Diptube keeps clogging

So I brewed a Black IPA a while back for the Northern California Homebrewers Fesitval. I dry hopped it in the keg using Cheescloth as a Hopsack(never again will I do this) Anyhow, while driving to the festival the Cheesecloth worked it's way open and now there are a ton of hops loose in the keg. I've unclogged it numerous times but everytime I get the keg back together it clogs immediately. I've also put a paint strainer over the diptube as a filter with no luck. My thought now is either dump it, or de-carb it, pour it through a paint strainer into one of my fermenters(everything sanitized of course), dose the keg with some fresh hops in a paint strainer this time, then rack the beer back into the keg.

My main concern is that I have messed with the beer so much to this point that I may have ruined it. I've never had this issue before so if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

I would take that second option except that I would siphon, rather than pour the beer.

If his dip is clogging, the siphon will do the same.

I poured a dry hopped IPA from a fermenter into a keg (with mesh bag to retain hop matter) with minimal splashing and have not detected any oxidation. I may have gotten lucky, but I saw no other option at the time.

If his dip is clogging, the siphon will do the same.

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I don't know that I agree. If you use a tube that has a larger ID than the dip tube, it should be less prone to clogging.

OG2620 said:

If his dip is clogging, the siphon will do the same.

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I don't agree either....the dip tube is getting clogged because its picking up hops that have settled to the bottom of the keg----keep the siphon off the bottom of the keg and you'll be fine. Also, racking canes tend to have end caps on them that will prevent hops from getting sucked up and clogging it.

OP definitely wants to siphon what they can out of the keg into another keg. It will probably hold its carbonation fine with no danger of oxidation.

Another fyi: when transferring the beer, chill your siphon tub/racking cane and whatever vessel you are siphoning into. This will help reduce foaming.

I was just speaking from personal experience with a continually clogged auto siphon after using all of the suggestions posted above. Of course, I may have had more hop material to contend with than the OP (or either of you), but I had extreme difficulty nonetheless. I observed hop material both floating and settled on the bottom of the carboy, and I observed hops clogging the bottom of the auto siphon as I inserted it into the carboy (through the hop material) which led to a clogged condition even with the auto siphon apparently safely above the settled hops material and the floating layer.

But yes, in a perfect world, siphon.

I've never tried this, but instead of your paint strainer as your filter, maybe a hunk of (sanitized) stainless steel wool over the end? Maybe try that before siphoning?

I made the mistake of putting my pellet hops directly into the keg (once) and had the same problem. I ended up just letting the hops settle and then siphoned the beer to another keg. I made sure that I didn't suck up any of the hops from the bottom of the first keg. There was so much gunk in the poppet that I had to soak it over night to get it to loosen up enough to clean.

The beer turned out fine, BTW.

Thanks all, I haven't dealt with it yet, it will have to wait for the weekend. The other thing that sucks is that I will have to transfer it twice, because all of my other kegs are full. There is still quite a bit of hops floating as well, they're whole so some settle and some don't.

Yankeehillbrewer said:

Thanks all, I haven't dealt with it yet, it will have to wait for the weekend. The other thing that sucks is that I will have to transfer it twice, because all of my other kegs are full. There is still quite a bit of hops floating as well, they're whole so some settle and some don't.

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Good luck!