Help with keggle dip tube.

Searched through and can't find my exact setup and problem. Hoping someone can help me out. I use a keggle with a weldless bulkhead with a 1/2" ball valve. The dip tube is made out of a 90 degree compression elbow with copper tubing running about 1/4 of the diameter of the keg. The copper tubing is covered with 1/2" SS braid with a brass nut on the end to create a bazooka-ish screen. I set it up to where there is about 1/4" of clearance between the end of the tube and the nut for wort to flow through the SS braid. The tubing is 3/8". I use 3' of siphon tubing out from the ball valve.

Only modification in this pic is that the tubing is now cut back to a little more that half the length shown.


For the second time now the drain has not worked. I've tried blowing back into it and then sucking on the tubing to no avail. Only fix tonight was to stir wort towards the tubing and that would force it out the valve. Had to keep stirring(wrecking my whirlpool efforts) for the first 6 gallons and then it would not drain at all. Had to get out a racking cane to finish the last 4.

Fixes/Ideas:? Wrap inner fittings with teflon tape for air leaks. Switch to 1/2" tubing. Drill holes along tubing. Get straight compression fitting instead of 90 elbow. Shorten dip tube. All of the above.

Sorry to be long winded but this is incredibly frustrating.

Boy said:

Fixes/Ideas:? Wrap inner fittings with teflon tape for air leaks. Switch to 1/2" tubing. Drill holes along tubing. Get straight compression fitting instead of 90 elbow. Shorten dip tube. All of the above.

Click to expand...

Air leaks shouldn't be your issue because that would only affect the draining once the level got to below the point of the air leak.

It sounds like something was plugging the dip tube assembly. Did you notice a lot of trub/hops after draining? Do you use a hop spider? On my first brew, I had trouble draining due to the hops residue. Built myself a hop spider and will see if that takes care of it during my next brew.

I agree, it sounds like hops & trub are clogging the diptube. You could turn the end of the diptube up off the floor of the kettle a couple inches.

If you're whirlpooling and letting the hops/trub settle then the first couple inches are going to be hops/trub anyway that you don't want in your fermenter (which is why you're going through the trouble to whirlpool).

You might lose a little beer after draining it all out with the diptube sticking up a little, but it may be worth it if you're frustrated, which was what I did after similar frustrations. Best of luck.

Cheers

what is the diameter of your copper tubing? it might be too constrictive. Also, i'd get rid of that screen. a little hops in the fermenter wont kill your beer. If you are whirlpooling most of the hops & trub should be loacted in the center of the kettle anyway. its likely that screen is getting plugged from the portiens in the trub and from pellet hops ( if you use pellets).

New plan for now. Drilled 40+ holes along the end of the tubing and then recovered with the screen. Now there are numerous places for the wort to pass and still have a decent screen.

If this still doesn't work I will upgrade to 1/2" tubing and see about re routing the tubing to end against the lower keg wall.

Thanks for the help guys and advice. I'll post progress after this weekends coming brew day.

The screen is almost certainly the problem. It's getting plugged up with hop debris and break material. Bagging the hops should help considerably. I would not be concerned about minor amounts of debris getting into the fermenter. It will do no harm.

New system works great except for with pellet hops. Last IPA had all pellets and so I skipped on a hop bag. Big Mistake. From now on I'm sticking with the hop bag. Last beer came out crystal clear.