Is there a way to remove a hop bong without exposing wort to air?

[kohalajohn]

Good morning all

I have just started using a hop bong. Photo below.

It appears that I have to keep the bottom half of the device attached to the keg, all the way through to the closed transfer.

I pitch the yeast into my corny keg, attach the hop bong and close the butterfly valve. I can add and remove the plastic bong itself with no oxygen problems, as the butterfly valve below it, stays closed
But I can't remove the butterfly valve and the hardware below it. Even if I quickly put a tri clover end cap in its place, closing off the keg, I am still opening the keg to air during this process.

That defeats the purpose of the bong. If I'm going to do that, then I may as well stick to the old method of "open the lid, dump in hops, close the lid" that I did before I got into bongs and lodo.

It's an issue because it means my bong is tied up for two weeks. If I have another batch going, I can't dry hop it.

The only solution I can see is to do batches in series. Package the first batch, and then start the next batch.

Is there another solution? Is there some clever way to set up a hop bong so that I can remove it without exposing the wort to air?

 

[kurds_2408]

Just buy a second set of the lower parts. I built my own hop bong with the upper plastic from MoreBeer, but got the valve, reducer, and clamps from Amazon.

 

[Whisky River]

I think the traditional hop bong design had the butterfly valve at the bottom just before the lid TC fitting so you could close that butterfly and remove the rest of the apparatus. Yours seems to be configured a bit differently with the funnel at the bottom, presumably to allow the use of the larger dump valve and still attach to a 1.5TC fitting. It looks like you either have to get a second set of the lower half parts like Kurds suggest or add another 1.5TC valve at the bottom so you can remove the whole thing. Solve one problem create another.

 

[kohalajohn]

Yeah, @Whisky River I agree. I could buy a second butterly valve. But I would also have to buy another corny lid that flares up to a TC fitting under it.

I think I'll just stay the way I am. I just brew in series anyway, not in parallel. I brew around the first of the month and again mid month. By the time mid month comes around, I will be transferring the first batch to a serving keg. So I can remove the whole thing and move it to the new fermenting keg.

And in a pinch, I can always just dry hop when I pitch yeast. I have done that. And that batch can do cold side lodo with no bong.

Man, back in the nineties if someone said' "cold side lodo with no bong" nobody would have known what the heck they were talking about.

 

[Bobby_M]

Once dry hopped, that beer can be transferred to a serving keg within a couple days.

The other alternative has been mentioned, double the parts all the way up to the butterfly.