So I tried to tap the brew I force carbed a few days ago and I got absolutely nothing flowing from the tap. I had started with a 15’ of 3/16" line with the intention of working my way down to whatever worked best. When I initially connected the disconnect a little bit of beer jumped into the line but after that nothing.
I took off a foot or two in succession until I got down to 7’ then I figured something was definitely not right. I attached fittings to a 3’ length of tubing and tried that and again nothing. I attached that same 3’ section to the other keg that’s been carbonating and beer came spurting out.
The beer I’m having problems with is an ESB that I have at about 8 PSI at 39F. I force carbed by rocking several times during the first 10 hours or so of being connected to the gas. I tried upping the pressure all the way up to 30 psi and still nothing. There’s definitely gas flowing into the keg, just no beer flowing out.
The only thing I can think of is that the dip tube is clogged. I’m hesitant to open the keg up and screw around with the dip tube but I’m not sure what else to do. Should I try upping the pressure to something higher to see if I can blow out whatever might be in the dip tube? Anyone have any suggestions?
Use the relief valve to dump the pressure. Wait, and then dump more as the CO2 comes out of the beer. Repeat.
Now take the out side post off, and pull the dip tube out. Clean both, and pay attention to the out side poppet, it may be clogged with hop particles and spooge.
If it works for a while and stops, repeat the procedure.
I would bleed off the pressure remove the balllock and diptube check for any blockage, sanitize the parts and put back together. Then try tapping it again. Just make sure you bleed off all the pressure before you remove the parts, gets real messy if you don’t.
What would be in there that it would be clogged? Did you dry hop? You don’t even have to take the keg apart if you don’t want to. Release the pressure with the bleed valve. Increase the pressure a couple of volumes and then hook the gas up to the out poppet on the keg. This should blow whatever is in the way out of the tube. Unfortunately, it will stir up your beer a bit and you may have to let it settle out a bit again. The other concern is: Are you sure your temp is at 39F? I have heard of people thinking there temp is warmer than it actually is and then come to find out that they have frozen their keg.
I have had too many whole hop parts blcok the flow when I was sloppy on racking into the keg. The hops parts go with the flow, and clog the poppet.
One other thing to check is the beer out fitting. I had boiught one without the little pintle (for lack of a better term) that forces the poppet down. No beer flows if that part is not in the beer out fitting. A sad but true story.
As tallcall has posted, try removing the dip tube and inspect for blockage then sanitize and reassemle. I had a hop bag that worked it’s way up the diptube before. It completely clogged the dip tube. Fortunately I was able to retrieve the bag from the inside of the keg by gently pulling it out of the dip tube with a long handled spoon.
I froze a keg once. The symptoms were similar. I also have had clogged tubes, posts and QD’s and the symptoms were also much like tygo is experiencing. Break it down and trouble shoot.
This is what I did. About five times until the dip tube was clear. I had dry hopped with pellet hops in the primary and some of that gunk made it into the keg. Thanks for the advice. I got it flowing but I’m going to let it settle down another 24 hours before I attempt to do anything else with it.
Drinking a few of these tonight. There’s still a few hop particles floating around but pretty good head with a 10’ line. The clarity is improving with each one I draw. After last night’s debacle I’m having a pleasant experience tonight.