Stuck Keg

[Shizog4]

So I legged my first batch not too long ago. Problem is, I was too excited to keg that I did not cold crash so I have a yeast cake at the bottom.

Is this something that I can just transfer out, clean it out, then transfer it back and carb it? Also, is there a time limit on this? It's has been about a month and a half, as I have been pretty busy.

 

[BigMack]

If its been in the keg that long I would expect that after a couple pints with a lot of yeast you will start pulling clear beer.

 

[Shizog4]

It won't come out at all right now. Should I switch it over then rinse it out and rack it back

 

[BigMack]

It won't come out?? I really doubt yeast alone is entirely clogging the tube. You might have something else in there clogging it. I would depressurize the keg and then remove the tube to see what is causing the blockage.

 

[GPP33]

When you say stuck do you mean nothing is coming out? I haven't seen yeast result in that. One time I went from boil kettle to keg as a way to bring it home, when I tried to push it to a carboy it clogged but the problem was hop material, not yeast.

Yes, you can siphon it off, I'd put it straight into another keg though so you only have to transfer it once. Another option would be to bleed the pressure, remove the valve from the output post, remove the valve from a connector and flush it until clear beer flows. With the valves removed it's wide open and gunk will flow through.

 

[rippajak]

You've probably got some trub matter clogging your liquid post. It's happened to me a couple times. Release the pressure from the keg so that you can disassemble that post; clean out the spring, poppet, and post; and then reassemble. Beer should start flowing again after that.
Once you get beer coming out again, keep it running off until it runs out clear. Otherwise you'll risk getting more gunk in the post.
If all that doesn't work, you might have to pull the dip tube and rinse it out. Good luck.

 

[Shizog4]

Thanks guys, I'll work on that this week

 

[govner1]

You could connect your liquid connection to CO2 & at LOW pressure connect to the liquid out post to try and clear w/o disassembly.
In the future you might consider shortening your pick up tube by 1/2"-1" & adding a SS trap to the end.

 

[bobeer]

You've probably got some trub matter clogging your liquid post. It's happened to me a couple times. Release the pressure from the keg so that you can disassemble that post; clean out the spring, poppet, and post; and then reassemble. Beer should start flowing again after that.
Once you get beer coming out again, keep it running off until it runs out clear. Otherwise you'll risk getting more gunk in the post.
If all that doesn't work, you might have to pull the dip tube and rinse it out. Good luck.

+1 on this. Before I had the room to cold crash this would happen to me too. The poppet would get totally clogged with hops and no beer could get through. Clean it out but be aware that it will probably keep happening until enough of the trub has left the keg.