You live, you learn

[skeeordye11]

I took a keg of IPA to a tailgate over the weekend. I knew going into it that a lot of hops made it into the keg out of the fermenter, but I figured they would just come out in the first couple pints. Well I fought a clogged keg all day long, taking off the gas, pulling the release valve and then putting it on the out to blow out the clog. We made it through the day and I brought the keg back home. I figured it wasn't worth messing with anymore so I poured out the ~2 gallons that were left in the keg, but to my surprise there weren't that many hops in the bottom. I was baffled until I finished breaking down the keg and found a wad of hops in the out poppit. When I was blowing out the clog, I was only getting out about a third of what was stuck in there. Had I just taken off the poppit and cleaned it out, I'm sure the beer could have been saved. At least now I know and I will check a little more thoroughly before dumping out my beer next time. Luckily I still have another keg from that batch!

 

[erock2112]

This happened to me at a recent homebrew festival. I had to pour from one keg into another through a paint strainer bag. Got a nice glob of hop pellet gunk.

 

[Waunabeer]

Do you use one of the newer auto-siphons when transferring from fermentor to keg? They should block the larger particles from getting through. How about using a strainer to prevent anything else from going into the keg?

 

[skeeordye11]

Do you use one of the newer auto-siphons when transferring from fermentor to keg? They should block the larger particles from getting through. How about using a strainer to prevent anything else from going into the keg?

I do use an auto-siphon and probably use some sort of strainer the majority of the time. I kegged 3 beers that day and just didn't feel like adding one more thing to worry about with the strainer so I didn't use it. Usually the hops settle to the bottom with a few on top. For whatever reason, there were a lot of hops still floating around throughout the beer and that's mostly what got in. In retrospect I should have just manned up and used the strainer. Oh well, I learned another valuable homebrew lesson.

 

[Shackled]

I strain through a grain bag and it stops just about everything from making it into the bottles.
I would suggest getting a paint stainer bag and wrapping it around your auto siphon.