn't for the fact that the other two kegs work just fine. The air pockets in the line really is what confused me too. If the system was unbalanced, it shouldn't foam up until you pour and the resistance kicks in and not leave air pockets in the beer line.

I posted a question on the Northern Brewer forum (my go to forum) and someone gave me a suggestion to check my o-rings. I took the keg apart and I was missing o-rings between my dip tubes, both gas and beer lines, and the keg. It had been a while since I used this keg and I remember after the last batch in this keg I pitched the o-rings because they were worn out but never replaced them.

I had some extra o-rings laying around, replaced them and BINGO we have a good pour.

So the next time you have foam in your beer lines and you know your system is balanced, the o-rings may be worn/damaged or in my case, just fully missing.

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