crud in dip tube?

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isaac338

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I've been aquiring the gear to keg my homebrew for a while, and over xmas got everything set up. I had the keg filled with commerical beer just for the first time since I don't have any beer brewing at the moment.

I've got 5ft of 3/16 id beer line and a cobra tap, all stuffed inside the fridge. I need to store the beer at about 15psi to keep it carbonated, which is obviously way too high for serving, so I've been dialing it down to about 2psi or less and cracking the pressure relief before serving. I've still been getting lots of foam, but instead of foaming in the glass (which it is doing a bit), it's mostly big chunks of foam coming out of the tap. Does this mean there's crap in my dip tube? I didn't have a dip tube cleaner so I didn't clean it out, assuming it was clean (dumb).

Other than this the system is great, and once I can afford a tower the cobra will be in the trash, but until then I'd like a beer without having to wait for the head to settle ;)

Thanks for any help,

Isaac
 
Without assuming anything (and therefore turning up the temp in the fridge), can I safely depressurize the keg and remove the dip tube to clean it out without ruining the beer? It's commercial beer, so presumably it's not as sensitive to a bit of oxygen than homebrew would be.. right?
 
You'll have no problem depressurizing. You won't be keeping it for weeks and weeks to worry about the oxidization, you've already tapped it.

Most likely it is either A. Ice B. Low pressure C. blockage D. low beer level hah.

By the way, what did you do? Did you sit there pouring two cases of beer into a corny or party tap a pony into it? Either way, you have already introduced oxygen anyhow expecially if you party tapped a commercial keg.
 
drouillp said:
You'll have no problem depressurizing. You won't be keeping it for weeks and weeks to worry about the oxidization, you've already tapped it.

Most likely it is either A. Ice B. Low pressure C. blockage D. low beer level hah.

By the way, what did you do? Did you sit there pouring two cases of beer into a corny or party tap a pony into it? Either way, you have already introduced oxygen anyhow expecially if you party tapped a commercial keg.
Click to expand...

Miscommunication - there's a microbrewery around the corner that fills corny kegs for the price of their 20L kegs, minus the deposit. It's like homebrew, but not ;)

Anyways, I guess if I crack open the dip tube, check it for obstruction, replace the poppet o-rings, then put it back together and get the co2 back on quick it won't hurt the beer. It's -definitely- not low beer level, I bet the keg's not even half gone.

I'll let you know how it goes :)

Thanks,

Isaac
 
I poured a few more beers last night and turning the reg down to about 2psi helped a lot - I'm getting good pours now. I did notice, however, that after I pour a beer, whatever beer is left in the beer line runs down back into the keg. If I pour another immediately (within seconds) after, it pours perfectly. If I don't pour it immediately, most of the beer has run back down into the keg, and gets foamy as it comes back up the beer line.

Is the beer line supposed to be always filled with beer? I'm going to buy a longer line of beer hose which should help with my serving pressure, but the first glass of foam is going to get annoying...
 
isaac338 said:
Miscommunication - there's a microbrewery around the corner that fills corny kegs for the price of their 20L kegs, minus the deposit. It's like homebrew, but not ;)
Click to expand...

That is awesome! I am going to need to ask some of the local BPs if they will do that!
 
drouillp said:
That is awesome! I am going to need to ask some of the local BPs if they will do that!
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Bring them an empty corny and some cash, and fifteen minutes later they come out with a full, pressurized keg. It's great!
 
When you change reg pressure, you have to purge the headspace in the keg for it to have any effect. This is most noticible when setting to a lower pressure.

The overall goal is to balance your system so that serving pressure is carbing pressure.
 
olllllo said:
When you change reg pressure, you have to purge the headspace in the keg for it to have any effect. This is most noticible when setting to a lower pressure.

The overall goal is to balance your system so that serving pressure is carbing pressure.
Click to expand...

yeah, i crack the ressure relief on the keg when i lower the pressure for serving. it's still foaming a bunch for the first glass, from what i assume is the trip from the dip tube up to the tap. i'm going to try 10ft of serving hose and some new o-rings.
 
The beer should not be running back into the keg.

Is it possible you have the gas and beer ports mixed up.

Gas = the short dip tube and Beer = the long dip tube.

If you had em backwards I can see how beer would foam up until it reached the short tube and then run back down into the keg once the tap was closed.

OR...

You have some air getting introduced into the tap faucet.

In sum, the beer should stay put.


EDIT: If you do have the tubes mixed up then make sure that you correcly match the poppets. They are different sizes.

Edit2: gnef is correct (below). I meant connectors not poppets.
 
i am pretty sure the poppets are the same. if you try to buy a poppet at a LHBS or any online shop, they don't list them as a liquid or gas poppet, just a poppet for a certain type of manufactured keg.

also, if you take apart the liquid dip tube and such, don't forget to sanitize it before you put it back on. remember to take the poppet ouf of the post and check that. sometimes things can grow in there causing obstructions, or for homebrew (likely not the case for a microbrew) there can be hop particles that clog the dip tube and poppet, particularly if you've dry hopped in the keg (as i often do).

when you put it back together, put some keg lube on the gaskets as well. also, if the gaskets are old, replace them before they fail entirely.

one reason why beer might be flowing back in to the keg is because of the pressure differential of your serving and carbing. the beer is still carbonated to your 15 psi volumes, but your pressure is only at 2 psi. there will inevitably be co2 that comes out of solution, and when it does, it will go up, most likely towards the picnic tap. if you don't pour for a while, that pressure will build near the faucet/picnic tap, and will push the beer back in to the keg.

also, is foam coming directly from the keg in to the line, or is it just coming from the tap? it sounds like it might be breaking out of solution from the keg to the line, and not just the tap.
 
gnef said:
i am pretty sure the poppets are the same. if you try to buy a poppet at a LHBS or any online shop, they don't list them as a liquid or gas poppet, just a poppet for a certain type of manufactured keg.

also, if you take apart the liquid dip tube and such, don't forget to sanitize it before you put it back on. remember to take the poppet ouf of the post and check that. sometimes things can grow in there causing obstructions, or for homebrew (likely not the case for a microbrew) there can be hop particles that clog the dip tube and poppet, particularly if you've dry hopped in the keg (as i often do).

when you put it back together, put some keg lube on the gaskets as well. also, if the gaskets are old, replace them before they fail entirely.

one reason why beer might be flowing back in to the keg is because of the pressure differential of your serving and carbing. the beer is still carbonated to your 15 psi volumes, but your pressure is only at 2 psi. there will inevitably be co2 that comes out of solution, and when it does, it will go up, most likely towards the picnic tap. if you don't pour for a while, that pressure will build near the faucet/picnic tap, and will push the beer back in to the keg.

also, is foam coming directly from the keg in to the line, or is it just coming from the tap? it sounds like it might be breaking out of solution from the keg to the line, and not just the tap.
Click to expand...


Well, I figured out the problem. Seems the friendly folks at the LHBS sold me 1/4" line, and told me it was 3/16" line. I was back there looking at some other things and I noticed the different sizes. She swore it wouldn't make a difference and begrudgingly sold me 5ft of -actual- 3/16" line, and guess what - regulator's at 12psi, no foam, no beer running back to the keg, no fiddling with pressure.

Bring a measuring tape! :)

Thanks for all the help, guys!
 

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