Floating dip tube

[Yesfan]

I’m about to try that. Do you put the flotit in before fermentation or insert it after fermentation is done? I was just wondering if fermentation might clog it.

Before. I have both the Flotit and the Torpedo Buoy dip tubes on my kegs that I use as fermenters. I pour the wert through the main opening, pitch and ferment in my kegs/fermenters. Then the filter will keep all the trub from getting into the poppit valves on it's way to your serving kegs.

It's a one way setup so DON'T expect the filters to work by filtering incoming beer. It will clog the filter and the floating dip tube if you do that. If you have the filters on your fermenters, then you really don't need them on your serving kegs. Just to be safe too, I went back to dry hopping in hop bags to keep the outgoing beer as clean as I can to my serving kegs to avoid clogging the posts.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Still pouring 80% foam, so I pour a full glass, “drink” a little foam and let the rest settle a bit, then pour again, View attachment 827755repeat a few times. Eventually, 10 minutes or so, I can have a full pour.

Just thought I’d circle back and update.
A short time after my last post in this thread my beer started pouring much better. Not perfect, but at least I could fill a glass without it being mostly foam. But then a few days ago it stopped pouring completely. Thinking the keg might be kicked I lifted it a couple inches and found it to be probably between 1/3 and 1/2 full (estimated).
In addition to the fussy FDT I also have a Clear Beer Draught System FDT that had been tied up in another keg until a couple days ago. I cleaned and sanitized that one and as quickly as I could I swapped it into place and purged the keg a few times. My wcipa is now pouring great, though I must have kicked up some trub and hop matter as it’s no longer clear. The race is now on to finish what’s left in the keg before the oxygen does.

 

[KegLand]

Just thought I’d circle back and update.
A short time after my last post in this thread my beer started pouring much better. Not perfect, but at least I could fill a glass without it being mostly foam. But then a few days ago it stopped pouring completely. Thinking the keg might be kicked I lifted it a couple inches and found it to be probably between 1/3 and 1/2 full (estimated).
In addition to the fussy FDT I also have a Clear Beer Draught System FDT that had been tied up in another keg until a couple days ago. I cleaned and sanitized that one and as quickly as I could I swapped it into place and purged the keg a few times. My wcipa is now pouring great, though I must have kicked up some trub and hop matter as it’s no longer clear. The race is now on to finish what’s left in the keg before the oxygen does.

Is there any chance you can send us some photos of the whole setup with the dip tube next to the fermenter so we can see the length, the way the silicon dip tube is mounted and also get a better idea of how you have the whole system setup. I think its often much easier to troubleshoot if we can better understand your particular setup.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I have no trouble with the Flotit 2.0 or the regular floating dip tubes everyone else sells. I don't use filters, except on the Flotit. I use the Flotit filter because the Flotit is complicated, and I assume the inventor thought about balance when he put it on there. It ain't broke, so I did not fix it.

For generic and Kegland pickups, I put a stainless nut between the hose and the float so it can't back up the flexible tube. I buy nuts that are big enough to go over the little steel tube at the end but not big enough to slide back over the hose. I figure this will prevent the steel tube from pointing up and sucking gas or foam. I don't use a second nut on the hose.

Can someone explain the reason for the additional nut on the tube? Are people okay with the tube pointing up? I guess it doesn't really matter, since it will be below the ball.

I like the fact that Flotits come with stepped-down steel tubes on the keg posts so it's easier to get the tubing onto the metal.

I have cut some of my plastic tubing and also some little stainless keg post tubes on the bias to make it easier to get them together when everything is slippery with sanitizing solution. Both approaches work for me.

All of the floating tubes seem to be perfectly fine, but the Flotit is a little easier for me to deal with.

I don't toss loose hops in fermenters, but I just did my first dry hop since returning to brewing, using a bag, and it transferred just fine. It kind of seems like all of the systems will work unless you make a mistake.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Is there any chance you can send us some photos of the whole setup with the dip tube next to the fermenter so we can see the length, the way the silicon dip tube is mounted and also get a better idea of how you have the whole system setup. I think its often much easier to troubleshoot if we can better understand your particular setup.

Thanks @KegLand for following up on this. Not sure any picture(s) would help much because as I mentioned previously, the floating dip tube was used in a ball lock 5 gallon corny keg, (24.75 inches tall), in which I was dry-hopping an ipa. I purchased the FDT from Amazon...

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-FermZilla-Floating-Liquid-Silicone/dp/B098Q68MCW
Per your picture on post # 38 of this thread I have the float attached at position #1. I've only used it this one time, and I don't recall changing the position before using it. I just now measured the silicone tubing at 31 inches, (78.74cm). I attached the silicone tubing to the short stainless steel dip tube that came with this setup.

I gave the silicone a quick look after cleaning it up and did not notice any holes or tears in it. The small dip tube washer also looks intact and free of any defects.

I'll do some testing in water to see how effectively its floating, but my guess is, like others have mentioned, adding a little weight to the tubing, (stainless steel washer, or maybe a nut), and it will probably work much better.

 

[balrog]

Just trying to visualize how 31" tubing is not too long, @BongoYodeler .
I've always had to trim the generous tubing provided so that when keg is empty, the end of the device lands in the middle of the bottom and cannot, if too long, "wrap up" or "around" and be anywhere but not in the middle of the bottom.
Does a dry fitting show it settles properly? Maybe test with a couple quarts water, install, seal it up and blow out water and see what's left and where it settles?

 

[wsmith1625]

it seems that the screen thing pulls the intake lower under the surface than without. maybe a couple pints difference?

I use the screen in my fermenter so I can dry hop loose with no worries. Even with the screen, the floating dip tub sucks up every last drop of beer. I also find that it keeps the end of the tube off the trub just enough so that it sucks up less yeast when it bottoms out.

View attachment 827627

If using a screen, connection point "1" allows the float to sit lowest in the beer.

It's true that screens on floating dip tubes like FLOTit add another place where clogging can occur.

Change the disconnect on the co2 line to liquid and give a burst of co2 to clear the dip tube and screen before transfers. I have a clear fermenter so I can see exactly what the screen looks like and it can get covered by krausen or hops. I usually give the fermenter a swirl to clear it off, but yeast in the line needs a shot of co2 to clear it out.

One tip to share is that using thick walled silicone tubing for the floating dip tube is much easier to connect to the cut SS dip tube than the thin walled stuff. I bought it by mistake and didn't think it would work well, but it's actually a big improvement.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Just trying to visualize how 31" tubing is not too long, @BongoYodeler .
I've always had to trim the generous tubing provided so that when keg is empty, the end of the device lands in the middle of the bottom and cannot, if too long, "wrap up" or "around" and be anywhere but not in the middle of the bottom.
Does a dry fitting show it settles properly? Maybe test with a couple quarts water, install, seal it up and blow out water and see what's left and where it settles?

You may very well be right about the tubing being too long, though that didn't come in to play with my issue as it was sucking CO2 from the get-go. But that's one of the things I'll be taking a closer look at prior to using it again.

 

[balrog]

You may very well be right about the tubing being too long, though that didn't come in to play with my issue as it was sucking CO2 from the get-go. But that's one of the things I'll be taking a closer look at prior to using it again.

I meant to jump in back when, but want to say that the idea of pulling the dip tube and hose out would never work on any of my kegs -- the tolerance around the liquid out dip tube through the post is quite tight and the silicone hose would never come out with it. The comments about the finger puzzle is very apt; removing the tubing is work.

But the comment about slight CO2 on input side and unscrewing PRV made me think a boroscope could be used to see what was going on. Except the PRVs on my kegs have too small a final opening to accommodate any boroscope I've ever seen.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I have trimmed all my tubes to whatever lengths the manufacturers recommended, and they all work. I just measured the length of a tube from a 5-gallon ball lock Corny keg, and it's 19.5". The gas post tube goes down maybe 1.5" into the keg. I think another inch and a half of plastic might be better, but it works perfectly. This is with just a ball and a 1" piece of stainless tubing at the end, with a nut. No screen.

I think 12" of excess plastic could cause problems. I could see it pushing the end of the tube against the side of the keg, and because the bottom is concave, this could push the end of the tube upward. A keg that still has a lot of beer in it is different, though. I wonder if the end of the tube is riding on top of a loop.

I put a little piece of tubing in water, and it sinks, but not by much. Beer is heavier than water, and sometimes bubbles can form in lines if they're not vertical, so that could add buoyancy. Is it possible a stretch of horizontal tubing is holding CO2?

Gas wouldn't just blow out of a horizontal line the way it would if the line were vertical.

 

[balrog]

I have trimmed all my tubes to whatever lengths the manufacturers recommended, and they all work. I just measured the length of a tube from a 5-gallon ball lock Corny keg, and it's 19.5". The gas post tube goes down maybe 1.5" into the keg. I think another inch and a half of plastic might be better, but it works perfectly. This is with just a ball and a 1" piece of stainless tubing at the end, with a nut. No screen.

I think 12" of excess plastic could cause problems. I could see it pushing the end of the tube against the side of the keg, and because the bottom is concave, this could push the end of the tube upward. A keg that still has a lot of beer in it is different, though. I wonder if the end of the tube is riding on top of a loop.

I put a little piece of tubing in water, and it sinks, but not by much. Beer is heavier than water, and sometimes bubbles can form in lines if they're not vertical, so that could add buoyancy. Is it possible a stretch of horizontal tubing is holding CO2?

Gas wouldn't just blow out of a horizontal line the way it would if the line were vertical.

That's why I filled a keg with water when I first got a FDT, and watched it, looked at it, pondered and ruminated, even may have had a beer or two, causing consternation and wonderment in all who passed by watching me looking into an open keg. But around my house, it's fairly common so they leave me to my ponderments.
But for the ones I have bought, the tubing curves graciously below the surface vertically and does not create horizontal looping. At least in water. With my tubing. In North America.

 

[BongoYodeler]

That's why I filled a keg with water when I first got a FDT, and watched it, looked at it, pondered and ruminated, even may have had a beer or two, causing consternation and wonderment in all who passed by watching me looking into an open keg. But around my house, it's fairly common so they leave me to my ponderments.
But for the ones I have bought, the tubing curves graciously below the surface vertically and does not create horizontal looping. At least in water. With my tubing. In North America.

As always, an amusing read.