Anyone have problems with clogs?

[PADave]

I've been having problems with every new keg I hook up. Getting that first pour out has become a chore. Either the poppet spring gets filled with debris, or the tap gets clogged up. This results in pulling everything apart multiple times till I can get things flowing. Once I get that initial debris out, the pours are fine for the rest of the keg. Any tips on how to prevent this?

A couple ideas I had:
-Bend the dip tube off the bottom of the keg a little bit
-Dry hop in a hop sock. Right now I just dump them into the fermenter.
-Use a non flow control faucet to pull the first pint, then switch back to the flow control.

Any other ideas, or did I just answer my own question? lol

 

[Konadog]

Any other ideas, or did I just answer my own question? lol

I think you did! Dry hopping (in the keg) without a hop sock is sure to clog everything. Use a hop sock and you won't have a problem of hop particles clogging up everything.

 

[Roland_deschain]

I pulled the dip tubes from my kegs, cut 1/2” off, deburred, and reinstalled. No clogs, trub, gunk, etc since.

 

[PADave]

I think you did! Dry hopping (in the keg) without a hop sock is sure to clog everything. Use a hop sock and you won't have a problem of hop particles clogging up everything.

I'm not dry hopping in the keg. I dry hop in the fermenter. The times that I have dry hopped in the keg using a mesh screen were relatively problem free.

 

[Konadog]

I'm not dry hopping in the keg. I dry hop in the fermenter. The times that I have dry hopped in the keg using a mesh screen were relatively problem free.

OK, sorry if I missed that. Are you cold crashing before you keg, using gelitian or any fining agents?

 

[DrWill]

I'm not dry hopping in the keg. I dry hop in the fermenter. The times that I have dry hopped in the keg using a mesh screen were relatively problem free.

Even if you’re not dry hopping in the keg, it sounds like you might be transferring a lot of hop material in and that might be the issue, so it looks like your diagnosis is spot on.

 

[PADave]

OK, sorry if I missed that. Are you cold crashing before you keg, using gelitian or any fining agents?

I do not cold crash, was thinking about trying it, but don't really want to. Currently just using whirlfloc in the boil. I have a brew ready to dry hop tomorrow. Going to try the hop sack and see how that goes. Once I get my keezer built and have the extra room to cool a keg that's not hooked up yet I'll be doing all my dry hopping in the keg with the mesh hop filters. But for now I only have a single keg setup and I don't want the dry hops sitting a room temp for weeks before the keg gets tapped.

 

[govner1]

I pulled the dip tubes from my kegs, cut 1/2” off, deburred, and reinstalled. No clogs, trub, gunk, etc since.

^^^This plus add a SS dip tube filter or you could add some Clear Beer Draught systems w/filters.

 

[jalc6927]

Are you getting a bunch of trub in the keg?

I’ve tied a santitized Muslin bag to the end of my drain hose to try to keep floaters out

 

[milldoggy]

Check out what I am using. Kegs are hop free now. First pour has a tiny amount of yeast, but no hop dust.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/index.php?threads/636379/