RE Maxi 310 cooler

[wingwong]

Hi, I am a newbie so please be gentle with me, I have just invested in a maxi 310 cooler and am having endless problems trying to get it running correctly, I have made a beer very similar to John Smith's bitter and am using 70/30 gas to dispense it, it pulls beautifully at 18psi but wanted it to be cooler so hence the cooler purchase. I just cannot get any head at all when the beer is going through the cooler, it is totally flat, I have increased my serving pressure to 45psi, surely that's not right?? I am just wondering if anyone else has had any such problem? thanks for any advice

[Fil]

methinks your serving a bitter at lager temps thru the chiller, check the lines at the back of the chiller are some labled S and others L?? my 4 line maxi has 2 x L (long) and 2 x S(short) coils fitted. the longer coils will impart more chill!! so if running thru a long coil try a short one instead??

other methods to reduce the chill could be to:

1) cut off the agitator or recirc pump (crude and could end up with less than required chilling as the static liquid around the product coils warms up,

2) fit a better controllable thermostatic controller stc1000 or similar to hold the water bath at the desired serving temperature and set your serving temp 8-10C which will not retain as much co2 as a 4-5C draught pint would.

unlike bars and pubs that employ the icebank in these devices to cater for periods of high demand when pints are pulled in succession. if pouring at a rate of 3-4 pints per session then you can run a shelf chiller like i do for an initial period of 30-45mins in an evening and then turn off as the residual cold in the waterbath is sufficient to service an evenings pourings

i use a thermometer inline in the recirc return to monitor my waterbath temp and shut off the device when it hits 0C, you may want to kill at 4C??
other factors to consider are the ambient and actual keg temps, with my older 2 line chiller i found even with an icewall the max temp drop of a pint thru 1 coil was 8C
so if the beer went in at 16C it would come out at 8C..

if you opt for turning off the chiller once a target is set, a useful mod is to allow the recirc or agitator to be switched independently and run it when pouring as otherwise the static cooling liquid can warm up around the coil and minimise the chill effect iirc they refer to this as the hot pocket effect..


hope thats helpful..

[wingwong]

Hi, Fil, many thanks for your reply, yes that does make very good sense, I have tested my water and it is 2 degrees, and all the coils are long ones, so obviously too cold for beer, I will try what you suggested and turn on my cooler for 30 mins at a time but will this do any harm to the cooler??? Is it easy to fit 2 smaller coils to try?? I may have to put a stc1000 thermostat on as you suggested but am new to all this so may need help and advice, many thanks for your help so far, very kind regards Susan

[MadMarble]

Hi Wingwong,

As Fil said there are a few ways of making sure the beer doesn't get too cold. Remember these units are made for busy pubs.

I assume you are using corner kegs?

I have use 70/30 mixed gas, as I was given some by a friend when they had no more use for it. I have found it difficult to force carbonate with. I don't have any way of chilling the kegged beer down so I just have to rely on ambient temperatures, which makes is harder to dissolve the co2 I know. Have you checked the carbonation levels in your brew without using the cooler?

I've had a varying degree of success with force carbonating to date. For my birthday I've got some co2 so I'm going to see if this helps. I might use the 70/30 for my stouts.

[wingwong]

Hi, I am using 70/30 gas with corneleus kegs and yes the beer pulls perfectly without the cooler, i'll just have to try and sell it and maybe invest in a fridge instead, real pity as the beer is ice cold, better for larger, or failing that try and get shorter coils

[wingwong]

Hi Fil, what psi do you run through the cooler

[Fil]

Hi Fil, what psi do you run through the cooler

using C02, i serve at between 2-4psi for bitters i want to emulate a hand pulled pint with, 8-12 psi for beers with a tad more condition and 15-20 psi thru 3/16" microline for fizzy stuff

[wingwong]

Oh dear, there's something really wrong then as the psi is 30+ and there still is no head when coming through the cooler, but put it straight from the keg to the tap and I get a beautiful pint with a thick creamy head at 18 psi,I must be doing something vey wrong

[Fil]

mixed gas is a different animal from normal simple co2, Nitrogen will not dissolve in the beer like c02 will, if its just the lack of head thats the problem and the beer itself is conditioned , have you tried the pocket beer engine??, its what some northerners use to put a head on a pint, not so common down south as we prefer beer upto the brim of the glass not foam.. but using a 10-20ml syringe pull out some beer and squirt it back in for an instant head.. Or using a stout tap to pour may also create the head you want, stout is severed with mixed gas, and the taps contain a SS plate with a few micro holes in it the keg pressure forces the beer through the plate which may contribute to the foamy head??

[wingwong]

I've got a creamer nozzle on, someone has suggested that it may be the bore size if the tubing, to and from the cooler, the cooler has a 3/8 coil so I have run the beer line on 3/8 to the cooler and then on 3/8 from the cooler to the tap, the tap has a creamer on, I was sold all this tubing and was told that it would work but obviously something is amiss

[Fil]

Im afraid my experience is limited to 100% co2 dispensing where its crucial to reduce the keg pressure at the tap point to a nominal 1-2psi from the higher keg pressure. Where if the keg pressure isnt reduced then the beer can suffer a catastrophic release of all co2 in suspension at release due to the drastic change in pressure, But your suffering from the opposite problem??

so the 3/8" beerline is working ok for you ..

google kicked out this http://www.inndoctor.co.uk/my-keg-cream ... ving-flat/