I'm having a party Saturday night. I have a duel kegerator. I'm on my 4th keg ever and I have an issue. It's a home grown wet hop ale. The poppet on the out post keeps clogging. I've already cut a 1/2 inch of the drip tube. Any ideas on how to make this work by Saturday? It's been on gas for 2 weeks so it's carbonated and ready to go. Thanks
Clogged post
- Thread starter jakeasaur
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DarkNoonBrewer
Steve Trott
Do you have an auto siphon? You could transfer into another keg and leave the sediment behind. (all applicable sanitation and co2 purging practices meticulously followed)
Gonna need to open the keg and fish the hops out with a strainer I guess. Or use a liquid disconnect to your CO2 manifold to blow the clog out - at least that might get you through the party.
try blowing CO2 through the liquid/out post by swapping the disconnects on your gas line. Then, let it sit and settle overnight. DO NOT TOUCH IT. Hopefully, everything should settle below the level of your already trimmed diptube. As long as you dont rock the keg, ti should be fine
If it continues to be a problem, you can remove the pressure from the keg and just remove the poppet altogether. Might also open the back of the disconnect and remove the poppet there also. Then reconnect and pressurize again.
That'll minimize the constrictions in the liquid path. Just remember to release the pressure before pulling the disconnect later! If you forget, you'll never forget what happens next
That'll minimize the constrictions in the liquid path. Just remember to release the pressure before pulling the disconnect later! If you forget, you'll never forget what happens next
Passedpawn I tried removing the poppet lastnight when I did I couldn't get any beer to flow at all. I'm using picnic taps. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. As off midnight last night it's been sitting in the fridge and a slight angel leaning away from the drip tube. Going to give it to tonight and see if will work. If not I'd like to try the removal of the poppet again as that seems to be the easiest solution. Any ideas why beer would not flow when I tried lastnight?
JB_Brewing2
Well-Known Member
I've had this issue with a heavily dry-hopped Zombie Dust clone and tried purging the poppet with CO2 on the "out" post. Didn't work after several attempts including rests. Finally transferred by siphon to a different keg. My siphon tube's end was inserted into the plugged keg with a stainless steel "Chore Boy" (a pot scrubber found in most kitchen departments). This allowed me to recover most of the beer without worrying about sucking up all the hop debris. Worked like a charm.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
As I mentioned, if you look at the black disconnect that goes onto the keg (not the post, the DISCONNECT at the other end of your beer line) you'll see a slot. Use a screwdriver, unscrew / open it up, and remove the spring/poppet in there too. It's possible there's something in there.
Thanks. Just did there is a spring in there also. Makes sense when I took out the poppet there was nothing for the spring in beer line to press on to open up said spring. If I can't get it to flow I'll try taking both Springs out tape them to the keg with a HUGE note not to disconnect with out releasing the pressure first. Thanks again to all for the replys
What if you rack it over to another keg? You cold just leave the hops behind. If you don't have another keg, rack to a bucket or your kettle, clean out the hops and go right back in.
Charge up the new keg, shake it a bit and you'll be back on track.
Charge up the new keg, shake it a bit and you'll be back on track.
racking into bucket or kettle will oxidize the beer. I would recommend another (pre-purged) keg via closed transfer.
reversing CO2 flow to clear the clog, replacing/cleaning the poppet while the keg is under CO2 flow are all better options to attempt before racking and then re-racking again. Every transfer oxidizes the beer. Avoid any additional transfers at all cost.
bottling bucket is different because that's the first and only transfer and because the (active) yeast in bottles can clean up some of the oxygen. Even then, it's not ideal.
Racking from the keg into a bucket and then back into a keg (especially if it's not purged/open to air) is 2 additional transfers, on top of original transfer from fermenter to the keg in question. That's 3 transfers. 3>1.
55x11 is correct, moving to an open container at this point will greatly oxidize the beer. A "bottling bucket" is a compromised solution to reduce costs. At no point after the beer has completed fermentation should it be open to atmospheric pressure.
Good! I used to have this happen occasionally before I started carving in brite tanks. If you have patience (and other beer
) you can clear the clog, re pressurize the keg and drop the temp to freezing for a day or two for the particulat to settle and transfer to another keg.
