tips on avoiding foam

[Walt]

Hi,

Do you guys have any advice on avoiding foam buildup when botteling out of a keg? I seem to be losing lots of carbonation that way and also, waiting for the foam to settle takes to long to fill up my bottles :-( I've been thinking about using some kind of counter pressure system but haven't found a decent way to do so.

Thanks for the advice anyone could give! 

[ianceppos]

Chill your bottles before filling. The Blickman beer gun works very well, and obviously turn your co2 way down. YouTube is always a great resource.

[Kelsey]

Hi Walt, 

I had the same problem with my corny kegs when using the Blichman Beer Gun, I had foam in my lines starting from the liquid-out posts. I tried changing the posts, changing the o-rings, changing the line length, chilling the line and beer gun, lowering the psi, and even buying new kegs, but all of this did not help with foam in the lines and excessive foam when filling bottles. I finally fixed the foaming issue when I installed carbonation stones with 2' of 1/4" beverage line attached to the end of the gas-in dip tube. I don't know why this fixed my foaming issue but now I can bottle with the beer gun at about 8-10psi and without chilling my bottles. 

[Jared Englund]

The beer gun line can only handle a certain amount of carbonation.  The more dissolved co2, the slower you need to push out the liquid.  If it's foaming you either over-carbed it and/or are pushing it out too fast.

[Walt]

Hi Jared,

I'm having foam at the lowest outflow from the keg atm.. but I suspect I over carbed at 45psi with a 3 minute keg shaking manoeuvre.. 

Do you have any advice on the right pressure and time to shake move? 

Thanks!

Op dinsdag 30 mei 2017 19:28:36 UTC+2 schreef Jared Englund:

[Walt]

Hi Kelsey,

Thanks for the usefull info! At what pressure are you carbonating your kegs if I may ask? 

I am force carbing at 45psi with a 3-5 minute shake. I suspect I'm over carbonating at this point but I just want it to be carbed quickly.. 

[Kelsey Hendricks]

Hi Walt,

I am now carbonating using a 2 micron carbonation stone by setting the regulator to 7-9 psi and leaving it for about 1.5-2 days. If I want to speed up the carbonation time I will release the head pressure every 15 minutes and can carbonate in about 8-12 hours, however, this can lead to an off flavour. Are you familiar with the carbonation stones?

Kelsey

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[Jared Englund]

Temperature is a huge issue.  If the liquid is warm at all it will quickly release its CO2.  Also you should prime your bottles with CO2 just before filling.

Our bright tank uses a carbonation stone and it can carbonate cold Kombucha in less than 24 hours.

Carbonating in kegs we usually leave them at 30psi overnight, then if you have time set them to 12psi for one more day. 
Depending on how much sugar is in your final product, you may want to under-carbonate your Kombucha with the expectation that a little bit of secondary fermentation will occur and create more CO2.

[Walt]

Hey Jared,

You guys used to shake your kegs for carbonation no? Do you find there to be a big difference with your booch from the bright tank or from force shaken carbonated kegs? 

Thanks!

Op woensdag 24 mei 2017 02:05:11 UTC+2 schreef Walt:

[Jared Englund]

Shaking a keg is a very crude method but it kind of works.  The variable: temperature, time, amount of shaking are all hard to measure.  A bright tank allows for very accurate carbonation.  I can use the bright tank to carbonate overnight and the result is 300 gallons of perfectly carbonated Kombucha.  In the keg, some would be perfect, but most would be too little or too much carbonation.  Hard to control.
We are having lots of fun with our bright tank.

[Walt]

Hey Jared,

Do you have any suggestions on buying a first brite tank? I flavour my booch after fermentation and before carbonation so with 4 flavours I would only be able to carbonate 1 flavour at a time and so only use the brite tank for one flavour at a time. Do you have experience with flavouring after carbonation?

Regards!

Op donderdag 15 juni 2017 06:21:09 UTC+2 schreef Jared Englund:

[Jared Englund]

The ultimate convenience would be to have a bright tank for each flavor. 
We are making it work with one big bright tank.  We just also have to have a big walk-in cooler because we are making 2-4 weeks worth of each flavor at a time. 

Is your idea to carbonate, then add flavor?  The tricky part is sediment.  We like to allow the ingredients to settle and purge them out.  We add ingredients, let them settle for a couple of hours, pump into the bright tank and carbonate overnight.  The bright tank is one more place where we can purge the sediment.  Adding ingredients without allowing the Kombucha to settle would result in sediment in the bottle which lowers shelf life.

Our bottles are very active.  They are clear for months in the fridge but when you leave a bottle out of the fridge for just a few hours on a hot day, lots of sediment and SCOBY will start to appear.