Dip tube

I just made one tonight (soldered) and it doesnt work. I have a female 1/2" coupler on the inside of the keg connected to the spigot. From there, I made the dip tube. The dip tube is all copper, consisting of a male threaded piece about 6 inches of 1/2" pipe, a 90 degree elbow and another couple inches down to the bottom of the keg with a little bit of room to spare between the bottom of the dip tube and the keg. I tested with water filling it just above the spigot on the inside of the keg and opened the drain. The water drained out until it reached the bottom of the spigot but still left the remaining 2 gallons or so in the bottom. I also tried connecting a piece of nylon tubing to the spigot on the outside of the keg and let that hang down below the bottom of the keg and the water still stopped at the same spot leaving those 2 gallons inside. What could be going wrong?

I just made one for my keggle last weekend. It sounds like you have a leak, maybe where your dip tube is connected to the inside of your valve. One other thing, when I tested mine, I put at least a full 5 gallons of water in and then started the drain. I don't know if more liquid starts the siphon off better but it may be worth trying.

I used pipe joint compound on the male threads of the copper dip tube and threaded that into the stainless steel female coupling that is connected to the spigot. Dont see how that could have leaked but maybe you are right about the amount of water inside?

dmbnpj, did you get it to work?

nope i havent had the chance to try it today but i really dont know what can be fixed

do you use teflon tape on the male threads that are on the inside of your keg? or do you use pipe joint compound?

Do you have tubing on the spigot outside? If not then you are not getting enough siphon force to pull the water up and out of the keg. I have a 2 foot drop on mine and it drains the keg almost dry.

Doh just reread your post there must be some air getting in to stop the siphon. When you added the tubing did you refill the keg?

I will try again by redoing the threads with teflon tape. But, I want to make sure teflon tape can withstand boiling? Because I always wrap the crap out of the male threads and there is always a little bit exposed at the end that I am worried about.

I've got teflon tape on all my connections on the outside of the brewpot. My dip tube and elbow is soldered. I've got a compression fitting where the dip tube hooks up to the inside of my weldless bulkhead. I would try a few gallons more to get it started. With a small volume of liquid , I don't think the siphon gets started right.

What kind of compression fitting? My setup sounds just like yours except for that fitting. The dip tube I made is all copper and has a male threaded end that screws into my weldless bulkhead. I am interested in what sort of fitting you used here. Got a picture of it?

And this is the type bulkhead I have. So, the stainless steel female coupler is on the inside of the keg and my dip tube screws into that.

That's the set up I have, but I threaded a brass coupler to the internal threads of the bulkhead and then used the compression fitting to attach the dip tube. Sorry I can't get a pic right now. I really don't think it matters how it is attached as long as it is air tight. As soon as the fluid drops down to a point where air gets into the diptube, it breaks the siphon. I had to make a couple of adjustments to mine,but when I got it right, it siphons all but about 1/4 gallon out. I made my diptube into a T shape and attached a stainless braid with hose clamps in a circular shape to act as a filter.

My friend is coming over tomorrow and we will try to fix it then. We will see what happens. Try making a hop bag and you dont need a filter for anything. When we drain there are no particles so we dont have a need to filter the dip tube.

I have the same problem when draining water. As soon as the water level reaches the spigot it stops. I have to tilt the keg. This is without tubing. When draining wort through my chiller with tubing it drains completely. Let us know what you find. I also had the same questions about boiling teflon and was assured it was ok. I've not tried putting tubing on the output when draining water cause it's not that big of a deal, but assume it would work when the chiller is attached. It's all about suction and no airleaks to break the siphon.

Cool, thanks for the input. Not sure why mine isnt working either because I sweated the copper dip tube together and the screwed fitting connecting to the bulkhead seemed tight. Not sure, but we will try it again tomorrow!

springer said:

Do you have tubing on the spigot outside? If not then you are not getting enough siphon force to pull the water up and out of the keg. I have a 2 foot drop on mine and it drains the keg almost dry.

Doh just reread your post there must be some air getting in to stop the siphon. When you added the tubing did you refill the keg?

Click to expand...

This sounds like the problem to me. You will need a few feet of tubing on the outside so that it will continue to draw the water out. Without the tubing, the dip tube will do no good and it will still stop once it reaches the level of the valve...

Yes, tried it with the tubing attached to the hose barb on the outside with the tubing dropped below the bottom of the keg. Still not working.

I don't have a keggle or a dip tube at this point, but I think there's an easy way to verify that you're getting good air-tight connections. Attach a length of tube to your spigot (with water in your keggle above the top of your spigot and dip tube), then gently blow air into it while watching your dip tube carefully. If the air starts bubbling out of the lower end of the bent section, you should have a reasonably air-tight connection. Otherwise, you need to check for leaks wherever the bubbles start coming out.

Got it to work last night and even built another and got that one to work too. Not sure what was wrong, just took it apart and put it back together and it worked.

Glad you got it fixed.