Dispensing from a Ball Lock Keg up-side down?

OK, I've been ill so maybe I'm missing something and if I am please tell me.

I recently kegged a 5 gallon batch of APA that was heavily hopped and dry hopped with pellets, then cold crashed for 3 days. The yeast I used was also not a particularly flocculent strain so the result after 2 weeks on gas in keg was that the 4 or 5 first pints were heavily dirtied with yeast & hop sediment. It made for some cloudy (although still delicious) brews. The rest of the keg served well but there was still some sediment slowly eeking it's way into each glass.

It should have cleared better after 3 days cold, but I think the yeast had a lot to do with staying in suspension and clinging to hop particulate.

Anyway, what I'm wondering is if after filling and charging your 5 gallons of beer to your desired CO2 volumes, can you invert your keg and swap the QDs on your beer/gas lines. This would make the CO2 go in the dip tube which should now be in your headspace and your beer out line would be on the short gas tube well above your sediment cake once the beer settles out after a couple weeks on gas.

Is there a reason why this would not work? I'm assuming you'd need some kind of support for the keg so you are not resting the weight of it on the QDs, but other than that I cannot think of any reason why this wouldn't work.

Tell me I'm wrong or I'm going to try this.

I think instead of trying to do all that, the most common solution to this problem I have seen on here is to take a Dremel or something and lop the last inch or so off the diptube so its not pulling from the sludge on the bottom.

I've seen a contraption marketed that replaces the diptube with a floating one, so that it's always drawing beer from just below the surface of the liquid. I've never had much of an issue with sediment in my kegs, but I also typically do very long primaries and cold crash before racking to the keg.

Are you using a secondary fermenter? After 7-14 days in the primary transfer to a secondary make sure you are decanting the liquid only and not letting the siphon sit in the yeast cake. After a couple weeks in secondary, cold crash that carboy (you could even add gelatin). Decant that liquid in the keg.

Other things are you testing the PH during the mash to make sure you are in the optimum range of 5.2-5.6, are you adding Irish moss or whirlfloc at the end of the boil, are you getting enough calcium to the fermenter 50-150ppm, what is your boil off rate it should be 8-10% of the preboil volume, over boiling can effect protein flocculation. Also use panty hose when transferring to the keg it will catch yeast cake or hops if it is pulled through the siphon

I believe it would work, but arent the posts on a ball lock keg just a little bit different in size?

bknifefight said:

I believe it would work, but arent the posts on a ball lock keg just a little bit different in size?

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Yes, but the OP mentioned swapping the QD's on the lines.

I guess my hang-up with long secondaries is the loss of hop aroma over time. I only dry hop for 5 days and cold crash for 3 because I have noticed no appreciable value to a longer cold crash without a loss in hop aroma.

Pulling clean pints to enjoy & share at home and being able to bottle clean 12 ozers for competitions is my goal with as little time or monetary investment as possible.

I do like the idea of shortening the dip-tube length, however I think that I would still get a handful of cloudy pulls with very slow to floc yeast strains.

Next batch will be a DIPA using Wyeast 1217. I've heard it's a mega-floccer so that has me hopeful for cleaner beers in my future.

Try it and get back to us.............I THINK you might need a short nipple, (heh heh heh), on the gas in side to dispense from it, depending on the depth of your sediment.

These are what I bought. I cut them to different lengths. If the beer is settling slow I put a short one in. Then when I go below that tube, I swap a full length one, or one that has been trimmed 1/2" They work well for when you would like to save a gallon or so from a party. You put one in that has been cut back 4" or so. When you are ready to pull the last beers, you put in a full length one.
http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon-Soda-Keg-Liquid-Dip-Tube-used-_p_1377.html

JuanMoore said:

I've seen a contraption marketed that replaces the diptube with a floating one, so that it's always drawing beer from just below the surface of the liquid. I've never had much of an issue with sediment in my kegs, but I also typically do very long primaries and cold crash before racking to the keg.

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That's actually pretty clever - the intake arm rotates so the port goes from "under" to "over" as the beer level drops. Neat. Downside is all those pieces need to be sanitized between fills, and that's gonna be a pita. I'll pass

I also cold crash, rack carefully with a mesh filter on my siphon, always do the "set and forget" carb for a couple/few weeks or more. Typically end up with just a coating on the keg bottom, probably two tablespoons total. By the time the keg hits the keezer it's bright beer 'til it kicks...

Cheers!

i would cold crash longer and dry hop while you cold crash or dry hop in the keg as well to account for any diminished aroma

if you are ending up with that much yeast/sediment in your keg you are going to be wasting the beer whether it's in the 1st few pours or left behind in the keg when inverted

If you decide to try inverting the keg be extra cautious with the seals. The beer will be under pressure and in constant contact with the various keg openings. One bad seal and you could lose the whole keg. Also make sure you have check valves installed to prevent possible flooding of your gas lines/regulator.

I have one of those "floaty beer pickup" things, was given to me as a gift, and I have not tried it yet.

It's well built, moves freely, and does not look to be hard to sanitize, only the hose internally, and the rest of it can be doused liberally with sanitizer.

They sell them at my LHBS :

http://aardvarkbrewing.com/category/special-deals

Should you wish to see a pic of one.............Looks like they have gone up in price since mine was gifted to me, about 10 bucks worth, so maybe they are selling!

That said, an additional 40 or so bucks per keg, (should you wish to have more than one in service at the time...), could get pricey real quick!

Stealthcruiser said:

[...]That said, an additional 40 or so bucks per keg, (should you wish to have more than one in service at the time...), could get pricey real quick!

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Woof! That'd be a $240 (plus S&H, of course ) hit on my keezer operation.
It'd be much cheaper to do what I did: drop $100 on a second Craig's List fridge to use for crashing/cold holding/carbonation...

Cheers!