When I force carbonate, I get quite a bit of head in the beer when I have reached carbonation. Is there a way to combat this? I refrigerate my CO2 tank when carbonating and carbonate at about 35psi for 48-72 hours.

You are over carbonating the beer by doing it this way. A lot of old information suggests that by increasing the CO2 to high psi levels for a few days, this will result in faster carbonation . Which it does, but the main problem is that you tend to end up with excess foaming. The following are two simple steps to trouble free carbonation. 1st Method - This is the most preferred by us here at the shop too. Get the beer cold (32-38F), hold 10-12psi of pressure at that temp for at least 7 days. This should perfectly carbonate the beer. The benefit of this is that you should be able to serve your beer at the same pressure (if you have 5-6 feet of 3/16" tubing). This also ensures that you won't over carbonate the beer, and give the beer some time to cold age before you start drinking it. 2nd Method - If you need to carbonate faster, using a carbonation stone will cut down the time needed to about 1/2 hour. Again, the beer needs to be cold. Attach the stone so that it is at or near the bottom of the keg. Start with no pressure on the regulator and increase to 1-2 psi and let sit for about 4-5 minutes. You should hear the bubbles in the keg. Repeat the pressure increase in 1-2 psi increments waiting 4-5 minutes between increases till you are about 14-16 psi. Try a sample glass. If this is the desired carbonation level, you can either remove or leave in the stone and back pressure down to serving psi. If not, keep increasing the psi in 1-2 psi increments till you get your desired level.

It sounds like you need to rebuild your regulator, which is very simple - the parts come in a small kit. To install the rebuild kit you'll need to disassemble the regulator. Changing out the interior requires the use of a vise clamp to hold the regulator down and in place, and a monkey wrench to remove the bonnet. The bonnet or outer casing needs to be tightened down to approximately 75 foot/lbs when reapplied. This is best accomplished with a torque wrench. If you cannot get the regulator to register over forty PSI after , the rebuilding and tightening it, an additional 1/4 turn is recommended. The internal parts should be tightened down just past finger tight with a 7/8 socket wrench. You'll need to remove the low pressure gauge and the check valve to properly insert the regulator into the vise. Remove the pressure adjustment screw. Remove the high pressure gauge and check valve. Place the regulator in the vise. Unscrew the bonnet using a crescent or monkey wrench. Remove the metal disk, spring, plastic disk, and diaphragm. Unscrew the internal wearings with a 7/8 in socket wrench. Please save and note the order in which you've removed the parts, and reassemble the regulator accordingly with the parts from the rebuild kit. Please un-thread the pressure screw before disassembling the regulator and when re-threading it, be very careful to not cross thread it as it will make your regulator useless.