First beer pours well then second beer pours with no head

[Lynchy17]

Hello all,

I just kegged my first beer in my Kegland kegerator. It was a pale ale and it sits at 2 degrees temp and pours at 12psi.

The first beer pours really well with great head. But if I pour other beers straight away there is almost no head on them.

If I leave it for a while it will pour good beer again but if I am pouring consecutive beers with mates over only the first one has head.

Any ideas why this is?

[Hairy]

How long has it been in the keg?

It sounds like the first pour has foam because of the warm beer in the lines in the font tower.

The second beer doesn’t have the head because it is cold and also hasn’t fully carbonated.

[Lynchy17]

Yeah I was wondering if that was the case.

I have kegged a beer that I have ‘set and forget carbonated’. I am going to leave it for at least a week.

This one I picked up from a local brewery who does a swap and go with kegs. They say they have been for carbed, but that’s just taking their word for it, So maybe it hasn’t been properly carbonated.
 

Would raising the temp to 3 degrees help in the meantime?

[jamiek86]

12 minutes ago, Lynchy17 said:

Yeah I was wondering if that was the case.

I have kegged a beer that I have ‘set and forget carbonated’. I am going to leave it for at least a week.

This one I picked up from a local brewery who does a swap and go with kegs. They say they have been for carbed, but that’s just taking their word for it, So maybe it hasn’t been properly carbonated.
 

Would raising the temp to 3 degrees help in the meantime?

I'm only new to kegging but found if I only had one keg in a 4 keg fridge I had to bump it up to 5 degrees. Tap beer in pub for lager is usually between 4 to 7 degrees

[NicolasW]

18 hours ago, Lynchy17 said:

Yeah I was wondering if that was the case.

I have kegged a beer that I have ‘set and forget carbonated’. I am going to leave it for at least a week.

This one I picked up from a local brewery who does a swap and go with kegs. They say they have been for carbed, but that’s just taking their word for it, So maybe it hasn’t been properly carbonated.
 

Would raising the temp to 3 degrees help in the meantime?

There are  two sides to this.

1. Increasing the temperature will mean the beer will  take up CO2 slower, and take up less carbonation. 
2. The increased temperature will mean the CO2 should come out of solution quicker (a bit like opening a warm beer) - which should promote more head.

When are you drinking from it next? If its not till Friday I would leave it at the lower temperature and bring it back up to 4 or 5 degrees on Thursday night. If you need it sooner then you could also increase your regulator pressure overnight - maybe 20 psi to see if its closer to what you want or crank and shake.

Another thing to try is to use a slimmer glass like a pilsner glass.

 

[Lynchy17]

24 minutes ago, NicolasW said:

There are  two sides to this.

1. Increasing the temperature will mean the beer will  take up CO2 slower, and take up less carbonation. 
2. The increased temperature will mean the CO2 should come out of solution quicker (a bit like opening a warm beer) - which should promote more head.

When are you drinking from it next? If its not till Friday I would leave it at the lower temperature and bring it back up to 4 or 5 degrees on Thursday night. If you need it sooner then you could also increase your regulator pressure overnight - maybe 20 psi to see if its closer to what you want or crank and shake.

Another thing to try is to use a slimmer glass like a pilsner glass.

 

That’s great, much appreciate advice everyone. I do agree with the Pilsner glass, that always provides the best head. I do have 4 Headmaster schooner glasses on the way so hopefully they help as well
 

I will leave it sit until Friday at 12psi and 2 degrees and change the temp Thursday night. 
 

Will 4 degrees still be fairly cold?

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, Lynchy17 said:

That’s great, much appreciate advice everyone. I do agree with the Pilsner glass, that always provides the best head. I do have 4 Headmaster schooner glasses on the way so hopefully they help as well
 

I will leave it sit until Friday at 12psi and 2 degrees and change the temp Thursday night. 
 

Will 4 degrees still be fairly cold?

My kegerator is set at 4°C it is fine.  I upped it from 3°C because that temperature made my teeth numb.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Mine's set at just under zero degrees (31F). I do it because my old one used to keep the beer around 3-4 degrees (even though it was set at -4) and by the time it got to the glass it was more like 8-10 degrees because of the warm taps and room temp glass. Pretty shit in the summer months. This way it's probably around 2-3 degrees in the glass and it only warms up from there anyway. Personally I'd just pick a temperature and stick with it, it's a lot simpler than faffing around changing it constantly. 

How long had it been in there when you were pouring those beers? On serving pressure I find they need at least a week to be at a good carbonation level. 

On 1/11/2021 at 9:34 PM, jamiek86 said:

I'm only new to kegging but found if I only had one keg in a 4 keg fridge I had to bump it up to 5 degrees. Tap beer in pub for lager is usually between 4 to 7 degrees

Not at the pubs I've been to. It's usually at zero or below. 

[Lynchy17]

7 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Mine's set at just under zero degrees (31F). I do it because my old one used to keep the beer around 3-4 degrees (even though it was set at -4) and by the time it got to the glass it was more like 8-10 degrees because of the warm taps and room temp glass. Pretty shit in the summer months. This way it's probably around 2-3 degrees in the glass and it only warms up from there anyway. Personally I'd just pick a temperature and stick with it, it's a lot simpler than faffing around changing it constantly. 

How long had it been in there when you were pouring those beers? On serving pressure I find they need at least a week to be at a good carbonation level. 

Not at the pubs I've been to. It's usually at zero or below. 

I think the problem is I bought a swap and go keg from a local swap and go brewer. It should have been carbonated but I don’t think it was properly.

It has been sitting a week at 12psi and 3 degrees. Away tonight so I’ll let everyone know how it goes tomorrow.

Fingers crossed!

[jamiek86]

25 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Mine's set at just under zero degrees (31F). I do it because my old one used to keep the beer around 3-4 degrees (even though it was set at -4) and by the time it got to the glass it was more like 8-10 degrees because of the warm taps and room temp glass. Pretty shit in the summer months. This way it's probably around 2-3 degrees in the glass and it only warms up from there anyway. Personally I'd just pick a temperature and stick with it, it's a lot simpler than faffing around changing it constantly. 

How long had it been in there when you were pouring those beers? On serving pressure I find they need at least a week to be at a good carbonation level. 

Not at the pubs I've been to. It's usually at zero or below. 

I suppose everyone will find different temps that suit them and their needs and will change for everyone depending on location in house and how hot surrounds are. Also calibration of each kegerator and how accurate temp really is. Im sure its the same for each pub around the country and where they are and the beer they are serving. I know someone who worked in a dandenong Victoria pub and was told by CUB when pouring VB or Carlton draught from tap it was best between 4 to 7 degrees to allow for a decent enough head but not too big so people would complain of being less beer in glass. Id be lying if i remembered everything about it had only just turned 18 and was allowed in but sometimes adjustments to temperature had to be made depending on how busy it was and how much they were pouring. Also a similar situation at crown casino a few years afterward where the beer was near freezing and they could not get a beer to pour with a head so were giving away scooners of beer that made your teeth numb until they got it right. If i ever ventured as far as Queensland I'm sure it is done differently there with different results and probably have heaps different systems now compared to what they used to.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Definitely. That's why I said pick a temperature and stick with it, once you find one that works. If you're constantly changing it up and down you'll never have consistent carbonation. 

When I first got this current kegerator I did do a temperature check with a keg full of water so I could work out where to set it to achieve a temperature around zero degrees in the keg. I do change it between summer and winter but only after both beer kegs have been emptied and new ones go in, not while they're still pouring. In winter I usually have it a degree warmer than in summer. It's not a big difference but it works for me. 

[Lynchy17]

All is good. I think it was a carbonation problem as now there is plenty of head.

 

Appreciate the help!