Keggle Dead Space Question

[MikeCass]

I built a keggle several months ago when I was putting together my all grain system. Due to school, work, and other commitments I had to push brewing to the sideline for a couple of months.

I now have the time to brew, so I finished my set up and today I was attempting to determine the dead space my LT, MT, and BK. So come brew day I could plug all those constants into BeerSmith and get the amount of water I needed. Well the MT and LT went smoothly but when it came to the BK I couldn't get it to drain much farther that the ball-valve which left probably about 2 gallons left in the BK. I use a dip tube/false bottom set up from brew hardware I believe (It was months ago that I built this) and the the dip tube nearly touches the bottom of the keggle and should drain to nearly that.

I cannot figure out what is wrong. I know that using tubing to drain it causes a suction effect so I made sure to use tubing. All the hardware seems to be tight and no leaks. I'm kind of at a loss, I am sure it is something simple. Has anyone ever had this issue?

I attached pictures of the set up.

 

[maida7]

I bet one of the fittings inside the pot is leaking air and breaking the siphon. Perhaps the compression fitting...

 

[poislb]

Are you draining it with a lid on? Sounds stupid i know, but trust me...i had a lid on mine, couldnt figure out why it wasnt draining, took the lid off and there she comes..must have something to do with air/ suction needed to create a siphon. Try that or you may have a leave either in the valve, hose, dip tube...a small little leak will prevent a siphon as well.

 

[processhead]

Did you use teflon tape to seal all the threaded joints on your dip tube assembly?

You almost certainly have an air leak somewhere in the valve/dip tube area that is causing the siphon to break.

 

[Jaybird]

Nice looking False Bottom system! It came from Nor Cal Brewing Solutions. The full welds, the great looking handle and the Cheers kind of gave that away ...

It sounds like you have an air leak in either the compression fitting (not likely) or between the compression fitting and the coupling (more likely). I don't see any Teflon tape there so if it was me I would start there.

Cheers
Jay

 

[jmcquesten]

Edited