draft line issue

[mr.jay]

This question is on a personal note, but I'm going nuts trying to figure out what the problem is. I use beer pumps on a 150 ft draw at the brewery. Everything runs like a top. I have a personal draft system at home for myself. Just a simple refrigerator outfitted for 3 1/6Bbl kegs and 3 draft lines. For some reason, I cannot get the draft line on my home fridge balanced. I know it is difficult to run 3 kegs off of the same regulator, but that is the setup (hey, c'mon, it's just a home draft system) and I should be able to get a decent pour out of it. What happens is, the beer starts off weak, about 1/6 of the way down the keg it begins getting foamy, then 1/2 way through the keg, it is all foam in the glass. I've increased the gas, decreased the gas, added line, cut line, played with the temp, increased and decreased the i.d. .-and it still is way out of balance. This is the same beer I serve in the brewery. When I originally set this up, after checking with a Zahm, I did the math (accounting for vertical footage, length, i.d. and psi). It didn't work from the get go. When that didn't work, I started tinkering- changing hose, cutting, adding, ramping up the gas, backing off. Based on my symptoms, could it be a bad regulator? Could it be how the hose is situated in the fridge? Any ideas?

[Junkyard]

What's the regulator set at? What's your id of your line, and how long is your beer line?

To me it sounds like your starting off with an undercarbed keg and your serving pressure is too high so it over corrects.

[PruBrew]

Temperature?

What is the temperature in your keggerator? If you have a little digital kitchen thermometer stick it in your glass of beer/foam and see what it's coming out at. Chances are that if you've run the whole gamut of pressure-related fixes with no success then temp is your culprit.
Cheers & good luck.

[TGTimm]

How long are your kegs on tap? If they're sitting under pressure for days or weeks, you could easily be over-carbing the beer.

[mr.jay]

The kegs must be over pressurized, meaning I could have a problem with my regulator. The temp is not the issue. Matter of fact, the beer in the lines pour without an issue. You can always tell when the residuals have dispensed, because it's when the lines empty the foaming begins. The length and i.d. are overkill now. I went through so many variations of length and diameter, but on a fellow brewers advice I added more line and restriction. I am running the beer now through 18 ft. of 3/16 i.d.. I tried 8 ft. of that diameter and everything between. The length : i.d. I am using now is absurd. I feel like I should be using a 75/25 mix to push the liquid through at that size and length. Like I said, based on my Zahm chart, I set the pressure, did the math for i.d., length and temp, and it still went haywire. My beers range from 1.25 -1.5 bars, so I don't expect a picture perfect pour when I have to split a regulator between 3 kegs. No psi setting will be perfect, but I should be able to find a sweetspot. What is happening in my case is ridiculous - but I am starting to think the regulator is not giving me an accurate readout. If I am missing something, please chime in. In the meantime, I am going to grab a regulator from work, swap it out, let the kegs de-pressurize a bit and see what happens.

[TGTimm]

We run 8 kegs off a single secondary regulator for our pub. I can't see that you should have a problem running 3 for a home keggerator.

18' of restriction is ridiculous. We're at 4,000' elevation, our beers at ~2.6 v/v, 3' of lift, and we use 6' of 3/16 line and 15-16 psi CO2 push for a very nice pour. We also clean our lines every two weeks, which makes a huge difference.

I used the formula from The Draft Beer Quality Manual to determine line restriction and push pressure.