Home brewing and kegging?

Question

Beer brewed is style 15A (BJCP)

beer is stored in corney keg in kegerator at temp of about 38F

sanitation was and is strictly adhered to.

hose from keg to faucet 5 1/2 feet long.

faucet is full open when pouring

after purging the air out of the tank from secondary by hooking the keg up to CO2 tank I chilled the keg for two days. I then "rapid charged" or forced carbonated the keg by shaking it vigorously for about 5 min with the PSI turned up to 30. I then let it sit in kegerator for a week. I do this for all my beers in fact the 15B which I have on tap as well was done the same way and is pouring fine-appropriate CO2 for style. However the German Wheat is coming out of the tap like a glass of foam slowly settling down but the beer seems a bit flat. Any ideas what I can do before I disconnect and force CO2 again? I did purge some of the pressure off and dispensing the beer out at 10-11 PSI and I checked the keg for leaks and did not notice any. Suggestions anyone who kegs to look at?

Thanks

Answer 1

The clean lines mentioned are a good point relating to beer foam retention.

Is your beer an extract brew or an all malt mash brew? Extracts often lack the protein and gums derived from grain as they either are not fully converted in the mash or they are destroyed by the wort dehydrating procedure.

These compounds are fairly numerous in wheat grain so in an all-grain mash you should have plenty in the final beer. Thus you will have a nice beer foam. They participate in the formation of beer foam but hop compounds also are involved also. Actually copper helps stabilize beer foam too. The bulk of the foam of course is the CO2 gas. By mashing with barley and wheat you should have a nice faom in your beer.

I will force carb some beers using a carbonating stone of about 2 micron size. I pump the keg a shake lightly and let it set. If you have a regulator you will notice the head space pressure falls over a few days. This is due to CO2 dissolving into the beer. You need to repeat this procedures a few times to saturate the beer to desired levels. You may also seek a finer pore size stone, say about 0.5 micron for a finer bead and lacing.

Answer 2

You didn't leave it on 30 psi did you?  The most I've ever used straight CO2 at is 15 PSI for highly carbonated beer (about 2.5 co2 volumes).  At 38F I'd recommend more in the 12ish range.

If you're still having foaming issues perhaps you have dirty lines.  Crud in the lines allows for "nucleation points" which will foam beer right up.

Answer 3

what now? stopped reading after the line saying:

Beer brewed is style 15A (BJCP)