Keg won’t pour

[Chrislane]

Newbie kegging problem here guys that I need some help with.

I have recently set up a kegerator and have had my first keg carbing up for the last week. I came to pour my first beer from it this evening and the beer is only reaching half way up the tube to the tap (even with the co2 pressure pumped right up to 40 psi). I have just put another keg filled with star san in and that flows really nicely at a co2 pressure of 10 psi.

It looks to me like I either have a dodgy keg - but I’m fairly sure I tested this one with star san before hand and it seemed to work ok. Or it has a blockage somewhere - potentially in the did tube? I may have got a bit of trub in here when I transferred from the FV, but not a lot. The beer had hop pellets so it’s not like I’ll have a load of leafy hops in there either.

What should I do? Can I take the keg apart with beer in to remove a blockage without ruining the beer?

Go easy with me as I’m an absolute beginner with kegs!

Thanks I’m advance.

 

[LeeH]

Remove the dip tube, clean, sanitise, replace and purge.

 

[Chrislane]

Remove the dip tube, clean, sanitise, replace and purge.

Thanks

Is that easy to do with the keg full of beer? Is it a case of unscrewing the bit that the disconnect fits onto?

 

[Horners]

Might also be worth checking you've got no kinks in the beer line. I could not get one to pour for love nor money a few weeks back and it turned out to be as simple as that.

 

[Chrislane]

Might also be worth checking you've got no kinks in the beer line. I could not get one to pour for love nor money a few weeks back and it turned out to be as simple as that.

Thanks but I’m confident that isn’t the problem. I can run star san through it from a different keg with no problem at all.

 

[LeeH]

Release the pressure and turn anti clockwise using a ratchet and socket.

Unscrew and pull the tube out.

Starsan the **** out of it before reassembling.

 

[foxbat]

Before taking it apart you could release the pressure then blast a shot of CO2 into the beer-out line to try to clear it. Of course that means the blockage may come back later.

 

[connor7932]

dip tube might have ice in it if it is -0.water left from cleaning.did you press the
button on the OUT pillar to clear it after cleaning.

 

[Chrislane]

Thanks guys. Will give these ideas a go tonight.

did you press the
button on the OUT pillar to clear it after cleaning.

Nope - but I don’t think it will have got that cold to be honest as since I’ve drilled holes in the fridge it doesn’t seem to be getting down as cold as it did before

 

[Chrislane]

I’ve worked out what’s happening

The bottom of the keg post and top of the dip tube is getting clogged up with hop matter. I have taken it apart, cleared the blockage, star san like crazy and put it back together three times now, but it just clogs up again as soon as I start to pour. What can I do? Is there any way or transferring the carbonated beer to another keg to get it off the hops / trub without it just exploding in a stream of foam?

Lesson learnt for the next keg - be a lot more careful to cold crash and keep hops / trub out of it!

 

[Pavros]

Can you tie a small mesh bag over the end of the dip tube (like you get in the Festival kits) or would that make things worse?

Or the small plastic piece you get at the end of a siphon kit? I think Dutto does something like this.

 

[LeeH]

Put a conical on Santa’s list.

It’s easy to transfer into a 2nd purged keg using the dip tube as an inlet....but that’s not going to help.

I have no idea how to get the solids out without seriously ruining your brew I’m afraid.

 

[HoppyTommy]

My cornie kegs have dip tubes that go right to the very bottom into a small central well. Any hop matter tends to block them very easily. They get blocked in the "heads" where the disconnects go on. My brother's older kegs have dip tubes that stop about half an inch from the bottom and guess what he doesn't get the same problem.

You could trim your dip tube slightly. Would result in losing the last pint or so out of your keg but would help with not sucking up all the rubbish.

 

[Chrislane]

Can you tie a small mesh bag over the end of the dip tube (like you get in the Festival kits) or would that make things worse?

Or the small plastic piece you get at the end of a siphon kit? I think Dutto does something like this.

It might be worth a try, but I fear that it won’t make any difference. It was hop pellets rather than leaf so it’s more like a gunky mulch!

 

[Chrislane]

My cornie kegs have dip tubes that go right to the very bottom into a small central well. Any hop matter tends to block them very easily. They get blocked in the "heads" where the disconnects go on. My brother's older kegs have dip tubes that stop about half an inch from the bottom and guess what he doesn't get the same problem.

You could trim your dip tube slightly. Would result in losing the last pint or so out of your keg but would help with not sucking up all the rubbish.

I might give that a try. May well solve the problem. I have a “spare” keg so wouldn’t be the end of the world to have one slightly short dip tube.

Although with stainless steel dip tubes they may take some trimming!

 

[HoppyTommy]

I might give that a try. May well solve the problem. I have a “spare” keg so wouldn’t be the end of the world to have one slightly short dip tube.

Although with stainless steel dip tubes they may take some trimming!

I'd leave the beer a few days though (if you can) to let all the rubbish settle to the bottom again. If you've been moving it round it might have sent a lot of rubbish into suspension.

I feel your pain though. I lost a whole brew after attempting to dry hop in my keg with loose pellets.

I've just dry hopped in my keg with pellets inside a muslin bag then placed in a stainless steel hop ball. The bag alone gets stuck on the end of the out pipe.

 

[chrisbjones202]

I’ve got a cheap little plumbers pipe cutter (£3 in screwfix) that is easy to trim them leaving no outer burr in seconds. No risk of squashing trying to saw it.

 

[Chrislane]

Having scoured the internet, the most popular solution to this seems to be removing the poppet from the out post and accepting a bit of hop matter in the glass. Obviously this will mean that i need to be careful not to remove the disconnect before the keg is finished. And hope that the tap doesn’t get clogged up. But it might be worth a try if all else fails.

I will be amazed if this beer doesn’t end up being poured down the sink, or all over my garage floor at this rate!

 

[Honk]

Think in your position i would depressurise, let it settle then use a siphon tube to transfer to your spare keg.

 

[Chrislane]

Think in your position i would depressurise, let it settle then use a siphon tube to transfer to your spare keg.

Will this work with carbonated beer or will it just foam?