The last several batches of beer I’ve made have each had a disturbing similar quality that I don’t too much care for. A couple of Hefeweizens, and Pale Ale, a Baltic Porter have each had an off, slightly sour flavor that I have come to decide is some kind of infection. Since general brewing process and sequence of events has not changed in the last few years, I decided it was my kegging equipment that was likely causing this. Especially since I think that after a beer is in the keg for a few weeks the effect seems to get a bit worse, if anything.
So, I spent the afternoon, taking apart all my fittings and tap faucets, cleaning them and soaking them in sanitizer, along with buying 20 feet of beverage tubing and replacing all I had in use. I have two different sizes of tubing. One is 3/16″ ID which I use for kegs that need to be kept at a higher pressure to maintain a high level of carbonation, like German wheat beers for example. British ales and stouts are better at a considerably lower carbonation level. Having 5 or 6 feet of 3/16″ inner diameter line restricts the pressure in that line to a tune of 2psi per liner foot. So I can keep my keg at 15psi to maintain high carbonation, but by the time it gets to the faucet it will have dropped to about 5psi, which is a good serving pressure. This gradual progressive pressure drop decreases the amount of foaming in the glass than a short larger diameter line would give you.
My other faucet is rigged with a little shorter line that is 1/4″ diameter, that kegs with lower carbonation requirements will get hooked up to. It is not a totally automatic system, but it is a step or two towards keeping beers at the right fizz level and still being able to pour a beer with not a ton of foam.
It was also a good time to clean out my keggorator, which is a 5.5 cf chest freezer, controlled by an external thermostat, and a twin faucet tap tower mounted on the lid, wiping the insides all down with a sponge and idaphor solution. Now that every thing is all nice and clean, it’s time to make some beer and get something else hooked up on that other faucet. I’m thinking a CDA
