Floating Dip Tube Foamer

[slippryj]

Hi Team!

The local homebrew guy sold me on trying out a floating dip tube. I installed the floater on the short stub and it went on with little hassle. I swapped the long tube with a stubby. I did my normal kegging routine: force carb @ 25 psi for 48 hours then purge CO2 and drop to serving pressure of 8 psi. When I pour, all I get is foam. I tried upping my serving pressure to 15 psi and still the same thing. I popped the keg and it is clear of foam. What am I missing?

Pic is after letting the foam settle and repour.

 

[day_trippr]

Which FDT did you get? Some are known to require some added weighting to ride properly so they aren't sucking at the surface...

Cheers!

 

[AzOr]

^that. Some are better than others. Sounds like the inlet part is sucking air (c02) and not pointed down where it would suck in beer.
The only issue I ever had was with a generic one that came with a keg.
It was a quick fix. I have several Clear Beer dip tubes and they are excellent.

 

[MikeCo]

When I first got the lower cost floating dip tubes, I had this same problem. In my case the tubing was stiff enough that when bent into a U when the keg was on the full side, the end of the tubing could not always freely fall down below the surface of the beer because it was pushed against the side of the keg by the stiff tubing. Adding a weight like a stainless nut or washer around the tubing will help it fall below the surface. You can test for sufficient weight in a keg of water.

 

[slippryj]

Thanks for the replies, it appears I have a cheapo one. Got some nicer ones coming in soon. Thank you for the replies!

 

[odie]

might want to look at your serving line length too.

 

[slippryj]

might want to look at your serving line length too.

Can you elaborate? My lines are 36” and I’ve been having some success with traditional long tubes.

 

[Frank Nobrega]

Hi Team!

The local homebrew guy sold me on trying out a floating dip tube. I installed the floater on the short stub and it went on with little hassle. I swapped the long tube with a stubby. I did my normal kegging routine: force carb @ 25 psi for 48 hours then purge CO2 and drop to serving pressure of 8 psi. When I pour, all I get is foam. I tried upping my serving pressure to 15 psi and still the same thing. I popped the keg and it is clear of foam. What am I missing?

View attachment 845006

Pic is after letting the foam settle and repour.

My guess is that you did not cut the tube to the proper length. It should be just long enough to reach the bottom on an empty keg. I have these in all of my kegs and none of them needed added weight.

 

[seatazzz]

I've had the same issue with mine; just one stainless nut added to the tubing did the trick. Until you forget it on kegging and have to risk oxygenation by opening the keg and adding later after getting nothing but foam. Still tastes good though.

 

[Nagorg]

FWIW, things like this are exactly why I've resisted trying the floating dip-tubes. They sound pretty cool but I don't have any real problems with the normal dip-tubes and dont like the idea of having something else to sanitize/fiddle with on packaging day.

 

[AzOr]

FWIW I’ve had zero issues w the Clear Beer Draught system. Not the cheapest for what it is but it works.

As said before, I’ve only run into issues when using a cheapo that came free with a keg.

 

[Nagorg]

If I were to try one of these, I do think I like the Clear Beer Draught System design better than others I've seen. Theirs looks to be designed to keep the pickup tube below the surface of the beer which should avoid the chance of picking up CO2 from the headspace.

 

[Nagorg]

QUESTION for the folks with these things...

Do ya'll do closed transfers with these things in the keg? Any issues at all during the fill? With a standard dip-tube, the beer comes in at the bottom. But with one of these, it would be floating up as the beer level rises.

Guessing this may not be an issue with a CO2 purged keg but it also seems like there *could* be additional surface turbulence that might not be ideal.

 

[MikeCo]

QUESTION for the folks with these things...

Do ya'll do closed transfers with these things in the keg? Any issues at all during the fill? With a standard dip-tube, the beer comes in at the bottom. But with one of these, it would be floating up as the beer level rises.

Guessing this may not be an issue with a CO2 purged keg but it also seems like there *could* be additional surface turbulence that might not be ideal.

I have not had any problems filling through the floating dip tubes.

 

[mac_1103]

I haven't had any issues purging or filling through floating dip tubes either.

 

[odie]

Can you elaborate? My lines are 36” and I’ve been having some success with traditional long tubes.

line length affects restriction and slows your pour, thus less foam. How do you know the floating tube is the cause? Each keg is gonna be slightly different in carbonation as well.

3 ft is very short for most beers unless you are running flow restrictors or low carbonated beer. Most are running 6, 10, or even more for highly carbonated styles.

 

[Nagorg]

@MikeCo @mac_1103

What about during the CO2 purging process where you are pushing Star-San into an empty keg? I'd think that would have to generate a lot of Star-San foam... No?

 

[mac_1103]

What about during the CO2 purging process where you are pushing Star-San into an empty keg?

I've never done this (I purge empty kegs with ferementation gas). I would think that pushing starsan with CO2 is going to cause foaming regardless of the type of dip tube used.

 

[Nagorg]

I would think that pushing starsan with CO2 is going to cause foaming regardless of the type of dip tube used.

Actually it doesn't with a normal dip-tube. This is how I (and many others) sanitize and purge our kegs.

After washing the keg, I then close it up and push (with CO2) a full 5G of Star-San into it from another keg that I store the sanitizer in. I then push it out (with CO2) and back into the storage keg which leaves me with a sanitized keg full of CO2 that's ready to receive beer.

Works like a champ! Not sure if the floating dip-tube would introduce a problem or not. I'm leaning to "not" and am getting tempted to pick a couple of these things up and trying it.

 

[mac_1103]

I then close it up and push (with CO2) a full 5G of Star-San into it from another keg that I store the sanitizer in. I then push it out (with CO2) and back into the storage keg which leaves me with a sanitized keg full of CO2 that's ready to receive beer.

Why push it back to the first keg? Seems like a needless extra step.

 

[day_trippr]

for re-use

 

[Nagorg]

Why push it back to the first keg?

So I can re-use the Star-San. I typically clean and sanitize multiple kegs at a time so its actually being pushed into other clean kegs before finally finding its way back to the storage keg.

Star-San can be kept and used a long time this way; why waste it?

 

[Broken Crow]

Actually it doesn't with a normal dip-tube. This is how I (and many others) sanitize and purge our kegs.

After washing the keg, I then close it up and push (with CO2) a full 5G of Star-San into it from another keg that I store the sanitizer in. I then push it out (with CO2) and back into the storage keg which leaves me with a sanitized keg full of CO2 that's ready to receive beer.

Works like a champ! Not sure if the floating dip-tube would introduce a problem or not. I'm leaning to "not" and am getting tempted to pick a couple of these things up and trying it.

I use a Fermonster with slightly over 7G of Star San as my supply and fill my kegs until it's running out the top, which is when I raise the mostly submerged cap sitting in the mouth by the bale and while holding it up, Star San starts spraying out the bare disconnect I have on the gas post so I pull that off, clamp the lid, and begin pulling the PRV to make sure it spurts through, then I connect a gas line to the liquid post (to maximize bubbling), and do purge-cycling pulls of the PRV.
When I do it with a floating diptube, there's only a little more foam for about a second or 2 before straight liquid Star San runs out.

 

[mac_1103]

for re-use

So I can re-use the Star-San. I typically clean and sanitize multiple kegs at a time so its actually being pushed into other clean kegs before finally finding its way back to the storage keg.

But why can't it stay in the last keg in the line for storage and re-use instead of going back into the original storage keg?

 

[Deadalus]

QUESTION for the folks with these things...

Do ya'll do closed transfers with these things in the keg? Any issues at all during the fill? With a standard dip-tube, the beer comes in at the bottom. But with one of these, it would be floating up as the beer level rises.

Guessing this may not be an issue with a CO2 purged keg but it also seems like there *could* be additional surface turbulence that might not be ideal.

Many of these have small filters attached to the ball. A heavily dry hopped beer might clog that filter if filling through the FDT, that's probably a small chance. Upon serving, there's a possibility of clogging the poppet, I'd hazard a somewhat greater chance. There's a much greater chance that first beer won't be clear as it would be flushing the filter out.

 

[mac_1103]

Many of these have small filters attached to the ball. A heavily dry hopped beer might clog that filter if filling through the FDT, that's probably a small chance. Upon serving, there's a possibility of clogging the poppet, I'd hazard a somewhat greater chance.

Good point. This is why I have a floating dip tube with a filter in the fermenter too.

 

[Nagorg]

But why can't it stay in the last keg in the line for storage and re-use instead of going back into the original storage keg?

The last keg in the line is my dedicated storage keg. So it does stay in the last keg.

 

[Deadalus]

Good point. This is why I have a floating dip tube with a filter in the fermenter too.

Helpful practice as would be other types of filters in the fermenter under those conditions. Same issue of trapping hops when attempting to do a closed transfer with a keg hopstopper, described here, about halfway down the page.

 

[Roxhambrewshed]

Hi Team!

The local homebrew guy sold me on trying out a floating dip tube. I installed the floater on the short stub and it went on with little hassle. I swapped the long tube with a stubby. I did my normal kegging routine: force carb @ 25 psi for 48 hours then purge CO2 and drop to serving pressure of 8 psi. When I pour, all I get is foam. I tried upping my serving pressure to 15 psi and still the same thing. I popped the keg and it is clear of foam. What am I missing?

View attachment 845006

Pic is after letting the foam settle and repour.

This happened to me, but it wasn't the floating dip tube. It ended up being a split o-ring on the "stub" tube (at the liquid post connection).

 

[Yesfan]

Many of these have small filters attached to the ball. A heavily dry hopped beer might clog that filter if filling through the FDT, that's probably a small chance. Upon serving, there's a possibility of clogging the poppet, I'd hazard a somewhat greater chance. There's a much greater chance that first beer won't be clear as it would be flushing the filter out.

Totally agree. Most of my kegs have FDTs on them. The kegs I use just for serving, I don't use a filter on their FDTs since the beer is being transferred from a vessel that already has a filter on it's dip tube.

 

[madscientist451]

line length affects restriction and slows your pour, thus less foam. How do you know the floating tube is the cause? Each keg is gonna be slightly different in carbonation as well.

3 ft is very short for most beers unless you are running flow restrictors or low carbonated beer. Most are running 6, 10, or even more for highly carbonated styles.

I’ve been using 5’ of tubing and picnic taps for almost 10 years and it works for me. I can’t remember where the notion of using 5’ of tubing came from, but as I said above, it’s been working great