shortened dip tube cornie cold clarifying

[nathan]

Is anyone using a shortened dip tube in a cornie keg and a double-ended ball lock tube to cold clarify their beers?

It's my thought that leaving a cornie of most beers (not the high hops or hefe's) in my conditioning freezer untouched for a few weeks would clarify it. If the dip tube was shortened an inch, and a double ended tube connected into another cornie, I could use a screw driver to push down the gas-in poppet on the 2nd keg and push the beer over into it, leaving the bottom 1" behind, hopefully with all the settled stuff.

Anyone done this? I'd probably only do it for beers that I was going to have to drag to a party or my brother was picking up, so they could be tapped and used right away without becoming cloudy again. I might also use it for the competition beers, or for something like aging a doppelbock at 38F-45F for a while as a tertiary fermenter, then pulling out the beer to it's final keg.

Without getting too expensive I could probably only use one of the kegs at a time like this (maybe that one stray pin-lock keg I have), so it would definitely need to be done sparingly.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

I haven't done what you are asking about, but before you go chopping any dip tubes, bear in mind that if you just gently bend the dip tube over your knee (or better yet, use a proper tubing bender - you just don't want to crimp it) you can raise it an inch or two off the bottom, no irreversible modification required.

 

[nathan]

will it still go down into the keg through the hole then?

 

[Blender]

One inch is sort of high. I would gently bend it rather than cutting it but there seems to be different types of designs on the bottom of each keg.

I take it that your beer is not clear enough? Mine come out rather well.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

will it still go down into the keg through the hole then?

yes, provided you don't crimp it, thus my warnings - you're just modifying the existing bend in the dip tube to pick the end up a little further. I bent 4 of my dip tubes in a few minutes without any tools (just over my knee) and they came out perfectly fine and fully usable, so it's really not challenging, just be gentle and careful.

 

[nathan]

My beers clarify just fine as is, but if I move a keg they get cloudy again sometimes. Since about half my kegs I give to my brother, that's not real good.

I could try bending and just keep upping it until I don't suck a cloudy first-pull, and then also drain it slowly to avoid much suction pulling the junk up off the bottom.

I had a rye IPA that would have benefited greatly from that kind of treatment.

 

[foppa78]

My beers clarify just fine as is, but if I move a keg they get cloudy again sometimes.

Since this is only an issue when you move your kegs it sounds as if you have some sediment at the bottom of the keg that is getting stirred back into the beer as you move it. If this is the case I don't know that raising the dip tube an inch or so will make much difference. I would think you would still be pulling some cloudy beer from just an inch higher. If there is some sediment in your keg it will always be a fight against cloudy beer when you move it. I secondary and cold crash my beers and hardly ever have any sediment in the bottom of the kegs. I saw one thread on here where the OP was trying to use a tube to pull the beer from the top instead of the bottom. That seems like a lot of work but it might be worth a try.

 

[nathan]

I think I get junk from the boil ending up making it through primary and secondary into my kegs. I also cold crash.

To be clear, the issue is NOT when I have the kegs at my house, really, and I'm not trying to solve it by just staying above the gunk on the bottom on the serving keg. I would use a keg as sort of a tertiary vessel. Beer from 2ndary goes into special keg with bent dip tube, sits for 3 weeks at 32F, then I slowly push it out of that keg into it's final keg, where it will be clear and have left the sediment behind and this keg could be carted around, shaken, etc., and not get cloudy because there'd be no sediment to stir up.

I may or may not get around to testing it. For now I tell my brother to get my kegs into his kegorator and leave them alone for at least a week before tapping them, so they can settle. The first beer is sometimes cloudy, but then they are nice and clear. I had a bohemian pilsner you could read through in a standard weizen glass.

 

[Bobby_M]

I tried the bending trick on my pinlock kegs but the tube/post clearance is too tight. ANY bend at all and I can't feed the diptube in. I hacksawed 1/4" off all my tubes whether it was for secondary or serving and I'm happy with it.

How much you'd need to cut will be dictated by how clear you suspect the beers will be going in. If you rack in while most of the sediment is still suspended, you'll have a higher cake.

 

[conpewter]

I did something similar to what was in the OP. I cut about an 1.5 inches off a dip tube and I use that to transfer from cornie kegs I've been fermenting in using a two black QD jumper setup.

As for the original issue, I'd not bend or cut your tubes any more than they are right now. If you are getting clear beer while you are at home, I'd say just wait to be pulling clear from that keg and then transfer all the beer to another cornie, leaving behind the sediment in the first keg.

 

[nathan]

I guess that is the smartest thing, just pull that first slightly cloudy beer from a normal unmodified settled keg that's been cold and still a few weeks. Then use the double ended tube to push slowly into a new keg, leaving any sediment behind but with a normal dip tube.

conpewter are you transferring from the beer-out line on keg 1 to the beer out line (but going in) on keg 2 so that it ends up at the bottom? Or are you purging keg 2 well with co2 and venting it off a few times, then feeding in through the gas-in spot?

 

[conpewter]

I'm going up the liquid tube and down the other liquid tube to keep it from splashing around (in case there is any oxygen in there). I keep the release valve open on the receiving keg.

 

[scinerd3000]

a little yeast in the beer isnt going to kill you...Northern Brewer sells a filter to hook to a corney: NORTHERN BREWER: Draft Bottling

look at the bottom of the page...

 

[conpewter]

That filtration system could be put together cheaper by going to home depot and looking in the whole house filters section I'm thinking. I never wanted to filter beer though, I'm always afraid it will strip out some flavors as well, though my local brewpub does some course filtering and their beer is tasty, so I suppose it is an unfounded fear.

 

[nathan]

I'm not worried about a little yeast. I just like using time and cold to clarify the beer. This idea I think will just give me a way of making a keg that can travel that has been clarified nicely without filtration.

Conpewter is right, though, you can buy that filter housing (even one with a bypass switch) at Lowe's for $30. Some cheap vinyl tubing, plumbing ends, and cornie fittings and you are in business. I'd imagine that the housing will end up holding a decent amount of beer that you will lose, though.

 

[MrJohnson]

Anyone know if there are small, sanitary, in-line filters? Like a fuel filter on any small gas engine. That wouldn't trap much liquid.

 

[conpewter]

You could look into the RV water filters that some are using to filter their water for brewing, they are smaller than the whole house filters I think.

 

[nathan]

remember to that if you can find an XYZ Micron food grade filter, it's just a matter of adapting tubing to run in and out of it and between the vessels you want to hold the unfiltered and filtered products in. Not too difficult with a little time in the tubing/plumbing section of lowes or home depot. Lots of ring clamps!

 

[lilzaphod]

I'm not worried about a little yeast. I just like using time and cold to clarify the beer. This idea I think will just give me a way of making a keg that can travel that has been clarified nicely without filtration.

Conpewter is right, though, you can buy that filter housing (even one with a bypass switch) at Lowe's for $30. Some cheap vinyl tubing, plumbing ends, and cornie fittings and you are in business. I'd imagine that the housing will end up holding a decent amount of beer that you will lose, though.

If you have a mouth, you're not going to lose beer, if you're that worried....

:cross: