Scenario Two: The Beer Is FoamyĪccording to Mark Edelson, the operations director for the Iron Hill Brewery + Restaurant chain based in Wilmington, Delaware, if the beer is pouring foamy, it might have gotten warm-a common predicament at outdoor festivals. Someone will tap the keg, go back to the bar, and nobody knows anything went wrong … until somebody goes into the walk-in the next morning and half of the keg has drained onto the floor!” Photo by Jeff Quinn. Alex Bokulich, the director of operations for Craft Concepts Group, a hospitality company in Philadelphia that includes Blume, Bru Craft & Wurst, and Finn McCools Ale House in its portfolio, says, “Sadly, something I’ve seen too many times over the past few years-and am likely to see again and again-is a washer missing from the beer line. Make sure that the metal ball inside the coupler that connects the keg to the lines isn’t stuck in place and that you’re not missing any of the 3/4-inch neoprene washers that seal most of the coupler (also known as Sankey) connections. If the tank does dispense gas, the keg itself might have mysteriously been emptied of beer. If no gas is discharged, then the tank is empty.” “The way we do this,” he says, “is by shutting off the valve on the tank, then we unhook the regulator from the tank, and we slowly open the valve on the tank to see if any gas releases. Olson says that if this is the case, it’s time for plan B. If that fails, you may have a gauge that gives false readings. Carbonated stouts would be the same as other ales.” Nitrogenated stouts should be pushed with 25 percent CO2 and would be set at 35 PSI. Long-draw systems typically use a blend of 60 percent to 70 percent CO2, with the balance being nitrogen. As Meadows explains, direct-draw systems that are “ 100 percent CO2 will typically be 12 to 14 PSI. If some pressure is in play, he says, use a screwdriver to turn the screw on the regulator clockwise to amp up the pressure by two pounds per square inch (PSI) until the beer flows freely. If it doesn’t, the tank is probably empty. Scheppers Distributing in Columbia, Missouri, suggests checking the gas regulator gauge first to see if it shows any pressure. If the brewer is using a blend, and the nitrogen content is too high, that may mean that too little CO2 is being used or that the pressure is too low, which can prevent beer from coming out of the tap-or cause the beer to pour flat.ĭanny Olson, the draft tech manager at N.H. The gas supply preserves the brewer’s desired carbonation and pushes beer up the draft line into a faucet. Matt Meadows, the director of field quality for New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the Brewers Association’s draft beer quality ambassador, says that most American draft systems require a keg to be hooked up to a tank containing either straight carbon dioxide (CO2) or a device that blends CO2 and nitrogen. Is the keg empty? Not necessarily, but the gas tank might be. Scenario One: The Beer Won’t PourĪ bartender flips open the tap handle and … nothing comes out. So SevenFifty Daily asked beer professionals to pinpoint three of the most common problems associated with draft beer systems, how to figure out what’s causing the issue, and what to do to fix it. Being able to diagnose common draft system problems - such as whether a keg is empty, why the beer is coming out flat or extra foamy, or why it suddenly smells like buttered popcorn - is essential to running a successful bar business. Customers may be ordering beers by the pitcher when suddenly the taps stop pouring right. Problems with draft systems often occur at the most inconvenient times-during happy hour, for example, or a big game.
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