Keg tap beer comes out very very slowly.

Brewing Processes
1

I couldn’t find a topic about this problem. Most of the issues seems to be a clogged dip tube. However, I put my CO2 on around 40 - 45 psi in the beer out side and I could hear the beer bubbling so I’m sort of confident this isn’t a clog. I’m also confident that there are no leaks as pulling the release valve CO2 seems to be coming out along with some beer as well. The problem is, I’ve been rocking the keg at about 30 psi and I only get a dribble of beer. And, since I can hear beer bubbling when I throw in CO2 into the out, I’m pretty confident my beer isn’t frozen.

Any help would be awesome.

2

It still sounds like a clogged dip tube to me or clogged tap line or tap as CO2 can flow around a clog much better than beer.  How long are your tap lines?  How many batches have you kegged and tapped successfully?  Did you add anything to the beer in the keg like hops?

3

I probably successfully had 2 or 3 kegged beers in this particular keg. Also, I ran star san through the entire system just to make sure everything was running correctly and star san had no problem coming out. I’ll try again today, and attempt at cleaning the dip tube as my last resort.

4

I still think it’s due to hop debris.  It usually happens at the poppit valve, not in the dip tube, so pushing CO2 back in through the beer out post would clear it temporarily.  If you take off the post you’ll see if it’s clogged.

5

Or a clog in the disconnect.

6

^^^ these

7

+2.  Assuming it’s not frozen (doesn’t sound like it is), it’s gotta be a clogged poppet or QD.

8

I had a few soda kegs that had a dip tube that was bent at an angle to extend into a divot in the bottom of the keg. Aside from being easily filled with yeast or hop debris, I would imagine you could bend or rotate the dip tube into a position where it was wedged against the bottom of the keg and get some flow restriction there as well.

Seems like you have a lot of areas to investigate, but they all seem to be between the bottom of the dip tube and the QD. Wait, you didn’t fill your keg with honey did you?

9

Pulling the relief valve should get you a lot of co2 at those pressures.  Did you switch the in and out posts?  They look similar but are different.

10

Good call - I have a keg like that. Once I had to rotate the dip tube to get open flow. Now I know to position the dip tube correctly when I use it.

11

I opened the side post and in the spring (poppet?) there was some hob debris. Then, it started working for a while after I cleaned it out. Then, it went slow again. Then, I removed the post again and beer started gushing out of the dip stick. The beer had lots of floaters in it. Then, I put on the post and it started working again…

I made a Cascade / Mosaic hopped Session IPA. And it tastes amazing when the keg works!!

I think next time I keg, I’m going to rack into a secondary before kegging to get those hoppy floaters out of my beer! You live and you learn I guess.

Chris

12

Cold crashing will also help with dropping hop matter. It’s a danger of dry hopping loose with pellets. I use a stainless keg hopper now

13

+1.  I crash, then add pellets to a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. I keg hop and don’t get clogs doing this.

14

You can try attaching a sanitized stainless steel scrubby to the bottom of your dip tube to help keep the floaties out.