Glastender Remote Beer Dispensing System - Manual (Page 5)

Glastender, Inc. • 5400 North Michigan Road • Saginaw, MI • 48604-9780
800.748.0423 • 989.752.4275 • Fax 989.752.4444 • www.glastender.com 2
Rotate Stock
Draft beer is best served fresh. The kegs must be properly rotated, or the beer will lose its original taste and aroma. Always
use the oldest beer first. Do not stock new deliveries in front or on top of kegs already in the cooler.
Temperature
Draft beer must be kept cold at all times. The optimum storing temperature is between 34° and 38°F. Temperatures above
45°F may cause the beer to turn sour and cloudy. A beer keg takes a long time to cool down, so they should never be stored
outside of a cooler for any length of time. For example, a beer keg that is allowed to heat up to 44°F will take approxi-
mately 18 hours to cool down in a 36°F cooler. Always place keg beer in a cooler immediately upon delivery.
It is best to store beer kegs in a cooler that is used exclusively for draft beer and not foods. Frequent opening of the cooler
door can raise the beer temperature. Also, unpleasant food odors can affect the taste of the beer by penetrating the beer
lines over time.
Improper temperature is one of the most common causes of draft beer drawing problems. Draft beer is more likely to foam
when the beer temperature is above 38°F. Temperatures lower that 28°F can cause the beer to freeze, which causes the beer
to be cloudy and have an off taste. Once again, the optimum storing temperature is between 34° and 38°F.
Pressure
The pressure levels for your Glastender beer system have been pre-set by the factory authorized installer, so no adjustments
to the regulators levels are required. The design of your remote beer system will maintain the proper pressure level to
prevent over or under-carbonated beer. The original beer system installer should be contacted before making any regulator
adjustments.
It is important to keep a constant and uniform level of pressure on the beer. Never turn off the CO
2
gas at night. You
cannot save gas this way.
Is your regulator accurate? A sluggish needle, which falls downward when beer is drawn, will result in flat beer toward
the end of the barrel. A creeping regulator, which creeps upward during idle periods, will result in wild or over-carbonated
beer. If you suspect that your regulator is operating improperly, please contact the original installer or the factory.
d
raft
B
eer
H
andlIng
Counter Pressure
Since CO
2
is chemically the same as the natural carbonation in draft beer, pressurized CO
2
tanks are used to provide the
pressure to a keg for dispensing. By maintaining the natural head pressure on the keg, the beer is prevented from going flat
or becoming over carbonated. Most remote beer systems require the use of counter pressure that is higher than the natural
carbonation level of draft beer (a beer barrel at 38°F has an internal pressure of 12 to 16 P.S.I.). However, if the counter
pressure is provided by pure CO
2
, the beer will over carbonate and foam, so a counter pressure system other than straight
CO
2
is required.
The counter pressure method may consist of blended nitrogen and CO
2
or mechanical beer pumps. Blended nitrogen and
CO
2
comes pre-blended in a tank or is blended on site using a blender and a tank of pure nitrogen and a tank of pure CO
2
.
Blended nitrogen and CO
2
provides counter pressure by mixing nitrogen and CO
2
to lower the CO
2
content in the overall
pressure mixture, allowing system pressures placed on the kegs to be above 16 pounds without over carbonating the beer.
Mechanical beer pumps are another type of counter pressure method. Pressurized CO
2
is used to actuate the mechanical
diaphragm inside the beer pump; however the CO
2
does not come in to contact with the beer, thus eliminating the risk of
over carbonation.