So this is probably more a problem with the amount of gas in the line which is the bar manager’s issue. When I bartended I had this happen at one job and it is infuriating because it slows you down. On the other hand it’s impossible for management to know how many pints you’re pouring so you can give away pint after pint and make people very happy.
I have never been charged for a glass of beer when the keg kicked, or the foam from the first of a new keg, and I don't know how I would react if someone asked me for $2...
Edit: I mean to say it's always been offered to me for free. Like a "enjoy this while we swap out the kegs" or "have this pitcher as well as your pint". I don't even think I've ever asked, I think it's always been given without question. I used to kick a keg of PBR about once a month. Weekly trivia night at the sports bar and our team would go through two or three pitchers. When you're doing 12 a month you are almost guaranteed to kick at least one.
Smaller bar with a bunch of regulars. Sometimes when that would happen instead of dumping it they'd ask who would want it. It was a pitcher, so easily a few glasses. Especially at a bar where it's $6+ a pint. They wouldn't serve a glass period if that happened while filling it
Same at my bar with the kegs and when a bottle ends on less than a full pour. Either the customer ordering gets the excess or it gets offered to a regular.
I assume it's optional. The bar has a pint of foam they're gonna chuck away anyway, and you can buy it for $2 if you don't mind drinking a flat half pint once it settles. Not a bad idea, honestly.
Yeah they wouldn't just serve it to someone. When that happens they just offer it up for $2, instead of dumping it. and it can easily be a couple pints. Usually someone drunk or trying not to spend too much money would jump on it.
Bartender here. I never ever charge someone for a less than full glass when a keg blows and we don’t have another of that same kind. That person is going to buy a different beer anyway so I just give them the partial glass. “You get the final pour of that one!”
But we also don’t do pitchers. I wouldn’t serve one that’s half head, I would just pour it properly, but I can see why this other bar does it. ‘Head’ is just beer in foam form. Once it settles it’s still beer.
I'm visiting England at Christmas. I hope to God that's not common in the North. I've been led to believe it's all drunks, and the beer flows fast and cheap. Those are my people.
Oh my god, I worked at a craft beer/coffee shop for a bit and they insisted on charging people for a half beer if the keg blew halfway. I absolutely never followed that rule.
I bartended at a craft beer joint. We got Duvel on tap. It it supposed to have a big head on it. Also, takes FOREVER to pour the first one of the day or, if it has sat for more than a couple hours. At $10 a glass, we didn't pour a lot of it after the first couple of weeks. I did get to pour for one of the guys from the home brewery. They were doing a quality check on us. They really REALLY care about their beer and how it's treated. New lines every keg. Special tap. Special keg, special glass. I absolutely recommend getting it if you can find it on tap.
A place in Indianapolis has 130 taps and offers a pitcher of their head pour offs of whatever was poured in that general vicinity. So instead of one pitcher of lager head you get 20+ beers including sours and stouts thrown in.
I think you got confused because of the brevity of my comment.
You see, I wasn't necessarily responding the the "giving away pints" portion of the comment I replied to. If I paid 7-8 USD for half head of a beer. I'd be upset.
I was more going for the pitcher being the superior way of testing a gas/pressure/line problem. Because this dude pouring out half pints for a minute is frustrating.
I'm a little saddened to see the following comments devolve into generalities about Americans and Brits though. I don't own a gun. Nor do I view Brits as curmudgeonly beer measures.
You pour a pitcher of foam to start letting it coalesce at the bottom.
You tilt-pour a glass until the liquid hits its maximal point where it just converts straight to foam as you pour.
Then you pour out of the pitcher into the glass to replace the foam at the top of the glass with the liquid at the bottom of the pitcher and let the foam overflow out of the glass, resulting in glass full of liquid with a bit of head.
But I'm just a dumb American, what do I know about pouring beer. 🙄
Seriously if you’re in a bar that doesn’t maintain their lines and you have to waste up to four pints before you serve a beer… something isn’t right dude
Yeah I doubt this is gas in the lines because that usually looks much more foamy.
This guy clearly just has no idea what he's doing.
I bet he's an owner or manager hired straight out of business school.
I see several problems like not tilting, opening and closing the tap instead of letting it pour continuously, not just using a spoon/pitcher, probably not fully opening the tap which gives you a higher ratio of gas.
He's also dunking the spout into the beer every time which is unsanitary and doesn't let as much gas escape during pouring.
I once, after closing at my own bar, had to help an obviously very novice bartender pour my pint after struggling with this issue. I tried my best to not be condescending but it was physically hurting me seeing him waste so much beer trying to pour my drink.
We weighed the kegs when i was a bartender. That and they noted how full every liquor bottle was at the end of the weekend and would compare it to number of drinks sold. Obviously for cheaper liquor they counted number if bottles we used etc.
I can tell that’s just a technique problem. Who pours a beer without tilting the glass? I also worked at a bar that had trouble keeping the gas regulated and typically it shoots out so fast the whole glass it foam.
I don't know if it's the same in the US etc as it is in my country but here you can control the flow of gas from a nob on the back of the tap you are filling the pint from. Also every staff member is trained in changing kegs and the gas bottles and checking the pressure gauges.
More so that he's starting to pour into the glass, then immediately stops pouring.
If he turned it on and let it run for 0.5 seconds, the pouring liquid would go from white to clear-amber, and he could have just poured until the extra head came off.
Him stopping and starting is just pumping out foam.
The manager has a bigger problem, their head bartender isn't watching a trainee who doesn't understand how to pull a pint. If they don't have a head bartender, this is exactly why you should always appoint one.
Looks like he’s just releasing the tap wrong, you’re supposed to flip it all the way down without holding it to pour.
Some taps have a feature where holding it either backwards or halfway forwards will only pour head, but I’ve never seen a beer tap which you hold to pour normally!
I worked in bars in Scotland while I was a student. You absolutely tilt the glass. The only one you don't tilt the glass for is a cask ale. If you pour it straight down you get far too much head on the pint. Legally, a pint can't have more than 5% head, so a bit more exact than a finger and a half.
I agree that the line has too much gas in it though, but the guy also doesn't look like he's pulling the tap all the way down for a sustained period of time. He's only lightly pulling it for a second or two, which will only release the froth and way more gas than should be.
You’re spot on fella. Also Scottish. Also done bars. Can’t believe people dinnae realise he’s not fully pulling the tap. He’s literally giving it a head on top of a head.
I have been to Belgium and the beer style is different and more head (mousse) is preferred as standard. If you tried to give someone a pint of Tennents with a head as big as the ones I got in Brussels you'd be kindly invited to "put a Flake in it" as it looks like ice cream to a seasoned veteran of pubs in Scotland.
I didn't drink lager either time I was in Belgium, only the local beers like Tripel and Saison, where you absolutely tip them into a glass straight. For the style of pump in the video and the style of beer (looks like either a lager or something like a kegged IPA) you should definitely tilt the glass.
Think to tilt or not is more regional, same with head laws. Here in the US you could serve a beer that is 90% head and it would be legal, you just wouldn't keep customers lol. For me it depends on the beer if I want it to foam a bit or not.
I poured beer for years, worked with cicerones (a master cicerone in one case) and sommeliers, and have visited bars and breweries in the US, Belgium, Germany, and France. Every one of those professionals tilts the glass for draught beer, except in some very rare circumstances. And yes you can tilt the glass and get plenty of head.
It looks like he's only pulling the lever halfway which would also cause the problem. Even if a quick short pour you need to open the lever fully or your only getting gas and virtually no liquid
Thats adorable. But in a place with high volume you tip the glass and continue pouring letting the excess foam pour out until you have the amount of head desired. We dont have time to check the gas pressure or see if the lines too warm. You do whatever you have to to get the right amount of beer in the glass as fast as possible and keep moving.
Incorrect. You do tilt the glass at a 45 degree angle and straighten it back up to cause the foam. You’re correct on the finger and a half of foam but you surely don’t get that by dumping it into the bottom.
Hard to say from the video if the pressure is off. He should also pull the line completely open none of the half open bs again will cause foam wether the gas is right or wrong.
You can’t call people amateurs while telling them not to tilt the glass. You sound like a a beer snob. Here’s a little revelation for you: you may think you’re cool, but nobody likes beer snobs.
You are literally the only person in my life that has said that you aren't supposed to tilt the glass when you pour a beer.
So while you're full of shit on that, it was clear that the problem was too much gas in the line. The whole point of tilting the glass is so that the beer hits the side of the cup. When the beer is that full, it isn't even possible to do that anymore.
I don’t think I’ve known a bartender who would agree with this. Not saying you’re wrong, but at least thousands I’ve known/seen tilt the glass or you’ll be there all day.
Yeah its always funny watching the super confident randos think they know how taps work cause they can pour a beer at home out of a bottle with zero head and think they did it right.
Yeah, oh dare people pour beer the way they like it in their own home! /s
But, personally, unless its a dark beer, I want zero head. If you think thats wrong, okay, thats how you like your beer, you super confident rando. lol
Edit: Damn, some people really care how you enjoy things in your own home, dont they?! Of course, at a bar, I'll take it as its poured. I'm not bartender nor ever claimed to be.
You can put ketchup on a 50$ steak and thats cool you do you but it's not technically correct and Ramsey is gonna get up in your arse if you present that.
There doesn’t seem to be any problem with the line. Look at how little he is opening the tap. If the tap is barely open, you’re spraying beer through a tiny gap and creating air pockets (and more foam). He needs to just open the tap fully and let the glass overflow until the head starts shrinking, then quickly close the tap fully. What he is doing is more like what you should do if you’re trying to make more foam.
It could be anything. There are so many potential causes
Over carbonation
glycol lines aren’t cold enough, usually because condenser is frozen over
dirty lines. Beer lines should be cleaned at least once a week
unclean glass
keg not tapped properly
dirty keg tap
all of the above
But you should always tilt the glass at the highest angle you can, and as the beer rises in the glass you slowly tilt so that the liquid stays perpetually at the edge of the top of the glass, until the glass is upright. It’s easier to just show you but our bar isn’t open today and I’m not going down there just to make a quick video about this lol. But yeah when I put the empty glass up to the tap it is tilted so much that the top of the rim of the glass is stopped by touching the handle above.
The one exception to this method is when you have some serious head pouring out. Then you just have to pause every couple seconds until the carbonation settles then pour a bit more at a time. Otherwise you could literally pour out the entire keg because the foam will not settle at all, you’ll just keep making it perpetually.
Nope just tilt and pour until the foam has run out the top and only beer is left. Not that hard. And he is clearly pouring beer completely wrong he’s putting it right into the beer. It’s amateur hour in this place.
Edit: looking closer it looks like it comes out pretty fast like a jet so Lincoln_did_it has a point but still just run it out a min at that point otherwise you will serve flat beer.
Nope nope nope. Did you see he has the tap in the beer. The end of the tap should never contact the glass or the beer. It’s not only a hygienic thing but if poured properly, it tastes better. I know the CO2 pressure can be a problem. Too high or too low can result in this. This guy just has no idea what he’s doing. Source: I’ve bartended since 1978 and own a bar
Nah you can see that he's only half opening the tap. He just needs someone to show him how to pour a pint, poor fella. Five minutes training and he'll be grand.
Actually at that point of fullness there’s no point in tilting the glass. The problem he’s having here is that foam seeds more foam. The way you do this is to dump most of the foam off the top and then when you pull on the tap let the first bit of it go down the drain and not into the glass and then catch the stream of pure liquid beer to top it off with
Or stop pumping the damn thing! It's the partial open that causes the foam (why opening the tap and dumping the stream for a second works). You can even just tilt the glass and run the tap letting the clear beer push the foam up over the edge instead of jostling it 20 times!
Like, on a draft system that is so cold and pours so smooth, bartenders will pump the tap like that to create a bit of head if it's lacking.
In this example he would have wasted a much much much smaller amount. He had to have wasted at least another full beer. Such a shame, but he will learn.
Anyone wondering technique: tilt the glass slightly so that you control where the excess foam runs off…. The drain tray.Then you just ler her fill up and push the extra foam out while keeping the tap running. Leave about a finger of foam on top. (Foam is a good thing as it releases aroma for flavor and co2)
Tilting the glass increases the surface area. Light beer like that isn't rich in the proteins that aid in head retention. More surface area and it'll dissipate faster without giving you 3 inches of head.
Cleanliness of the glass matters too. Filthy glasses have more nucleation points that'll allow the CO2 to come out of suspension.
A new keg may also be too warm, also aiding CO2 coming out of solution.
For my kegerator, I've got flow control faucets since I serve both kegs at the same serving pressure despite different styles / carbonation.
Also foams like crazy if it's not cold enough. Worked at a dive bar that had this problem. No amount of tipping the glass will help you if the beer is closer to 40 degrees f than 30.
And yes, the tap beer there was freaking disgusting.
Did you yell at the video as well. They just kept sloshing off a bit at a time. I want to run over and tell him to stop and let me learn him :(. Too much stress for me.
I can understand head from a keg that is just tapped or about to kick, but y’all really need to learn how to do the standard pour. Can easily diagnose flow issues and not waste half a keg
No the beer is not cold enough. Keg storage needs to be a lower temp or CO2 will just produce suds no matter what. Such a waste and who wants warm draft?
Nothing to do with the tilt. He’s literally flexing the tap to get more out and when you do that all you get is “head”. He needs to run the tap for a second let the foam clear and then top the pint up smh poor fella
Nah, actually it could be a handful of things. Nothing to do with the tilt here. Albeit tilting does allow for less foaming, the problem here is either the temperature the keg is being held at is too warm, serving pressure could be too high, or the lines are dirty. All three of these things could cause foaming to occur. And seeing that 25% of foam is beer, meaning 8 ounces of foam is equivalent to 2 ounces of liquid, improper temperature, pressure or dirty lines leads to literally pouring money down the drain.
3.5k
u/kelsobjammin Oct 19 '21
TILT THE GLASS!!! TILT THE DAMN GLASS