Slow pouring keg

[Mike COusineau]

So I've brewed about 5 batches and have had no issues with slow pouring beers in my keg. I'm using a standard kegerator and currently I have a blonde ale hooked up right next to the Saison and its flowing perfect.

So I have tried turning off the line to my blonde and cranking up the psi to the Saison to 25 to see if that would help but no luck.

The carbonation seems fine but takes about 2 min to pour a single pint. I'm about 3/4 through the 5 gallon keg.

On a side note I did accidentally suck up some trub (not sure if that's the right term) but yeast cake when siphoning the beer from my bucket to the keg. I'm assuming that screwed it up.

Any help would be great for future beers

 

[Jag75]

Is the saison keg full of co2 when you pull the prv? Was it working fine at first? Try swapping the lines and see if you have issues with the blonde . Check for leaks of the main seal and poppets.

 

[Mike COusineau]

I have not tried switching line but I'll try when I get home. I will also do the air leak test to see if it's the keg is leaking any co2....

 

[9Kegs]

My money is on your liquid out poppet is clogged. It happened to me once and it doesn't take much to clog it.

 

[Mike COusineau]

So hooking up the gas line to the beer out and pushing some co2 through the line will help?

 

[AzOr]

+1 on clogged poppet. All it takes is a tiny piece of hop material.

Watch the poppets when you disconnect any lines. If it is clogged it won't close all the way and you may find a beer puddle next time you open kegerator.

 

[9Kegs]

Release the pressure on the keg and remove the poppet to clean it, Spray everything with Starsan, reassemble, and pressurize / burp with CO2.

 

[mongoose33]

So hooking up the gas line to the beer out and pushing some co2 through the line will help?

Well, it might, but whatever is clogging it will still be in there. It might or might not reclog the poppet, assuming that's what's wrong. It wouldn't hurt to try it, and it would at least help you confirm or refute the theory that the poppet is clogged.

All the advice above makes sense to me.

 

[9Kegs]

When I dealt with this issue I tried clearing it with 30 psi. Was not resolved until disassembly.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Release the pressure on the keg and remove the poppet to clean it, Spray everything with Starsan, reassemble, and pressurize / burp with CO2.

This. The opening on the poppet is so small when hooked up, it only takes a tiny piece of debris to gum up the works. If you can, run a dip tube brush through your dip tube too.

 

[Mike COusineau]

Alright so last night at 2 am I unplugged my keg, purged the air and disassembled the "out" poppet. The minute I unscrewed the terminal there was a little pressure in the keg from the carbed beer and it poured out about 6oz of straight beer through the dip tube. I then released the pressure again, and took the dip stick out. I don't have a dip tube brush (wish I did) because after cleaning and sanitizing everything, hooking it up....its still not pouring.

I even tried to hook up the gas line to the out terminal and no luck.

So I only have about 6 beers left in the keg so not much but just trying to learn a little.

What are my options??? Which option would you all do:

1) Turn the gas on it and then tonight just release the pressure and open the keg and pour it slowly into a
2) Order the dip tube brush and try again?
3) Just dump the beer as its only 6 beers?

 

[eric19312]

When you disassembled the out poppet was it clogged?
I'd just do it again. Disassemble, clean the post, poppet and diptube, reassemble, purge.
Since you don't have dip tube brush just run hot water through the dip tube to clear anything in there. If water will flow through the tube its not clogged.

If it is still slow try swapping the lines. The clog might be in the ball/pin lock quick connector. These can also be disassembled and cleaned.

 

[mongoose33]

When you disassembled the out poppet was it clogged?
I'd just do it again. Disassemble, clean the post, poppet and diptube, reassemble, purge.
Since you don't have dip tube brush just run hot water through the dip tube to clear anything in there. If water will flow through the tube its not clogged.

If it is still slow try swapping the lines. The clog might be in the ball/pin lock quick connector. These can also be disassembled and cleaned.

Since beer poured out under the residual pressure, I'd guess the dip tube is not clogged.

Agreed, it's also possible there's a clog in the Quick Disconnect. And as you note, just removing the post is not enough; the poppet and spring need to be removed from the post.

OP: here's what a full disassembly looks like; you don't have to remove the O-rings, but the poppet and spring should be able to be removed from the post.

 

[Mike COusineau]

When you disassembled the out poppet was it clogged?
I'd just do it again. Disassemble, clean the post, poppet and diptube, reassemble, purge.
Since you don't have dip tube brush just run hot water through the dip tube to clear anything in there. If water will flow through the tube its not clogged.

If it is still slow try swapping the lines. The clog might be in the ball/pin lock quick connector. These can also be disassembled and cleaned.

When I disassembled the poppet, it was clogged and run it under some water to clear it. I tried switching the ball lock quick connector with another keg and no luck. It seems like maybe the bottom of my keg is filled with trub???

 

[Mike COusineau]

Since beer poured out under the residual pressure, I'd guess the dip tube is not clogged.

Agreed, it's also possible there's a clog in the Quick Disconnect. And as you note, just removing the post is not enough; the poppet and spring need to be removed from the post.

OP: here's what a full disassembly looks like; you don't have to remove the O-rings, but the poppet and spring should be able to be removed from the post.

I removed the post and cleaned all parts. This is troubling but THANK god there is only about 4 to 6 beers left in the tank.

 

[mongoose33]

When I disassembled the poppet, it was clogged and run it under some water to clear it. I tried switching the ball lock quick connector with another keg and no luck. It seems like maybe the bottom of my keg is filled with trub???

It certainly could be. In the end, you'll do better in the future. Sometimes I think home brewing is the accumulated knowledge of all the mistakes we make. Maybe you let the siphon pick up too much stuff from the fermenter, or....well, you know.

If you decide to dump the rest, try pouring it out through a sieve if you have one, see what you might catch.

 

[seatazzz]

I'm going to go off on a different tangent here, and recommend you take a good look at your lines; do they have beer in them? What does it look like? Any particles visible? Ice, maybe? My kegerator can get persnickety at times (it's old) and sometimes my beer lines freeze. Simpy warming them up with your hands (or a blow-dryer set on the lowest setting) might break it free. If you've followed all of the suggestions above, this might be the culprit.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

if you don't have a dip tube brush you could try a .22cal bore snake.

 

[tdiowa]

I had the same problem. When I was done with the keg I realized the dip tube was logged against the bottom. I rotated it a little and problem solved.

 

[joeybeer]

It certainly could be. In the end, you'll do better in the future. Sometimes I think home brewing is the accumulated knowledge of all the mistakes we make. Maybe you let the siphon pick up too much stuff from the fermenter, or....well, you know.

If you decide to dump the rest, try pouring it out through a sieve if you have one, see what you might catch.

Sometimes I think *life* is the accumulated knowledge of all the mistakes we make. - There, fixed.