Lots of foam, no fizz.

[steve097]

I have a red ale with the above symptoms. I used minikegs, primed for two weeks and put in a fridge for a week. Not a bubble. I can't figure it out. Surely the foam almost guarantees dissolved CO2? This is my first brew this century.:grin: I even used a gas cylinder and left it a few days but no joy. The beer tastes OK but flat as Miss Knightley. The same kit in a king keg is exactly the same.
I bottled an IPA using more or less the same guidelines at the same time and it is OK.

 

[Dads_Ale]

In my experience loads of foam and a flat pint means the beer is overcarbonated. Essentially all your fizz is in the foam.
Or you have too much pressure in the keg which again forces the CO2 out of the liquid as you pour.

 

[steve097]

I hope you're right . That's a nice neat explanation. As a confirmed doubting Thomas, I have a gut feeling that there should be even a little gas left in the beer to give a few bubbles. So the explosion of froth is taking all the gas out of the beer in one fell swoop. Does that mean that the taps are unsuitable? I have the standard on the king keg and Party Star on the minis.

 

[MickDundee]

How much priming sugar did you use? You should only be using 12-20g per minikeg depending on style.

You could try chilling the kegs right down before opening. I have a dispenser that chills as well, I chill down to 2C for the first pint or 2 then raise to my “normal” serving temperature. I find that helps, but the first couple of pint are still mainly foam.

 

[Leon103]

Sounds like it's over primed. I have had this with mini kegs. How are you pouring? Are you venting the keg.

 

[steve097]

12g per mini. I chilled them to about 6 deg in the fridge.
How do you vent them? I presume that is releasing pressure?
I am pouring very slowly and carefully.

 

[Dexter101]

Not sure if its relevant but I had a commercial beer from a local brewery like this a couple of weeks ago.

Interestingly this was also a Red Ale I think

I try leaving it to stand and vertically pouring against the bottom of the glass but with very little success.

Shame as the tiny amount I could drink tasted like a good beer

 

[Leon103]

12g per mini. I chilled them to about 6 deg in the fridge.
How do you vent them? I presume that is releasing pressure?
I am pouring very slowly and carefully.

Turning the vent on the bung. This releases pressure

 

[MickDundee]

Turning the vent on the bung. This releases pressure

He said he’s using a Party Star Deluxe Tap, so he doesn’t have that luxury.

 

[steve097]

The mini situation is petering out as I have opened the last one and will finish it as the beer is still drinkable(it is wet and has alcohol:grin:). The king keg will be gone over Christmas.
I have Bad cat red cooking and I will take great care with it after Christmas. 20 bottles and two mini kegs. Then I can compare.
Thanks for the replies. I'll report back on the Cat results.

 

[Leon103]

He said he’s using a Party Star Deluxe Tap, so he doesn’t have that luxury.

I now leave a couple of pints out of the bottom tap before inserting my party star.

 

[steve097]

I managed to spill half the bad cat on the shed floor by leaving the tap open on the bottling bucket. 18 bottles left and the best smelling shed this side of heaven:angry:
I did a little experiment with the KK. I added a pressure gauge to 15psi. I set up a fake brew with some sugar, a pound of leftover LME , a pinch of tomato food and I threw in some fermenting beer in about 20 litres of water. The pressure stopped at 6.5 psi . I used a co2 cylinder which shot it to 12 and the relief valve kicked in reducing the presure to.....................6.5 psi. I pulled about 8 pints and the first few were foamy but flat, as before. The later pints had a nice head but flat as well. I had a look inside and there was good fermenting going on. After a few hours the pressure had reached 6.5 again.
Is 6.5 enough to produce carbonation?
If so, where the hell is it?

 

[private4587]

I have been through a couple of mini kegs of TT Landlord and each on produced a lot of foam when pouring. As the keg was drained each injection of gas again produced a lot of foam. The beer tasted great and was not completely flat. I carbonated with 15g of table sugar into each keg. I thought my problem may have been too much wheat malt as i had heard this was good for head retention. Now I am not so sure, maybe over carbonated?

 

[steve097]

I am going to try the King keg again. The safety valve does not allow the pressure to exceed 6.5 psi. Can someone suggest a kit that would carbonate well at that pressure.
I have been getting good results using 200g. dextrose when bottling 40 pint Bulldog kits. I worked up from 140g. and nothing exploded yet.