I've been transferring my hoppy beers from fermentation bucket (with spigot) to my keg via spigot connected to outpost of the keg. I've attempted this five times, with 3 successes, 2 clogs where I had to revert to siphon hose which resulted in my first oxidized beer in quite a while; hence the post. The hop particulate clogged the outpost stopping all flow, more than once. One beer survived and was quite good, but this current one is quite dark after a week in the keg and is sugary sweet with little hop flavor. It's a passable West Coast Style IPA, IMO, but was not what I was shooting for also I think it's oxidized. I have not used CO2 to transfer as I'm not sure how to connect to the bucket and also concerned with the psi to use. Any assistance from those who know on how I can connect a CO2 line to my ferm bucket and what pressure works for flow? Cheers
I transfer from fermenter to keg using Co2 and I've found that what works for me is to cold crash the fermentor if I go commando with the hops, and to go slow with the pressure. I usually just add enough Co2 to fill the headspace, maybe a pound or two. Too connect Co2, if you use a bubbler you can remove the lid and cap of it and put a hose over it, figuring out the size of the hose to go from the C02 regulator to the bubbler would be the tricky part.
I rack with c02 in glass () and plastic carboys. I used the stainless steel racking cane setup that @jbakajust1 lists in his blog. Works great. Definitely have to cold crash the hops out for a day or 2 prior to racking, especially with my flow control perlicks. I obiously don't have experience with bucket racking, but cold crashing is gonna certainly fix this clogging problem for you. And I honestly wouldn't even worry about using co2 in a closed bucket, but your gonna need to crash so those hops settle to the bottom of the fermenter and compact. If your dead set on co2 pushing your probably gonna have to drill a hole, get a proper sized rubber grommet or maybe a bung, and get one of these guys--->https://www.morebeer.com/products/flare-fitting-14-male-barb.html You could then screw the nut from your co2 tank to that barbed guy.
Cold crashing sounds like the most reasonable solution, and I admit I have not done it for any of the 5 or so I'm talking about. Although a couple were brewed in the winter months and I ferment in the basement which stays nice and chilly here in Iowa, semi-cold crashing I can assume. Four of the beers I used London III, but the latest got US-05 wondering about yeast cake as well. I'll try to have room in the kegerator to cold crash before kegging my next go round.
I'm sure if your fermenting in basically a bottling bucket, the spigot is dangerously low, especially depending on how much inevitable trub might be getting in the fermenter. med-high trub, proper pitch rate of yeast, and cold crashed hop particulate in hoppy beers IME can take up well over a gallon of room in the bottom of the fermenter, if not 1.5 gallons which is probable well at the spigots level I assume.
Get a BB and a co2 racking cane setup. You really won't regret it. I would closely rank that near Ferm. Temp control as far as importance.... especially for hoppy beers.
Cold crash and if it gets clogged again, I would just stop transfer, hook up my CO2 w/ quick disconnect to the "out" diptube and give it a quick tap at 40 psi. That burst of high pressure should knock almost anything through. A few posts back I discussed how to modify a diptube to have a designated dry hop keg where you can cold crash after dry hop and transfer with CO2 leaving all the yeast trub and hop matter behind.
@hoptualBrew I was thinking about this the other day.... Can I just pick up a spare dip tube online? i hate to ruin one I have, but am considering buying a dip tube just for this reason.
Absolutely. This method works like a charm. Three benefits are 1. Dry hop and transfer under pressure, 2. Maximal surface area exposure and agitation, 3. Clean transfer that picks up liquid volume above yeast and hop debris.
