Hi everyone! This is my first post on the forum but I've definitely gotten a lot of help from reading other posts. I just finished up my second batch, but I ran into a lot of issues towards the end. I've got a keg which I converted to a keggle adding a ball valve and dip tube. I also made a counterflow chiller which I hoped would make my life a lot easier this time around. After I finished brewing tonight I hooked a hose to me ball valve and attempted to drain the keggle into my counterflow chiller. In all my testing beforehand everything drained fine however this time I wasn't able to get the keg to drain at all with the dip tube installed. I would open up the ball valve and nothing at all would happen. I even tried creating some suction on the other end of the counterflow chiller to see if that would help but it never got the wort flowing. The keggle was elevated as compared to the counterflow chiller. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what the issue could have been?
Converted Keggle Not Draining
- Thread starter Vioer3197
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Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
Most likely a combination of a smallish diameter dip tube, possibly too close to the bottom of the kettle, combined with hops and hot break material. What did you notice once you emptied your keggle?
I put the hops in a bag and the only thing out in loose was a spice pack; it was a pumpkin ale. I didn't notice much sediment when I emptied it. I believe there is enough space under the dip tube. My dip tube is thinner than the hose I was trying to run to the chiller. Could that be the problem?
Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
It's possible, but I'm of two minds. The sediment after boiling can be sludge-like, and if the diameter of your dip tube is too small, then it may be enough to prevent the flow from starting on its own, so gravity would not be enough to create the siphon. But since you said you applied suction, I don't think that's the whole story. It could be possible that your spice bag or hop bag was plugging the end, or that your dip tube got bumped and was too close to the kettle bottom. I suppose the test next time would be to pull the hop bag and spice bag before you drain.
If you wanted to protect the position of the dip tube, you could cut the end of it a half inch shorter, but only 3/4 of the way around the tube, so that the remaining quarter of the tube rests on the bottom of the kettle, leaving an opening that can't be plugged by the bottom of the kettle. I've done this on my mash tun so that the weight of the mash doesn't push the dip tube against the floor of the tun.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.
