Clogged Keg - not your average question..

[Jsmith82]

Kegged my DFH120min IIPA, and it's clogged the hell out of it. Gas is full, connected properly. Beer out line is connected properly. Checked for leaks (first thing and last thing), nothing - it's holding pressure just fine. Some trub pulled in my siphon so I've already learned a valuable lesson here about racking to a keg. I've hooked the gas up to the beer out line and blasted it with 10, then 20 the second time, then 30psi the 3rd, 4th, and 5th time, I heard it blow the line clear then I hook everything back up, charge it at 10psi, pull the triggers and PLLLBPT! One spit of beer and it's clogged again.

My question here, what happens if I unhook everything, purge, rack the beer into a bucket, clean out the keg completely, then rack it right back in?

Will this damage my brew?

 

[flagman]

Obvious question, do you have another Keg? If you do rack it over and leave the turb behind. If not sanitize you fermentor and rack into it. make sure you cover it well. Just try to not indroduce as much oxygen as possible, you will be fine!

 

[Jsmith82]

Obvious question, do you have another Keg? If you do rack it over and leave the turb behind. If not sanitize you fermentor and rack into it. make sure you cover it well. Just try to not indroduce as much oxygen as possible, you will be fine!

Awesome! Exactly what I needed to hear. Don't have another keg but I do have lots of starsan and plenty of hot water.

Thanks

 

[flagman]

Good luck! Besides what do you have to lose, you cant drink beer out of a clogged keg!

 

[brewski08]

dear god...make sure you save that beer!

i'd hate to see a DFH 120 clone and 120 minutes of hopping go to waste.

your beer will be in my prayers tonight.

 

[terrapinj]

i'd try removing the liquid diptube and cleaning it manually before going through the trouble of reracking - you could try to put a screen or nylon etc over the end of if to block debris in the keg from clogging it again

 

[pfgonzo]

Good luck! Besides what do you have to lose, you cant drink beer out of a clogged keg!

+1 to this. What's the worst that could happen? You won't have beer? That's where you are now!

 

[flagman]

If he put pressure through the serving side and it went into the keg just fine and then reclogged after reconnected I would not think cleaning the tube alone is not going to fix the problem. However back in the day I used to dry hop the heck out of kegs and I would put nylon stocking around the end of the dip tube and it works for a while. But I have had to change those before also. I would clean it up so that you dont have to keep messing with it. Do it once now is less risk than opening it three more time to clean the dip tube.

 

[IXVolt]

Not sure about his racking cane, but mine won't reach the bottom of a corny. Using a nylon stocking around the base of the dip tube might allow him to transfer via pressure.

 

[flagman]

Also if you have not done so cut about a half inch off of the dip tube you use on kegs you dry hop in.

 

[shataway]

If you like hop stew, or dont mind filtering in the glass, you can take the poppet out of the keg and the pin out of the ball lock fitting. Just dont forget to vent the keg before taking off the ball lock fitting.

 

[sfrisby]

I just did this for a cucumber saison where cucumber seeds got clogged. I racked directly into a new keg and the beer was fine. But this wasn't a 120 clone.

 

[Jsmith82]

Thanks guys, this was an altered clone totaling 14oz hops. I was so green and excited while racking the keg for my first time it never even occurred to me that a little trub will go a long way in a keg. My siphon is pretty long so I think we should be just fine, I'm heading back home now so wish me luck!

I'm positive all will be fine but of course I'll chime back after the transfer is complete.

 

[Yooper]

If he put pressure through the serving side and it went into the keg just fine and then reclogged after reconnected I would not think cleaning the tube alone is not going to fix the problem. However back in the day I used to dry hop the heck out of kegs and I would put nylon stocking around the end of the dip tube and it works for a while. But I have had to change those before also. I would clean it up so that you dont have to keep messing with it. Do it once now is less risk than opening it three more time to clean the dip tube.

Well, one of the places where clogs sort of stay is in the poppits, and blowing it out doesnt' really clear the poppit.

I'd reduce the pressure, pull the post and diptube, clean out the poppit and hold the diptube up to the light and rinse/blow/clean until perfectly clean and replace. That might make the difference- just cleaning the poppit might totally fix the issue.

If not, you can still rack the beer, but I will warn you that racking a carbonated beer is NOT going to go as well as you think it might. It'll foam like an SOB, and be a real PITA. I'd definitely try to NOT rack this beer!

After cleaning the poppit, if it clogs again, I'd try to remove the poppit from the post and transfer it to a new keg that way. Using a black QD-beer line- black QD, hook one QD up to the original keg "out" (again, with the poppit removed) and then put the other QD on the "out" post of the new keg, and then push with co2 and pull the pressure relief valve on the "new" keg. That should transfer to the new keg, while not moving the hops debris. If THAT clogs, too, then I'd try the siphon. But that would be my last resort!

I'd suggest a sanitized screen for the long diptube, and just put that on and replace everything. I have tiny hands, so this is super easy for me to do, but I know some guys can't even get their hands inside the opening of a keg. If you don't have a sanitized screen, this can happen over and over.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

Well, one of the places where clogs sort of stay is in the poppits, and blowing it out doesnt' really clear the poppit.

I'd reduce the pressure, pull the post and diptube, clean out the poppit and hold the diptube up to the light and rinse/blow/clean until perfectly clean and replace. That might make the difference- just cleaning the poppit might totally fix the issue.

If not, you can still rack the beer, but I will warn you that racking a carbonated beer is NOT going to go as well as you think it might. It'll foam like an SOB, and be a real PITA. I'd definitely try to NOT rack this beer!

After cleaning the poppit, if it clogs again, I'd try to remove the poppit from the post and transfer it to a new keg that way. Using a black QD-beer line- black QD, hook one QD up to the original keg "out" (again, with the poppit removed) and then put the other QD on the "out" post of the new keg, and then push with co2 and pull the pressure relief valve on the "new" keg. That should transfer to the new keg, while not moving the hops debris. If THAT clogs, too, then I'd try the siphon. But that would be my last resort!

I'd suggest a sanitized screen for the long diptube, and just put that on and replace everything. I have tiny hands, so this is super easy for me to do, but I know some guys can't even get their hands inside the opening of a keg. If you don't have a sanitized screen, this can happen over and over.

YOOP I am new to kegging so this is a question...when transferring between kegs, won't he have the same clogging issue? Also when doing this am I understanding right that you use a hose with a beer out ball lock on each end? connect the line to the out on your keg of beer and the out on the new keg,,,Turn the gas down to about 5psi or less and start the transfer...burping the keg via the relief valve as you go to reduce foaming ( kinda like biermunchers beer gun)?.....if I were the OP I would pull the beer out tube and poppit and all out.. cut about a half inch off of it.. then clean the crap out of it and reinstall it.

 

[Jsmith82]

It wasn't as carbonated as expected so the rack went pretty easy. There was a good half inch of muck in the keg so I'm glad I went the rack route, just sanitized everything and went mission impossible on the siphon, we were in and out FAST! *EDIT* After racking to the bucket, I put a gallon of sanitizer in the keg, hooked everything up, then cranked the CO2 and blasted the dip clean. A 2-for, sani and clog stopper..

It's back in the keg, charged at 11psi and this:

Cheers HBT! Saved my butt again, this pour was for you!

*EDIT* - about the carb level on the beer, I hit it hard for 24hrs at 30psi then purged and set it at 11psi to move to the "set it forget it" method, but in my excitement I wanted to have a test pint, plus 120 is a rare beer that tastes pretty good flat. I'm glad I did in this case, I would have hated to check this in 2 weeks and find the clog with a fully carbed uber expensive IIPA.

 

[Yooper]

YOOP I am new to kegging so this is a question...when transferring between kegs, won't he have the same clogging issue? Also when doing this am I understanding right that you use a hose with a beer out ball lock on each end? connect the line to the out on your keg of beer and the out on the new keg,,,Turn the gas down to about 5psi or less and start the transfer...burping the keg via the relief valve as you go to reduce foaming ( kinda like biermunchers beer gun)?.....if I were the OP I would pull the beer out tube and poppit and all out.. cut about a half inch off of it.. then clean the crap out of it and reinstall it.

But the problem might not be debris in the bottom 1/2 inch- it might be floating. And then you'd have a too-short diptube so that even dryhopping in the keg with a bag would "suck up" some of the bag.

If I was transferring from this particular keg, I'd remove the poppit so that it shouldn't clog there, but not remove the poppit from the "new" keg, so if anything clogs at all it would be in the "jumper cable" and not the new keg.

I never cut my diptubes. I like them on the very bottom of the keg. I get all of the beer out with only about 1/8 cup of yeast on the bottom after the keg kicks. I never have any issues with dryhops clogging it (properly bagged, or in a tea ball), and no reason to cut the diptube. If someone has 1/2" sediment on the bottom of their keg, they have bigger problems than we're going into here.

 

[Yooper]

It wasn't as carbonated as expected so the rack went pretty easy. There was a good half inch of muck in the keg so I'm glad I went the rack route, just sanitized everything and went mission impossible on the siphon, we were in and out FAST!

It's back in the keg, charged at 11psi and this:

Cheers HBT! Saved my butt again, this pour was for you!

I'm glad it worked out! I wasn't expecting it to go nearly so well. That's awesome!

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

I think I may have cold crashed that bad boy before kegging to avoid the 1/2 inch of trub in the keg.

 

[Jsmith82]

I think I may have cold crashed that bad boy before kegging to avoid the 1/2 inch of trub in the keg.

Yeah, probably wouldn't have hurt. I brewed on January 22nd so I figured it pretty much sat for 4 months, assumed it had crushed the cake which it did, however the 5oz dry hop made its mark. Next year a crash and some cheese cloth for sure

 

[flagman]

i never cut my diptubes. I like them on the very bottom of the keg. I get all of the beer out with only about 1/8 cup of yeast on the bottom after the keg kicks. I never have any issues with dryhops clogging it (properly bagged, or in a tea ball), and no reason to cut the diptube. If someone has 1/2" sediment on the bottom of their keg, they have bigger problems than we're going into here.

I used to use pellet hops in kegs to dry hop. I never liked using a tea ball or a muslin bag. To me they just turn into a big ball of mush and I felt I was not getting good use of the hops. That is why I would cut 1/2" off the dip tude and just dump the hops in. Let the keg settle and for the most part you dont get to many floaties till the end of the keg. It will keep your from cleaning the pop its every other day. Now I dry hop with whole hops and I still just dump them in if I dry hop the keg. They float and a little stocking around the dip tube and I have no problems.

The great thing I have learned from homebrewing it is like politics. Everyone has their own idea and they are all good. Just do it the way works for you and that you like the best.

Glad your beer came out ok