All Head from pour

[Darren Jones]

My batch of weissbier from the keg is all head. Preivous couple of kegs were also quite heady but not this bad. the beer line is also full of bubbles.

I am guessing the secondary fermentation temp was too high and that the kegs are very sensitive to storage temp.

Any thoughts?

[Banjo]

Have you done a second pour, is it still all head or getting better?  Has it chilled right down?

[Deeks]

My German Weissbier was the same. It was my first brew and the only one I have had trouble with too much head. All my other brews have poured perfectly.

[Peter Rundle-Curry]

My last batch of Bira Italian was also very heady, it's the third batch the others were fine! funny enough this is the first batch where I have used a caddy and put the kegs in the wine fridge @ 18C for secondary fermentation.  The others were at 28C plus due to QLD summer temps.

So it's not the temperature or the kegging it has to be something else but I brewed all of the batches exactly the same!

Just saying..

[Pursya]

The Four Leaf is a problem with its first pour, every first pour.

I try and only open the tap a very, very few degrees, yet it sputters and spurts all over the place.  And produces a lot of head.

After that it pours well.

[Pursya]

Now on the Blondeshell Blonde and still having head problems.

Is itme, or is the system the issue?

I don't get that "squeezing" a bag of beer produces so much foam.

[Dean Buchanan]

I had issues with a Lighthouse keg being all head, took it out, left it in fridge for 4 days then back in the flo overnight & from then on it poured great. 

[Pursya]

Thanks Dean, I'll give it a go.

Though the keg had been in the fridge for 2 days before placing in the flo.

I've invested heavily in kegs so I've got to get this right.

[Duffman]

I've had success giving my kegs a vigorous 10-20 second shake, then leaving them back in the BrewFlo for about 24 hours.

[Pursya]

Shake?

Geez, that's the last thing I would have thought of. Going to try it tonight!

[Peter Rundle-Curry]

The last keg was 99% froth (Artisan Reserve), tried the shake and sit but still the same.  When it was empty and I removed the screwed spout off the liner, the keg (even without anything attached) was still full of air and I had difficulty getting it out. Once out I could squeeze it and only a small amount of air would come out.  It was like the top gauze was blocked..

Maybe this was the problem, I have just put the second keg of the batch in the brewflo so will check the pour out tonight.

 

Pete

[Pursya]

Could you explain your "keg still full of air" comment?

I find that I have to loosen, if not totally remove, the black valve to even be able to unscrew the top of the keg after I've emptied the bladder. Such is the pressure still in the keg.

[Peter Rundle-Curry]

The actual bladder retains air, I do the same and release the air from the keg to be able to unscrew the black nut, this all goes fine but the bladder normally can be pulled out of the keg.  The one I had wouldn't come out of the opening due to the amount of air retained in the bladder.

I have another keg which is pouring awful which will be finished this weekend, it will be interesting to see if it is the same..

 

[Banjo]

I have had that same issue, possibly a tear in the keg liner.  The air just gets pumped between the silver foil and the internal plastic bladder so beer is still squeezed out but the liner is stuck in the keg until you skewer it to release some air.

[Pursya]

I've just about formed the opinion that the Brewflow is a useless piece of equipment.

just replaced the Bombshell Blonde, who's was head, head and a touch more head, with a Mountain Range IPA.

condiotioning for 4 weeks and 5 days.

Guess what?

Head pour was worse than the BB.

The beer tastes good, but no way can you, as in the video, have mates around and por them a beer.

I'm calling the Brewflow, and the kegging system a dud.

Just wished I had of let someone else spend over 1500 bucks to find out and tell me.

[Dean Buchanan]

I'm still reserving my opinion until I get more kegs through the flo , I've so far used 4 kegs in the flo, the first 2 (with APA) poured perfect, the 3rd (MR IPA) was all ice cream as was the 4th (Lighthouse) but that last one came good after another 4 days in the fridge.

 

I currently have 4 kegs in secondary so will see how they go.

[Big Pop]

For what's its worth Pursya I understand your levels of frustration.  I have been following this thread with interest.  So far I have put seven brewprints through the BeerFlo.  They are:- Irish Red, TCCA, TC Mild Ale, Ruby P, Bavarian L, London's Own A, and MR IPA.

My first keg a TC Mild Ale poured fine, the second was 99% froth.  What I did manage to taste from the second keg tasted fine which would tend to rule out an infection as a possible cause.  I later discussed this with Iain (BrewArt Team), however, a possible cause remains unknown.

Last week I tried my first keg of MR IPA (after 31 days conditioning).  Initial result was three glasses of 100% froth.  I removed the keg and have placed it back on the shelf in the hope that it will improve with extra conditioning time.  Interesting to note that both Pursya and Dean Buchanan report a similar MR IPA experience.  This thread also identifies Bombshell B  and Artisan R as producing a bad pour.  I currently have the Artisan Reserve in the beerdroid.  Given Peter Rundle-Curry's post I am not greatly confident. Time will tell.

So is it a BeerFlo or a brewprint problem, or both?  Or is it a user problem, environmental, climactic or all of the above?  Like all BrewArt consumers I have meticulously followed the brewing instructions to the letter.  It would be nice to see some expert commentary from Coopers/BrewArt regarding this issue.

At this stage the jury is still out.

[Big Pop]

Further to my post earlier this afternoon.  I should have also mentioned that out of the 7 brewprints that I have put thru the BeerFlo, five have ranged from fair to good in terms of BeerFlo pour.  Logic dictates that the BeerFlo, of itself, may not to be the problem.  That leaves the brewprint ingredients, the keg liner, environmental conditions or operator error.  Could the keg liner, albeit in isolated cases, be the culprit.

What do others think ??

Again it would be good to hear from the Coopers Experts.

[Deeks]

Most of my brews have poured really well apart from the German Weissbier and Irish Red Ale.

My latest brew is the Belgian Lager and it had very little head but was still very carbonated so I'm not exactly sure of why this happens for some brews and not others.

I am leaving my brews in kegging mode for a bit longer now to give them mor time to finish fermenting in case there is still some sugar left in them to ferment.

I have noticed that when there has been lots of head the keg has had a lot of pressure built up and it pours very fast so it may  still have a bit of extra sugar left in the beer when it goes into secondary fermentation. So I guess I will keep trying things and see what works to make it better.

[Big Pop]

Thanks Deeks.  Extra time in the beerdroid following the EOF notification is something I have not given much thought to.  How much extra time would you typically allow.  I will give your strategy a go.

[Peter Rundle-Curry]

So out of the pack of 4 liners, two were duds (95% froth) and both retained air so they were near on impossible to get out of the keg.

The other two (Four leaf) had perfect head and both did not retain air and came out of the keg easily.

All secondary fermentation was exactly the same time (3 weeks) and temperature (maintained in a wine fridge @ 20C).

The first brew by the way was a coopers special reserve pilsener.

Pete

[Deeks]

Hey Big Pop, I usually leave it for a day or two in the kegging zone. Not sure if this will make much difference but will see how they go when I'm trying to pour them in a few weeks time.

[Deeks]

That's interesting Pete, that the wine fridge at 20C still had issues with the head.

You might be onto something with the keg liners being duds and having air inside coz that happened to me with mine that didn't pour very well and they seemed to have a lot of pressure built up in them too.

[Big Pop]

Pete,  If you still have the "dud" keg liners can I suggest that you carefully cut them open.  A keg liner post mortem, if you like.  You will find that inside the foil there is an inner plastic bag.  It would be interesting to see what you find.  You may discover a hole in the plastic bag.  Which would explain why it held air and was difficult to remove from the keg.  Just a thought !!

[Gibbo]

I too was pretty sure the Brewflo was all gimmick and zero performance. 

I have had 4 kegs and associated hardware replaced by the Brewart team. I have only had the opportunity to do one kegging trial since and the result was really good.

My second keg crapped out, but that was due to the liner somehow not screwing in tight enough. So I got about a litre and a half of beer before the air from the Brewflo pushed its way into the keg and it was a spit fest from there on in.

It would also seem that the caddy is a must have, not an optional piece of kit.

So for me the jury is also still out, but I am feeling alot more optimistic.

In another couple months, I will have more kegs to test and will report back with the results.