I connected my corny keg's beer out ball lock to an inexpensive picnic tap
using a 5 foot length of 3/16" id vinyl tubing that I bought from a
local Ace Hardware store. When I pulled the trigger on the picnic tap I
watched as my Screwer In The Rye Lager began filling the vinyl tubing on
it's way to my favorite beer glass. What a difference this pour had
going for it compared to the last pours I had tried, this time there
was absolutely no foam in the vinyl line as the beer filled my glass.
 |
| Lemon Sharks Love Screwer In The Rye Lager |
I used the same beer line picnic tap gear two weeks ago when I brought
my corny keg to a party so we could enjoy some nice beer on tap instead
of having to lug around all those cases of bottles. I got to show off my
newest beer toys too, a Co2 serving dispenser that uses 16 gram
cartridges and an insulating corny keg sleeve complete with freezer gel
packs. As cool as my new mobile beer delivery system was the pours were
anything but spectacular. Although we did have a lot of fun trying to
devise ways to pour our beers without all that foam.
 |
| Screwy's Mobile Beer Delivery System |
What I did differently this time around was change the force
carbonation method to
set and forget and I couldn't be happier with the
results. The previous time I cranked the gauge to 30 psi and gassed the
36F beer in the corny keg for a little over 24 hours, which had over
carbonated my beer to the point it was impossible to get a good pour
through my picnic tap. The sweet spot for my setup is 10-12psi with the
beer at 36F for about 5-7 days, this resulted in both perfect pours, carbonation and no wild foaming!
 |
| 12 PSI Pours Really Fast Through 5/16" ID Tubing |
There are also some less obvious, but just as important benefits, to
using
set and forget like no more venting Co2 from the corny keg to
serve your beer at a lower psi to prevent foaming, and releasing all
that great beer aroma in the process. The system is also balanced so
that the carbonating pressure is the same as the serving pressure, each
foot of 3/16" id vinyl tubing adds 2 psi of restriction, using a 5 foot
length adds 10 psi to balance things out just right. As time goes on I'll be tinkering with the length of tubing used with a picnic tap, some folks have claimed all that's needed is a foot or so to get a good pour.
 |
| Five Foot Length Of 5/16" ID Tubing For Perl Tap |
I've learned that the five foot length of 5/16" ID vinyl tubing that connects my corny keg to a 'Perl Creamer' tap, mounted in the side of my refrigerator, serves beer about twice as fast as I think it should. While the same length of 3/16" ID vinyl tubing serves beer a little bit slower than I think it should. I can do several things here like replace the 5/16" tubing with 3/16" tubing to see if the Perl tap pours are faster than a picnic tap and cut a foot off the 3/16" tubing and see if the picnic tap pours get faster. Decisions, decisions decisions...
 |
| Great Beers Deserve Beautiful Pours |
Preparing for kegging begins about 5 days ahead of time, that's when I
put my fermentor in the refrigerator for a nice long cold crash. During
this time the cold temperature helps to clear the beer, as the yeast and
other particles drop out of solution. After 5 days in the refrigerator I
transfer the cold beer into the corny kegs and put them back into the
refrigerator with the Co2 gauge set to 10-12 psi for up to 7 days. Today
I'll be enjoying some fresh Screwer In The Rye Lager on tap as I brew
up another batch of my Bottoms Up Brown Ale, knowing that I've finally
mastered the art of the pour.
I have a three keg system (kegerator), I found that if you leave the pressure on from the tank you are guaranteed to get foamy pours. I always disconnect the other gas lines when I force a beer.
ReplyDeleteI too keep it around 10 psi, but I charge the system and then turn off the tank. After a few days I pull a taste, and see if it's getting carbonated. I keep doing this until I get the level of head I'm looking for, recharging the keg as needed. Once I'm satisfied I add the other gas lines, charge those tanks and back off the tank. I actually have a ip camera pointed on my regulator, I also found keeping the tank in the fridge is a bad idea. The cold messes with the gas in the tank, I actually think I lost gas that way.
Another option is to add 1/4 priming sugar before you keg, that way you can jumpstart the process before you put your keg under the bottle. Adding the whole thing, foam pours and no need for gas.
It's been averaging about 40-45F in my garage where I keep my refrigerator with the beer tap in the side. Now that all my Co2 lines are tight and there's no gas leaks I've just been setting the gauge to 13-15 psi and leaving the valve open for about a week.
ReplyDeleteOnce a day I'll connect that gas line to another keg, if I happen to have more than one keg filled with beer, to give it some more pressure too and then return the line to the first keg I plan to tap. This gives me a good level of carbonation and pours foam free using five feet of 3/16 id vinyl tubing. When I hook the same keg up to my Perl tap using 5/16 id vinyl tubing I have to back the gauge down to 4-6 psi so the glass doesn't fill too fast. It's all pretty cool.