Dumbest Kegging Problem Ever

[Clint Yeastwood]

Today I was trying to pump sanitizing solution from one keg to another when I realized nothing was moving. I opened up the donor keg, and I saw that the dip tube hose was ruptured...on both ends.

This tube is supposedly silicone, and it had been sitting in sanitizing solution for months.

Wasted quite a bit of CO2.

Is this normal? I guess I could remove the dip tubes from kegs that are full of sanitizing solution.

 

[Broken Crow]

Star San dissolves silicone! ...albeit slowly. I store mine in an HDPE bucket for a month or so. If you wanna store it in a keg, use an unmodded one with the original SS diptube and preferably Buna or EDPM o-rings.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Man, this is annoying. I thought I was doing something smart.

I keep solution in a clean keg. When I brew a beer, I pump the solution out into another clean keg, using CO2. That gives me a sanitized keg full of CO2, and I can store the filled keg for the next brew session. I'm just writing this in case noobs have no idea what this thread is about.

I can't use a rigid tube for the whole process because that will leave me with no floating tube when I fill the keg with beer. I'll have to take the tubes out of kegs filled with solution and replace them when I transfer the solution.

I just left the tube in there, thinking all was well. But the process will work just as well if I take the dip tube out during storage. Replacing a dip tube in the donor keg before pumping it empty won't hurt anything. I'll lose some solution, though.

So now I have to check other tubes that have had similar treatment.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Bobby_M]

You just can't leave it in kegs with floating diptubes unfortunately. Sanitize and push it all out with CO2. Then you can label that keg "sanitized and purged" so it's ready to fill when you get to it.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I was being lazy and keeping the solution.

 

[IslandLizard]

I was being lazy and keeping the solution.

You can keep the Starsan solution in a keg with stainless dip tubes (that's what I do), or in a (#2) plastic bucket.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

If you use a rigid tube, you have to change the tube when you move the solution, unless you want to give up floating tubes. I would rather just take the floating tube out and then put it back in when I brew.

Maybe I missed something here.

 

[Broken Crow]

I think it's a matter of personal preferences and causes... Personally, I only use floating diptubes in fermenting vessels and only transfer clear beer to unmodded kegs so I don't have to worry about trub in the serving keg. Another personal choice is that I only clean and sanitize my serving kegs shortly before filling and even there I use a racking pump, so I'm able to store my Star San in a plain non-pressurizable bucket. Sounds like @Bobby_M 's suggestion is most appropriate...maybe with a permanant 'intermediate' keg thrown in the mix?

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Why do you use rigid tubes in serving kegs?

 

[Broken Crow]

I have no compelling reason to change them. With clear beer, there's no reason to do so.

 

[mac_1103]

Maybe I missed something here.

One keg with a rigid dip tube dedicated to storing sanitizer. Push the sanitizer back into that keg once you've purged the floating dip tube keg(s). Otherwise, use a ported bucket or carboy to store the sanitizer.

Dumbest Kegging Problem Ever​

I suspect that the competition for this title is pretty fierce.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Sounds like I would be using twice as much CO2 to do the same thing. Am I wrong?

 

[Knightshade]

When the yeast settles down a bit, I hook up the fermenter (a keg) to another keg full of starsan, which is then connected to my clean empty, which I then connect my blow off jar to.

When the clean keg is full of starsan, I then flip it back around.

Then I’ve stored 5G (ish) in its storage, and I’ve got a sanitized, O2 purged keg ready when fermentation finally ends.