After a total disaster trying to transfer my last brew out of a BrewBucket I need to do something. Has anyone ever tried connecting a floating dip tube to the racking arm? I guess would need to add a gas post and to push it out with?
Floating dip tube in a BrewBucket
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Basically I mistakenly added too much dry hops. I had a new bag which i though was 8 oz. I opened it and took 2 oz out and dumped the rest in. It was a pound bag, so I put 14 oz not 6! I also added 1.5 oz each of 2 other hops, 17 oz dry hop in 5 gallon batch!
I never thought twice until I tried to transfer. I turned the racking arm straight up and nothing came out. I blew co2 up and nothing came out. Went and got my old racking cane. The seal on it had dry rotted. Ended up dumping it. What a waste. I have had issues with clogged poppets in the past. I need to find a better way.
I cool crash before dry hopping loose. Cold crash after 2 days.
I never thought twice until I tried to transfer. I turned the racking arm straight up and nothing came out. I blew co2 up and nothing came out. Went and got my old racking cane. The seal on it had dry rotted. Ended up dumping it. What a waste. I have had issues with clogged poppets in the past. I need to find a better way.
I cool crash before dry hopping loose. Cold crash after 2 days.
Hard to blame your issue on the Brew Bucket. That said, I don't see why a floating dip tube on a racking cane wouldn't work. You would have to watch closely at the end because you have no way of knowing when it will hit the yeast cake and hops.
The o-rings on the racking arm tend to wear and when they do, they don’t hold the arm in particularly well. I’d worry the floating dip tube would pull it out, unless you’re vigilant about changing out those little o-rings.
Anyway, I’ve had this problem before (dry hops clogging the racking arm so that nothing comes out the spigot.) I’ve sanitized a metal lab spatula (basically a 6” long straight thin metal rod), jammed it up through the spigot from the outside, knocked the racking arm out, and cleared things out enough to drain. You get your hands wet when the clog clears until you can skip a tube back on the spigot.
Anyway, I’ve had this problem before (dry hops clogging the racking arm so that nothing comes out the spigot.) I’ve sanitized a metal lab spatula (basically a 6” long straight thin metal rod), jammed it up through the spigot from the outside, knocked the racking arm out, and cleared things out enough to drain. You get your hands wet when the clog clears until you can skip a tube back on the spigot.
I am thinking of transferring to a keg with a floating dip tube after cool crashing and dry hop in there. With just yeast in the BrewBucket it shouldn’t clog. More work and more stuff to clean but should stop my self induced problem.
deckbrewer
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It works great for keeping loose hops from clogging poppets. No more transfer issues for me even with large dry hop amounts.
1.Heat tubing in boiling water to get it over dip tube.
2. Test it all with water first. Including draining. Play with the angle of the dip tube and the screen/float.
Positioning is critical to keeping the filter under the liquid level when draining.
3. Consider adding a stainless weight to the end to help keep it under the liquid level.
4. Transfer with low psi to prevent forcing hops through the screen.
5. Cold crashing helps.
6.After filling with wort. Drain wort out of the spigot to remove any trapped air from the tubing before fermenting.
7. I have the domed lid with a tri clamp plate that has a prv with a gas ball lock post to push the beer out.
1.Heat tubing in boiling water to get it over dip tube.
2. Test it all with water first. Including draining. Play with the angle of the dip tube and the screen/float.
Positioning is critical to keeping the filter under the liquid level when draining.
3. Consider adding a stainless weight to the end to help keep it under the liquid level.
4. Transfer with low psi to prevent forcing hops through the screen.
5. Cold crashing helps.
6.After filling with wort. Drain wort out of the spigot to remove any trapped air from the tubing before fermenting.
7. I have the domed lid with a tri clamp plate that has a prv with a gas ball lock post to push the beer out.
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beersk
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This is a brilliant idea I hadn't ever thought of. I don't think I'd use the cheap keg buoys though. I'd want a quality floating dip tube like the Clear Beer Draft System dip tubes. Might be something I experiment with after my current batch is kegged.
I've had insane frustration when dry hopping in the fermenter and even with the pickup tube clogging on big beers. I've recently started putting the pickup tube in so it faces sideways, but still, it doesn't always do the trick on big beers or highly hopped beers, neither of which I brew a lot of, so it hasn't been a big issue for the majority of the time.
I've had insane frustration when dry hopping in the fermenter and even with the pickup tube clogging on big beers. I've recently started putting the pickup tube in so it faces sideways, but still, it doesn't always do the trick on big beers or highly hopped beers, neither of which I brew a lot of, so it hasn't been a big issue for the majority of the time.
@deckbrewer thank you for the info. Couple questions if you don’t mind. During transfer how many psi do you use? Was looking at a gas post for the standard lid, think that will do it? How long does transfer take?
deckbrewer
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deckbrewer
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I used to use the bouncer filter, and that worked, but honestly I was never really sure I had purged the whole thing well for the transfer. Putting the filter inside the fermenter has remedied that for me.
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There is nothing more frustrating than your transfers getting all clogged up with dry-hop leftovers - been there. You end up farting around trying to get it going again, oxygen is creeping in, it's taking forever... not cool at all.
Cold crashing helps a lot, but if your fermentor can't hold pressure then it creates a different problem: you're going to suck a bunch of air into the fermentor and damage your hop aroma. It doesn't take much oxygen at all to obliterate those nice dry hop aromas.
I've been using a pressurized system for fermenting lately (highly recommended), but I still use buckets sometimes, and the picture below shows how I was able to solve he clogged transfer problem. It's just one of those tall hop filter cylinder thingies, with tubing tie-strapped to the edge (red) to stabilize it and hold it upright in the bucket. I sanitize that assembly and put it in the bucket before filling it with beer. The lid you can see on the floor has a hole drilled in it with a rubber stopper - that hole gets positioned directly above the opening of the filter inside the bucket. I dump the dry hops in that hole and they stay in the filter. Very little chance for air to get in while dry hopping. During transfer, I place a racking cane outside of the filter (usually through the red loop) so that I get only clear beer. The racking cane goes in through a hole in the lid and I have CO2 coming out of the serving keg back into the fermentor headspace in a closed loop. I think I've done 5oz of dry hops and still had 100% clog-free transfer with almost zero waste. No cold-crashing required. It doesn't work as well as a proper pressurized fermentor but this method greatly improved my dry hopped beers.
Another thing you might want to try if you haven't already is cryohops. You get much more aroma for a given amount of hop gunk - I think they're great and use them all the time.
Cold crashing helps a lot, but if your fermentor can't hold pressure then it creates a different problem: you're going to suck a bunch of air into the fermentor and damage your hop aroma. It doesn't take much oxygen at all to obliterate those nice dry hop aromas.
I've been using a pressurized system for fermenting lately (highly recommended), but I still use buckets sometimes, and the picture below shows how I was able to solve he clogged transfer problem. It's just one of those tall hop filter cylinder thingies, with tubing tie-strapped to the edge (red) to stabilize it and hold it upright in the bucket. I sanitize that assembly and put it in the bucket before filling it with beer. The lid you can see on the floor has a hole drilled in it with a rubber stopper - that hole gets positioned directly above the opening of the filter inside the bucket. I dump the dry hops in that hole and they stay in the filter. Very little chance for air to get in while dry hopping. During transfer, I place a racking cane outside of the filter (usually through the red loop) so that I get only clear beer. The racking cane goes in through a hole in the lid and I have CO2 coming out of the serving keg back into the fermentor headspace in a closed loop. I think I've done 5oz of dry hops and still had 100% clog-free transfer with almost zero waste. No cold-crashing required. It doesn't work as well as a proper pressurized fermentor but this method greatly improved my dry hopped beers.
Another thing you might want to try if you haven't already is cryohops. You get much more aroma for a given amount of hop gunk - I think they're great and use them all the time.
lablover
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If you don't want to spend high dollar for the Clear Beer system, I've tried both the Torpedo keg type from Morebeer or Williams and the unit from Ballandkeg. I can say that if you buy the unit from Morebeer or from Williams, be prepared to add a SS nut to the end. Otherwise the hose tends to float on top of the liquid and draw gas instead of beer. If you get the units from www.ballandkeg.com they work right out of the box.
