Low O2 keg transfer issue and help with hop pickup

[kpietro22]

I was attempting to do a low oxygen transfer from carboy to keg using my ss racking cane and liquid in through the dip tube. I was even using a BIAB around the cane to avoid excess hop material in the keg when about half way through the transfer, liquid stopped. Tried moving the cane, bag, post connections, no luck. The pressure relief valve was open as well.

Long story short I had to ditch the bag, and transfer normally to the open keg, bringing over a large amount of dry hop. Does anyone else have experience with this? Please help quell my increasing frustration as I anticipate a highly oxygenated, murky, NEIPA.

Bests,

Kyle

 

[marc1]

Two things I can think of if the hop screening wasn't clogged:
If your carboy wasn't completely above the keg, or if your carboy was sealed except for the racking cane.
How do you transfer normally to the keg? If you just poured it in there you should drink it real fast

 

[RM-MN]

The BIAB bag becomes clogged and will completely stop transfer. You simply need more area of the bag available to keep the hops from clogging it up. I used a wire wrapped around the end of my autosiphon to hold the bag away from the pickup to add to the filter area. Not perfect, can still clog if there are a lot of hops in the recipe.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I've moved to fermenting in kegs and using a different method but I had a lot of issues with clogs when I tried to do closed transfers from a carboy using a metal siphon. Like RM-MN said, you need to somehow widen the surface area around the end of the siphon to prevent or at least slow down clogging. I would clip one of those big black office clips on the bottom of the siphon and put the bag around that. I still could get clogs with heavy dry hop loads, but it worked decently well.

 

[sunshine22]

Thank you all for your reply! I did a little reading and found a product from UtahBioDiesel. It is a 300 micron mesh filter that fits over the siphon. I am thinking about giving this a try. Otherwise i may pull the poppet out of the keg post to allow for easier flow.