Beer Forum

I dry hopped 2oz in the keg but didn't cut the dip tube. I tried to draw some off but it got plugged. If I just chill it fora few weeks will the hops settle and I'll be able to draw? Or should I cut the tube. If I need to cut, how do I do it to prevent rusting?

(EDIT -- Don't forget to sanitize everything including your hands and tools when doing this sort of thing).

If it's plugged, it's probably plugged up in the poppet valve / connector area, so you'll need to disassemble that in order to clear the clog.

However, cutting the dip tube is not enough. You'll need to somehow keep the hops out of the dip tube once it goes back in the keg or you'll just plug it up again.

I've used a stainless steel scrubby (Like steel wool but made from stainless steel) to do this and it works great. Just make sure you use a stainless one, not a copper one. Copper in the finished beer will leach metallic off flavors.

I've also seen stainless steel braided hose used for this purpose too. Just crimp one end and put it over the end of the dip tube like a condom. Cut it long enough -- 6 inches is plenty so that it will stay on.

HTH-

You might want to invest in Sure Screen.

NorthernBrewer has them: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/surescreen.html

Once it's cut it's cut and you won't be able to 'uncut' it. Thus a fair amoint of whatever you put in that keg in the future will remain behind. Lost beer! I'd suggest putting future dry hopping charges in one of those mesh bags so this problem doesn't arise. For now you could try blowing the hops out of the dip tube with CO2 or with beer or boiled water pushed by CO2 if CO2 alone won't clear the jam. Jam will probably reoccur though.

As to your original question: if you do decide to cut the tube just cut it. Exposure of the metal to air will result in pasivation of the exposed surface.

Try checking this thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21191&start=0 It has a procedure mentioned in it to transfer out of one keg to another using reversed dip tubes to solve this problem.

Henning1966 wrote:Try checking this thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21191&start=0 It has a procedure mentioned in it to transfer out of one keg to another using reversed dip tubes to solve this problem.

You could always dry hop in the primary, then cold crash for a few days to let the hops settle out, then rack to your keg for a crystal clear beer with no worries of hops clogging anything! I have been doing this for years with the best results.

brewinhard wrote:

Henning1966 wrote:Try checking this thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21191&start=0 It has a procedure mentioned in it to transfer out of one keg to another using reversed dip tubes to solve this problem.

You could always dry hop in the primary, then cold crash for a few days to let the hops settle out, then rack to your keg for a crystal clear beer with no worries of hops clogging anything! I have been doing this for years with the best results.

I am not recommending using it all the time just this once to solve this one problem keg

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'm leaning towards the surescreen method.