New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association

Brewing => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: robcoombs on December 27, 2015, 03:21:52 PM

Title: Air in beer line
Post by: robcoombs on December 27, 2015, 03:21:52 PM
Has anyone had air in their beer line? It started with a few tiny bubbles but over the last couple of days I get a lot of then and it leads to air gaps. So when I pour I'm getting foamy, undercarbed beer. I've tried removing the dip tube, it was free of any debris. I replaced both ends of the beer line. Nothing has helped. Last resort is to rack to a different keg. But I'd rather not to do that as it's a hoppy beer.
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: Roger on December 27, 2015, 04:11:39 PM
How long does it take to fill with air gaps? I always expect the first poor of the day to be like that. I think it's the co2 coming out of suspension in the line. I wouldn't say anything is wrong not worth rekegging anyways.
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: robcoombs on December 27, 2015, 04:21:59 PM
I've poured three consecutive glasses. After about a glass and a half it's decent. But that first full glass is fit for the drain. A big waste. As soon as I close the tap it starts filling with air or co2.
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: Scott on December 27, 2015, 07:13:16 PM
hmmm, that's puzzling. I'm the furthest thing from knowledgeable when it comes to kegging, so hopefully someone will have an answer for you. But thinking about it, it can't be a hole in the beer line or it would leak, which leaves the dip tube and the connection. Can't be below the beer level in the keg, so it seems to me it would be between the beer level in the keg ie top of dip tube or somehow around the connection, if that's possible. I guess I'm just thinking out loud here...or should I say typing out loud :)
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: Roger on December 27, 2015, 08:39:32 PM
 I'm not at all familiar with corny kegs I've only ever used Sankey kegs. But could it be sucking air from the disconnect or a bad seal at the post?
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: robcoombs on December 27, 2015, 08:52:58 PM
I'm not at all familiar with corny kegs I've only ever used Sankey kegs. But could it be sucking air from the disconnect or a bad seal at the post?
Could be. I did change the disconnect out for a new one, and reapplied keg lube to the post seal.
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: feldmann on December 27, 2015, 08:59:10 PM
I had something very similar to this happen with a really hoppy IPA I made that had a lot of hop debris make it into the keg but I'm pretty sure you've already tried everything that fixed my problem. I had to clean out the dip tube, unscrew and clean the out post and run some cleaner through the lines and it seemed to fix it.
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: robcoombs on December 27, 2015, 09:29:37 PM
I had something very similar to this happen with a really hoppy IPA I made that had a lot of hop debris make it into the keg but I'm pretty sure you've already tried everything that fixed my problem. I had to clean out the dip tube, unscrew and clean the out post and run some cleaner through the lines and it seemed to fix it.
Yeah, unfortunately I tried all of that with no success. I was trying to avoid it but I'll have to move it to another keg.
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: fakr on January 05, 2016, 02:46:34 PM
sounds to me like a dirty beer line or liquid fitting.  you know how it goes with a dirty beer glass...you see a small piece of dirt in the beer and it bubbles like crazy on the dirt particle.

That's my experience anyway.  I clean my beer lines often, as well as the liquid fittings, and I no longer have this problem.  Sure was a pain in the arse when this used to happen to me all the time.

Hope that helps :)
Title: Re: Air in beer line
Post by: robcoombs on January 05, 2016, 04:37:16 PM
sounds to me like a dirty beer line or liquid fitting.  you know how it goes with a dirty beer glass...you see a small piece of dirt in the beer and it bubbles like crazy on the dirt particle.

That's my experience anyway.  I clean my beer lines often, as well as the liquid fittings, and I no longer have this problem.  Sure was a pain in the arse when this used to happen to me all the time.

Hope that helps :)
I clean my lines and fitting after each keg. I leave starsan in each in if it's not being used. I decided to change the fitting anyway with no help. I took a while to leave the keg line below the post and tapped it to move all the air together and opened the line. I did this several times and eventually seemed to lose any co2 leaking into the beer line. It's working fine now. Thanks for the reply!