Hi Guys, I am new to the forum. Looking for some advice.

I have a kegerator system set up like this.

Double tap connected to 2 x 20L taps, carbonated by a 5lbs CO2 tank.

I currently have a honey brown in one keg and a heavier German beer (called vindicator bock) in the other. I keep the psi at about 7psi. This is about perfect for the honey brown, but when im pouring the other beer there seems to be way to much head, and sometimes acts like there is almost a pressure build up, tap is hard to open and close.

Any ideas what is going on?

If your bock is already carbonated at a higher level than the 7 psi, then it could have excess pressure built up (which would then be higher in your whole system if it's all inter-connected.) Releasing it out of the tap without sufficient back pressure would result in excess foaming. Think about opening a soda really fast. When I have several different beers on my system, i find myself constantly tweaking the pressure depending on the beer I'm drinking that day. Eventually the solution is multiple regulators, but that's big $$$.

I know it's counter-intuitive to up the pressure for less foam, but the general rule is 3-5 psi above your carbonation pressure. Obviously, if you keep it at that pressure, it'll eventually leave your beer carbonated at that level. I usually crank mine up before serving, and dial it back down at the end of the evening.

I hope this helps, I tend to ramble sometimes.

There are so many variables that go into kegging, that it's really difficult to try and troubleshoot a problem like this without actually being there. I'll give it my best shot, though.
It's possible that your Bock is still undercarbonated, which is what is causing your foam problem. At 7 PSI, it would take a keg of beer on my system better than a week to carb up enough to not foam, and then maybe....
Were both beers kegged and set up to carbonate on the same day? Same temp?
As for your tap, have you tried adjusting the screw at the base of the tap handle? That was the cause of my tap being difficult to operate.

I've been kegging for a few months now and I still have to tweak dispensing pressure, etc. Like the other guys said it could be a number of things. Check out http://draughtquality.org/. This is a nice guide to educate you on draft systems, a little bit of the science behind them, trouble shooting, etc.

Is your faucet standard/rear sealing? If so, the difficulty of the tap opening and closing could be a build up of gunk (dried beer) on the shaft. I have this type of faucet and I have to clean it up more that I would like to because it starts sticking really bad. I have the small, cheap plastic tap handles on my faucets and I actually busted one off trying to close it back up. Needless to say, I lost about a 1/2 pint of beer all over the top of my kegerator before I thought to unplug my beer line from my keg. I do use a food grade lube on the shaft that helps a little, but it still gets cruddy. I plan on switching over to Perlick/front sealing taps soon. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the comments, everything you guys said makes alot of sense.

To answer one of the questions, yes the beer was kegged on the same day, by force carbination. And its been kegs for about 3 weeks now. Both kegs were in the same fridge, so yes same temp.

Thanks again for the advice. Look forward to trying some of he recipes off the site.

greg

What size and length are your beer lines? At least 5' of 3/16 inside diamater line is reccomended. I use at least 6'. The longer the line the less force it will come out of the faucet.
If one got force carbonated higher than the other it will foam bad. I run my beers between 10 to 12 psi. But some regs are off a few psi either high or low sometimes.