Flow-Control Dry Hop Frustration

http://www.clearbeerdraughtsystem.com/info.html

I use this in the keg. If trub gets in the keg or if I dry hop in the keg, doesn’t matter. It has worked for me exactly as advertised.

Edit: also worth noting that I don’t use any bags or filters for dry hopping in the fermenter or the keg.

 

I've dry hopped 7 ozs with the floating dip tube with no problems. You could also tilt the fermentor back before you transfer to the keg.

 

All of my IPA’s are dry hopped.

In a glass carboy I had the best success and least amount of beer lost. A good cold crash drops almost everything out for me. Just primary to keg. Only occasionally would I pick up debris, if I wasn’t paying attention. Just a racking can with the small plastic stopper on the bottom. The trick was when I moved it (gravity transfer) I’d let it settle for a minute. You can pretty much watch the whole progress of the transfer.

Now I use a SS conical. It’s been tricky. And I’ve experienced loss up to a gallon. The nice thing has been a rotating pick up tube. I pressure transfer. I’ll start by dropping my trub/dry hops. Then to clear the line I’ll transfer into a half liter bottle with a carb cap to clear the line/purge. Then transfer into a keg. More work, more parts to clean. But the hope is I’m eliminating O2 in the process with this set up.

I don’t keg hop. I have a couple of times and to my personal experience, I haven’t noticed a difference. Less work, less chance of O2 pick up. I drink my beers pretty fast so maybe it’s all for not but I enjoy the process.

Not reinventing the wheel but this is what I do. And taking apart and cleaning the ball locks are a pain during transferring but that’s always the solution if it happens.

 

Keep the hops out of the keg. I've tried it a few times (keg hopping) and the result was never any better, often worse, than just dry hopping in primary. Especially after the first week or two. I also use flow control faucets and the only times I ever had issues was with keg hopping. I found those stainless steel hop tubes to work OK, but the best solution was a clear beer floating diptube with the hop screen add-on. I would throw in a few ounces directly in and no-issue.

That being said, I don’t do it anymore as I was never happy with the flavor stability or how the IPA’s turned out after the first week or so. Keeping my hopping in the fermenter alone results in far better beers and much more stable. Note, I did the keg hopping with low oxygen processes as well, hot side and cold, so oxidation wasn’t the issue.

I've dry hopped with upwards of 8-10oz before for 5-gallon (I will have around 5.75 gallon in my fermenter to account for losses).

 

Have you tried to remove the flow control compensator? That is the plunger that opens and closes to reduce flow.
Remove parts 7, 8 and 9. Reassemble.
That should make your flow control a standard forward seal. I have not tried this but I think it may work.

Flow controls are typically not needed but I know people around here love them. We use them a lot for sparkling wine held at 55 psi but for beer... more parts, more stuff to break, more junk to clean, more things to go wrong and apparently more places to clog with dry hop debris.

Cheers

 

I use these when transferring to keg. Seems to help. But sounds like the problem is your faucets.
https://www.amazon.com/Bouncer-inline-beer-filter-regular/dp/B01JWO5RK2

 

Completely agree with this. Makes it worry-free.

 

@billandsuz

You would leave O-ring #7, no? That sits up where 5A would sit on to seal the faucet when closed. If you remove that, it will have nothing to seal against and will leak, I'd think. I just broke mine down to clean, so it's pretty fresh in my mind.

To remove 9, you will have to remove the piece in assy 11 as one part is keyed into the plunger/flow control piece (9). Easy enough, though.

 

Ya, tricky. I’ve switched to butterfly valves. Seems to have improved loss, last batch.

 

@pweis909

I break them down once a year or so and soak the components and get a pipe brush down the main barrel with everything out and such. During this, I also check the o-rings and replace as necessary. This time, I replaced all the coupling gaskets due to wear/tear as the flow control plunger makes contact and wears it out over time. I bought a few gasket sets a few years ago and usually when I break them down yearly I will replace something as general upkeep. Last time, it was o-rings 3, 6 and 7 replaced.

I just think it's easy enough to break them down and ensure everything is in good condition, at the very least.

 

I disassembled the faucet last night.
Unscrew the bonnet holding the lever in place.
Remove lever assembly.
Compensator will slide out.
Reinstall lever assembly and nut.

All the o-rings stay put. At least I didn't have any rolling around.
Putting it all back together was a bit frustrating as you must line up tab A with slot B but not particularly hard.

Hopefully it solves the problem.
Big note of caution... No I did not test the faucet so as for now I can not say if everything worked out with actual beer. Only way to find out though.
Cheers.

 

If you have a routine cleaning schedule then no, typically the Perls are not disassembled. Only if they have a problem. The faucets are removed and placed in a three bay sink with BLC while the pump is running (line cleaning). Then rinsed well and reinstalled. Perls are sometimes claimed to be CIP, clean in place, but they have that sloped spout making the attachment of a tube nearly impossible so I am not sure how anyone could pump cleaner through one.

If a Perl malfunctions we just install a new one for the client. The current version is very reliable. You can buy a repair kit and that makes more sense for homebrewers but for commercial it is more trouble than anyone really needs.

Also, we don't use the flow controls all that often. Mandatory for seltzer and sparkling wine but not for beer, so any NEIPA is going through a standard SS Perl on our systems.
Cheers

 

This is how I used to DH in a keg . . . and I had bite-marks on my buttockal area just as you described. Then switched to muslin bags (sold by most all LHBS) and the problem dissolved. I've pulled muslin bag'ed hops from a keg and had it serving clear as a bell the next day. I am using conventional faucets (no flow-control) which rarely clogged, but the nylon bags always gave me cloudy pours.

 

When I dry hop in a keg, I use stainless steel cages. Then, I do a closed transfer to another keg. I haven't had any issues with faucets clogging, and I do use flow control perlicks.

 

My dry hops hang in fine mesh bags tied to a worm clamp placed on the inside part of the PRV. As the keg empties the bags are removed from the beer. Never a problem and clean up is easy.

That's right.
My bags hang a few inches my beer. Go ahead and picture that.
Cheers.