Do floating dip tubes solve problem of kicked up yeast/trub from moving around fermenter/serving corny keg?

[brooksbrew]

Hi y'all.
I've read quite a few threads about fermenting & serving from the same corny keg and hear people love the floating dip tubes. So far I've just been using a picnic tap to dump the trub/yeast, then just dealing with the fact that a ton of pints will just be yeasty/cloudy after I move it to the kegerator. I'm thinking of buying a few dip tubes to remedy, but....

If I ferment in a corny keg and spund to pressurize in the same keg and then move the keg downstairs to my kegerator as gently as I can (and inevitably a good amount of sediment gets kicked up), will the floating dip tube ensure I get clear pours after this?
It would be nice to just get rid of most of the trub/yeast before transporting but since I have the floating dip tube on there, there'd be no way of doing that (unless I bought those Williams brewing corny keg lids with ball lock post & dip tube combos - that way the original dip tube would be in place).

Thanks in advance

 

[odie]

anytime you move the keg the yeast cake will get agitated. There is no getting around that.

It will depend on how gentle and slow you move it.

a floating dip tube will be better but no guarantee if the yeast gets swirled up.

Standard dip tube you can purge much of the yeast first, but will take longer for stirred up yeast to re-settle.

Time settles yeast. Cold helps.

You could transfer to a second keg to seperate most of the yeast from the beer. But in doing so, you risk exposure, one of the main benefits of ferment/serve in the same keg.

Unfamiliar with Williams keg lids. Got a link or picture? Sounds like you can run dual dip tubes. Best of both?

 

[brooksbrew]

Just trying to see if it would be an improvement over what I'm doing now I guess, which is just dumping the trub/yeast using a normal dip tube and picnic tap, then transferring to kegerator and pouring a seemingly endless array of cloudy beers (its seems like i need to be 1/4 way into the keg to get clear beer. As long as its better than that method I would definitely buy some. Do you think it would be an improvement?

The williams ones are called topdraw corny keg lid.
I think it would be the only way to retain the standard dip tube as well. But I'd rather buy a better dip tube like the Flotit 2.0 tbh and it would be more expensive to buy these.

 

[brooksbrew]

anytime you move the keg the yeast cake will get agitated. There is no getting around that.

It will depend on how gentle and slow you move it.

a floating dip tube will be better but no guarantee if the yeast gets swirled up.

Standard dip tube you can purge much of the yeast first, but will take longer for stirred up yeast to re-settle.

Time settles yeast. Cold helps.

You could transfer to a second keg to seperate most of the yeast from the beer. But in doing so, you risk exposure, one of the main benefits of ferment/serve in the same keg.

Unfamiliar with Williams keg lids. Got a link or picture? Sounds like you can run dual dip tubes. Best of both?

Ok sounds like it would be an improvement at the very least. I hope along with other techniques such as cold crashing before transferring to kegerator that I'll get clear pours. If not I'll have to do one of two things I avoid like the plague: buy even more stuff (corny lids with ball lock posts) or add more things to clean (transfer to second keg for serving).

 

[odie]

The floating dip tube will get you clear beer the fastest. And the least chance of cloudy beer after disturbing the keg. But the yeast will remain in the keg.

A standard dip tube will need longer to settle. And any disturbance can create cloudy beer until it settles again. But much of the yeast will be ejected on the first couple pours. But still any disturbance would create cloudy beer since the pickup is so close to the yeast cake.

I found those lids on Amazon. around 25-30 buckes each. I need over 10 lids. And quality and rust are suspect from the reviews.

 

[IslandLizard]

But I'd rather buy a better dip tube like the Flotit 2.0 tbh and it would be more expensive to buy these.

The Flotit v2.0 has gotten very good reviews, such as this one from HomebrewFinds:
https://www.homebrewfinds.com/hands...-floating-dip-tube-w-dfi-double-filter-inlet/
I'm looking into using those.
Now I don't ferment in kegs, but do much keg hopping using fine-mesh bags, and agitate by rolling the keg. Very fine hop dust makes it through the bags' pores that ends up in the bottom, and with a standard long dip tube, also into the glass. That dust can give beer a harsh, throat burning flavor. If I let it settle out, then blow a pint or 2 of beer off, it's all fine until I move or inadvertently bump the keg.

Even with floating dip tubes, I still think it's better, for a few reasons, to transfer completed beer from fermentation kegs into serving kegs. This will avoid the large trub yeast cake from mixing back in due to moving, bumping, etc. It probably also prevents developing off flavors in the beer due to sitting on the yeast/trub cake for longer times.

Do you also dry hop in the fermentation keg?

 

[brooksbrew]

The Flotit v2.0 has gotten very good reviews, such as this one from HomebrewFinds:
https://www.homebrewfinds.com/hands...-floating-dip-tube-w-dfi-double-filter-inlet/
I'm looking into using those.
Now I don't ferment in kegs, but do much keg hopping using fine-mesh bags, and agitate by rolling the keg. Very fine hop dust makes it through the bags' pores that ends up in the bottom, and with a standard long dip tube, also into the glass. That dust can give beer a harsh, throat burning flavor. If I let it settle out, then blow a pint or 2 of beer off, it's all fine until I move or inadvertently bump the keg.

Even with floating dip tubes, I still think it's better, for a few reasons, to transfer completed beer from fermentation kegs into serving kegs. This will avoid the large trub yeast cake from mixing back in due to moving, bumping, etc. It probably also prevents developing off flavors in the beer due to sitting on the yeast/trub cake for longer times.

Do you also dry hop in the fermentation keg?

I totally agree that transferring to a serving keg would be best. I have been on this quest since I had my daughter was born to eliminate as much time (and money) from my process as I can, so I was hell bent on not cleaning an extra keg and the time involved. I maybe don't need to die on this hill, though, lol.

Now that I think about it though - I'm guessing that only the fermenting kegs need to be hand scrubbed and if I wait to do a bunch of kegs at once using the bucket blaster I just ordered it probably wouldn't be adding much time (I'm not gonna break down kegs very often). I guess I could just buy a few extra kegs for fermenting if I do that.

I don't dry hop in the ferm keg, but I would like to in the future. I have been eyeballing the flotit 2.0 as well - as long as the non-metal dip tube thing works fine I'll probably get them.

 

[brooksbrew]

The Flotit v2.0 has gotten very good reviews, such as this one from HomebrewFinds:
https://www.homebrewfinds.com/hands...-floating-dip-tube-w-dfi-double-filter-inlet/
I'm looking into using those.
Now I don't ferment in kegs, but do much keg hopping using fine-mesh bags, and agitate by rolling the keg. Very fine hop dust makes it through the bags' pores that ends up in the bottom, and with a standard long dip tube, also into the glass. That dust can give beer a harsh, throat burning flavor. If I let it settle out, then blow a pint or 2 of beer off, it's all fine until I move or inadvertently bump the keg.

Even with floating dip tubes, I still think it's better, for a few reasons, to transfer completed beer from fermentation kegs into serving kegs. This will avoid the large trub yeast cake from mixing back in due to moving, bumping, etc. It probably also prevents developing off flavors in the beer due to sitting on the yeast/trub cake for longer times.

Do you also dry hop in the fermentation keg?

Additional question: If I’m spunding, should I spund in the original fermenting keg and then transfer to serving keg, or transfer over after kreusen subsides to spund in the serving keg? I’m guessing the first option would cause crazy foaming as it’s transferred due to pressure differential

 

[Bobby_M]

Floating diptubes mitigate the effects of bumping and moving kegs to a degree. Most of the time, a short move of a keg will just cloud up the bottom few inches. In a standard keg that immediately makes the beer pour cloudy and it lasts for a day. If you're pulling from the top, you likely won't notice any change in the beer. Once you only have 6" of beer in the keg, the float won't save you anymore.

 

[Yesfan]

Like the others have said, time & cold temps are your friend. You're stuck with the yeast, but you can minimize the trub intake by using a strainer when draining the wert into a fermenter/fermenting keg. That's what I do. I try to reduce as much of the trub as I can.

The main reason why, is I got to thinking of the potential of clogging a floating dip tube from the inside of its filter during a transfer. That might not be a big deal since my big corny and All Rounder also have filtered dip tubes, but my Spike fermenters (Flex+ and CF-10) do not. The Williams Top Draw corny lids could solve that problem as I could retain the stainless dip tube. I've not had the problem yet, so I've not made that purchase a priority.

I have the Flotit dip tube on my big corny and highly recommend it.

 

[brooksbrew]

I'm gonna try the Flotit 2.0 and see how things work out. If that doesn't work I think I'll start doing transfers to separate serving kegs (and if i'm spunding do the transfer prior to end of fermentation). Thanks for the detailed info everybody!

 

[szap]

I have 5 flotit dip tubes and love them. I had several of the tubes that use the ball and IMO they are crap. I'm sure there are people who use the ball dip tubes and are very happy with them, but I found problems like the hose not fitting through the hole for the post and the end of the tube does not have a filter and the way it floats it picks up trub sooner than the flotit. The guy who designed and sells the flotit has put a lot of thought into it. Even though quite a bit more expensive, IMO it is well worth the price.

 

[brooksbrew]

I have 5 flotit dip tubes and love them. I had several of the tubes that use the ball and IMO they are crap. I'm sure there are people who use the ball dip tubes and are very happy with them, but I found problems like the hose not fitting through the hole for the post and the end of the tube does not have a filter and the way it floats it picks up trub sooner than the flotit. The guy who designed and sells the flotit has put a lot of thought into it. Even though quite a bit more expensive, IMO it is well worth the price.

Thanks for the info. I did end up getting some, and they work wonderfully. I think my only gripe is is that the outer filter likes to fall off pretty easily and is a little tricky to put together (falls apart as I’m putting it together. Other than that they work marvelously.