Corny Dip tube mod?

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rcrabb22

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I am going do primary fermentation in a corny keg this weekend. I scored a 4 piece set of spring benders at a garage sale for $1 and was wondering how much to bend the dip tube to get it above the yeast cake?

I know it depends on the yeast as far as flocculation amounts but looking for an approximate height to raise the tube.
 
Well, here's 2 cents from a guy who has never done this but has read a bit about it. There is probably not enough room in a 5 gallon keg for the krausen from a 5 gallon batch. You may be able to add anti-foam drops and get away with it in one keg or you could split the batch into 2 kegs without the drops.

As for your question, sort of, instead of bending your dip tube you could attach a tube of proper inner diameter to the end of the dip tube and have it bend in a U shape. Or, I just thought of this, you could insert a gas dip tube on the liquid side and attach a tube that hangs down to about 2" or (whatever you feel like) from the bottom. The nice thing about that is tubing is cheap so it would be inexpensive to try different lengths. You could also cut off a length of your dip tube, but that is more expensive and you can't make it longer again. The neatest idea I have, and which I might try, is to again attach a tube to a gas dip tube on the liquid side long enough to reach the bottom and attach the end of it to something that floats and holds the end pointing down. This would give you a floating "racking cane" and allow you to get all the cleared beer and stop transferring as soon as you see trub being sucked up! It would also work great for dispensing the kegs because beer clears from the top down and it would add length to your lines inside the keg. You could also try adding an anti-sediment racking cane tip to the end of the liquid dip tube.

Hope that was useful.
 
I have fermented 4 gallon batches just fine in a corny keg (actually was my 999 barleywine) I use foam control drops. I cut the dip tube by 2" but would not do that again. I'd maybe bend it up off the bottom by 1", definitely bend it though as I don't ferment in the corny anymore so I have a short dip tube now.
 
Don't bend it at all big guy. I have been fermenting in a Corny for a while now. If you are really, really concerned take the post and tube off of your grey post and run a "blowoff" tube for a while. The keg isn't going to burst. Once it settles down I'll ask if you harvested that yeast.

Worst case, if you leave your beer on the cake for six weeks or so you "might" make a divot in the cake the size of a golf ball when you rack to a target keg. Guess what? When you tap the target keg you "might" have a little extra vitamin B in the first two pints.

No need to wreck a perfectly good keg. Leave it alone.
 
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