pickup tube problems

So, I wanted to run this past you guys to see why I'm having troubles with my pickup tube.

I've had this tube for awhile, but last nite ran into the most trouble I've had with it. I started with this tube and doing gravity drains - not a big deal, it all worked pretty good as long as all the connections were tight.

Now, I've got a March Pump and am using that to move the hot wort out of the kettle and blow it though my CFC.

Last nite I was brewing a 10 gallon batch porter and had some pretty fun times. I wasn't able to get any good flow from my output with the valve open.
I have brass QD's going from the keggle to the pump etc. But this problem happend with ONLY one hose hooked onto the keg and not the pump (I have QD at both input and output ends of my pump too)

Anyhow, I would open the valve and get a trickle - a trickle on 11 gallons.
My hops were leaf and in a bag.
So, I have this piping hot wort I just want to get into my pump so I can start sanitzing my CFC. The wort won't move, it sort of "pee's" out of the male QD past the valve.

So, I figure maybe something is jambing the works up. Maybe I carmalized something at the end of the pickup tube. So I get the air compressor and blow a little air thru the tube . Great. Air moved. If something was stuck, it isn't now.
But, I try to open the valve again, with JUST a hose (no check valves on the QD's either) and get the same slow trickle.

I'm super perplexed. I don't have any break settled because my boil is still going or freshly done. My hops are bagged. The bag didn't open. I didn't have a scrubby on the end of the tube because I figured i wouldn't need one with hot wort and bagged hops.
I would have thought that 11 gallons or so of wort would have had enough head to blown whatever air was in the pickup tube out and I would have gotten good flow.

Anyhow, I got the wort out by putting the input hose in the kettle and sucking it out that way. Success.
I tried to replicate my issue with just cold water.. But I couldn't
Not sure if it was the viscosity of the wort, or what.

Any ideas? Look at my pickup tube, what could I be doing wrong?
And yes, I do have about 3/8 clearance under the tube intake to the kettle.

my QD are brand new - they sure don't leak under pressure, not sure if they are leaking under vacuum?

How tight is your pickup tube to the bottom of your keggle? Looks like you are using a compression fitting... the tube didn't rotate and was sitting on the bottom was it?

Yes, it's a compression fitting. It's tight, but not reefed on. I can move the pickup tube with some force but the compression fitting is not leaking. I have the pickup tube back in the kettle with the tube tightened the same amount as usual. It doesn't leak air with the pickup end held close and air being injected in the opposite side of valve.

And no, the tube didn't rotate - I was careful to look for that after I got the kettle drained.

I'm pretty sure you are dealing with a blockage of some type.

With 11 gallons of liquid in there, you were not relying on a siphon to pull the wort out (unless the output of the hose was higher than the liquid level in the keggle). Until the wort got below the compression fitting / valve, it shouldn't matter if it was leaking, the pressure should have pushed it out.

I'm not sure what kind of valve you have, but you might want to inspect / clean it.

I know you said you blew air through it in the opposite direction, but something may have been pushed back in when the wort started flowing again (like a flapper).

Ohio-Ed said:

I'm pretty sure you are dealing with a blockage of some type.

With 11 gallons of liquid in there, you were not relying on a siphon to pull the wort out (unless the output of the hose was higher than the liquid level in the keggle). Until the wort got below the compression fitting / valve, it shouldn't matter if it was leaking, the pressure should have pushed it out.

I'm not sure what kind of valve you have, but you might want to inspect / clean it.

I know you said you blew air through it in the opposite direction, but something may have been pushed back in when the wort started flowing again (like a flapper).

Click to expand...

It's a brass full port 1/2" valve. I don't know what could be blocked it though? Hot wort, fresh from a boil? no settling? hops in a bag? just really strange....

Air in the tubing. You need to lift the end of the "out" tubing to above the wort level to get air out of the tube.

It is pretty confusing though because with 11 gallons of liquid in the keg, it should provide enough pressure to push air out of the siphon tube and any hose hanging off the output. Are you saying that when you fill the keg with water, it flows out fine?

If you're running a vigorous boil at the time, you'll get a bunch of steam collecting in the siphon tube and it will cause the pump to lose prime, but it sounds like you're not getting a flow at all.

Where was your hops bag within the kettle? Maybe some of it got pulled to the pipe with the high pressure of 11 gallons?

Other than that.... beer gremlins.

How bout this? (from another thread)

There had to have been something blocking the opening of the pipe there, even with the scrubby there...

Bobby_M said:

Well, an easy way is to slot the end of the tube. I'd cut into the end with a hacksaw or dremel like I was cutting a pizza. Slot it enough so that you think you'll get good flow even if you were to put your thumb over the end of the tube. Kind like this:

Click to expand...

Bobby_M said:

It is pretty confusing though because with 11 gallons of liquid in the keg, it should provide enough pressure to push air out of the siphon tube and any hose hanging off the output. Are you saying that when you fill the keg with water, it flows out fine?

If you're running a vigorous boil at the time, you'll get a bunch of steam collecting in the siphon tube and it will cause the pump to lose prime, but it sounds like you're not getting a flow at all.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the weird part, with water, it works. And thats the most confusing part, with that much liquid it should be forcing out.

It sort of dribbled out of the male QD not fast but you know, enough to fill the hose I would think to at least prime the pump. but when I put the
hose on (it uses the same QD's you use, no check valves etc) it wouldn't move.

I do run a vigorous boil, but I would think that it wouldn't stop flow... and besides, at one point i shut the boil down to eliminate that factor, no dice

update, for those that care.....

turns out, it was a steam issue. If I waited about 5 minutes for the boil to completely die, then my tube worked. I had about 1/4" clearance between the bottom of my boiler and the pick up tube, but.... this seemed to be the issue.

Sort of a bummer, as I wanted to be able to sanitize my CFC with hot wort from a boil.

Maybe the copper tubing is expanding from the heat and sealing off the gap between the end of the tube and the bottom of the kettle.

MTHarrington said:

Sort of a bummer, as I wanted to be able to sanitize my CFC with hot wort from a boil.

Click to expand...

You still can - here is how I handled the same issue:

Since I recirculate I simply reverse the plugs. Since the "In" (normally) port is not turned upside down it does not pick up the bubbles.

I then switch the connections when the boil is over and continue to sanitize for a few minutes before starting the water.

MTHarrington said:

Sort of a bummer, as I wanted to be able to sanitize my CFC with hot wort from a boil.

Click to expand...

You don't need 212F to sanitize. Over 170F for 5 minutes works just fine. If you can get good flow through it after 5 minutes, I highly doubt that the temperature will have dropped more than 10 degrees by that point- it will certainly be over 170.

Right, I used to do the same thing to sanitize either the CFC or plate chiller. Flame off, add flameout hops, start sanitizing recirculation for 3-5 minutes.