I’ve got a family picnic coming up in August and I’m planning on taking a keg of brew to it. Since my folks place is in PA it’s about a three hour car ride so I’d like to try to minimize the amount of sediment in the keg which would get stirred up in transit.
I bought a spare dip tube and I’m thinking I’ll cut off a bit of it and use it in the keg I’m going to be lagering the picnic beer in then transfer it to another keg for transport and serving.
How much of the dip tube for the bright tank should I saw off? 2 inches? More? I’m obviously trying to minimize sediment pickup in the transfer while also minimizing beer loss.
If not then cutting back the tube a couple of inches would be my second choice. You can also bring a second full length dip tube along with you to install in an effort to get every last drop of goodness from the bottom of that keg.
Had a keg that HAD to be clear for transport. After three weeks in the bucket I kegged and let it sit at cellar temp for a week, then WITHOUT MOVING IT hooked up CO2, drew the first few ounces into a clear glass, and when clear did a keg to keg, then carbonated. Came out perfect.
I agree. It’s the easiest way to deal with the sediment problem. I used to do it that way pretty frequently.
But for the past few years now, I follow the secondary phase (yeah, I know…I still stubbornly do it that way) with a gelatin cold crash before it goes into a keg, the resulting bright beer goes into the keg bright and stays that way from the first pour right down to the last sad gurgle when it kicks.
That, to me, makes the secondary and cold crash phase before going into the keg a very worthwhile bit of extra effort…especially when I know I have to take a keg somewhere or be otherwise moving it around. The little bit of extra work and extra time may not be ideal for everyone, but it works for me.
It also makes for very stable, conditioned, and sediment free beer to transfer to bottles too, when the need arises.
This is probably what I’ll end up doing but I do have spare dip tube that I was going to cut, so the keg would still be perfectly functioning with it’s own dip tube swapped back in.
Instead of cutting your dip tube, attach about 4 inches of flex tubing to the end of your dip tube so it lays on the bottom and makes a U turn about 1 inch above the bottom.
When you transfer your beer you will leave 1 inch at the bottom without scattering the sediment into solution. Assuming you are using a Corny keg as a secondary, put the flex tubing on the dip tube when you first transfer the beer into your secondary keg.
if you do this, please notify anyone you think might be a vegetarian as some of them won’t want to ingest anything made with it. My wife went veg a year ago so i’m just alittle more aware of stuff like this now.
