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Author Topic: Problem with keg hopping  (Read 9939 times)

Offline edward

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Problem with keg hopping
« on: September 15, 2012, 11:21:06 am »
I've keg hopped my last several IPAs to good effect.  This latest IPA I keg hopped with 2oz of citra and 2 oz of willamette.  It was weird because when I went to pull a pint I could only get an ounce or two to come out before it stopped.  I had though that maybe one of the hop bags got pinned under the pick up tube and was blocking it.  But then I noticed that in the little beer that did come out there was a lot of hop pellet residue.

The hop bag for the willamette hops must have slipped open.  I vented the keg and removed the liquid post and dip tube.  The post was packed full of hops and the dip tube was nearly blocked.

I'm looking for suggestions with what to do next.  I was thinking of removing the lid and siphoning the beer into a new keg.  I'm still concerned that when I siphon it that I will get pellets transferred into the new keg.  I've tried attaching hop bags over the end of the siphon but with a fully carbed beer the co2 would come out of solution when it hits the hop bag and the siphon would stop.

Ideas?

Offline tygo

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2012, 11:24:03 am »
Pull out the dip tube again and clean it out, re-sanitize and try again.  Repeat until it's clear.

You could try transferring the beer but I'd try this first.  Last time this happened to me I think it took four or five iterations to get things flowing smoothly again.
Clint
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Offline denny

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2012, 11:34:34 am »
You could get a SureScreen and slip it over the end of the dip tube.
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Offline edward

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2012, 12:41:29 pm »
Pull out the dip tube again and clean it out, re-sanitize and try again.  Repeat until it's clear.

You could try transferring the beer but I'd try this first.  Last time this happened to me I think it took four or five iterations to get things flowing smoothly again.

Well...this sort of worked.  After 6 or 7 iterations I got the keg to flow good.  Put it back in the kegerator...which swirled up more mess and it plugged again.  I repeated the cleaning of the dip tube and post a few more times.  Including moving the keg around to get stuff swirled up. Got it going good again, put the keg back in the kegerator.  And it plugged again.

I'm taking a break to watch football and drink beer.  I'll try it again later.




Denny - wouldnt the sure screen cause CO2 to come out of solution as the liquid pass through it?

Offline denny

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Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2012, 01:25:14 pm »




Denny - wouldnt the sure screen cause CO2 to come out of solution as the liquid pass through it?

Nope.  It works great.


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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2012, 07:20:40 am »
I had this problem a couple batches ago. ended up attaching the bottom of a metal tea ball to the end of the dip tube with a piece of grain bag and a rubber band. the tea ball held the bag away from the end of the tube enough that it didn't just clog up immedietly. worked fairly well.
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Offline The Professor

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2012, 10:50:57 am »




Denny - wouldnt the sure screen cause CO2 to come out of solution as the liquid pass through it?
Nope.  It works great.


+1...the SureScreen is a beautiful thing.
I do think it works  better with whole hops rather than pellets, but it is indispensable...I have them installed on all of my kegs.
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Offline denny

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2012, 10:55:06 am »
I made my first mash tun out of a 3 gal. round cooler and a SureScreen a la Ken Schwartz's directions.  Only took me 2 batches to move to a bigger cooler and a hose braid and move the SureScreen to a keg.
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Offline Kaiser

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2012, 11:16:00 am »
Denny - wouldnt the sure screen cause CO2 to come out of solution as the liquid pass through it?
Nope.  It works great.

Yes, the pressure should keep the CO2 in solution.

Kai

Offline beer_crafter

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2012, 03:47:22 pm »
Surescreen is an awesome dry hopping device. 

Offline edward

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2012, 04:40:45 pm »
I cleaned out the post and the dip tube really good and then let the keg settle for a few days.  The flow out of the tap isn't what it should be, but its pretty good.

I will definitely look into the sure screen.


Offline blatz

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #11 on: September 19, 2012, 09:19:43 am »
or you can just start hanging your hop bags with teflon tape through the lid gasket to prevent them from getting low enough to block the dip tube.
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Offline beer_crafter

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #12 on: September 19, 2012, 11:08:09 am »
or you can just start hanging your hop bags with teflon tape through the lid gasket to prevent them from getting low enough to block the dip tube.
Yeah, but that wouldn't help if the bag opened up, which seems to be what happened here.

Offline blatz

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #13 on: September 19, 2012, 11:24:24 am »
or you can just start hanging your hop bags with teflon tape through the lid gasket to prevent them from getting low enough to block the dip tube.
Yeah, but that wouldn't help if the bag opened up, which seems to be what happened here.

ah - missed that part.  carry on folks.
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Offline Pinski

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Re: Problem with keg hopping
« Reply #14 on: September 19, 2012, 11:47:58 am »
I like using muslin hop-socks and tuck them behing the dip tube.  Knots don't slip open. Well, my knots don't slip open.
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