Soda is foamy from the keg

Question

I have a 5 gallon keg of ginger beer, and when I pour it from the faucet, it's foamy. I can also see that it's foamy inside the line.

The regulator is set to 35 PSI, and it's been in the fridge for 2 weeks, so it's fully carbonated. It's soda, so I want it to be well carbonated.

The fridge is close to freezing temperature. Th line from the keg to the faucet is 20 feet long, 3/16th inch, and it's positioned above the keg. Everything is in the fridge, and I pour into a cold glass.

I've tried a shorter line (5 feet), and a different faucet.

I've tried lowering the pressure to various pressures down to as low as 6 PSI, burping the keg, and pouring with that. With the 5 feet line, it's still foamy, and with the 20 feet line, no liquid comes out.

The weird thing is the 5gal first batch I made came out great, and poured just fine. But I don't remember all of my settings.

Help! How do I make it not foamy?

Answer 1

20 feet of 3/16" (vinyl) beer line is 60psi of resistance. Even at 35 psi, I'm surprised you got any flow. 5 feet of 3/16" beer line is 15psi of resistance.

35 psi is an extremely high carbonation level (for beer, not necessarily for soda), even near-freezing.

I'd suggest using the 5ft beer line at 16-20 psi. That should get you 3-4 volumes of CO₂, but not so much that it's all foam going out the line.

Answer 2

Check the flow on the keg with water, you may have a blockage that's preventing clear flow through the faucet.