racking via co2

What does your setup look like? I copied the setup from the Maltose Falcons website and its worked pretty flawlessly, with one exception.... I've twice now forgot to purge the CO2 in the keg before hooking my beer in line into it, and have had my racking cane and carboy cap pop off and kick up the sediment on the bottom.

The biggest obstacle to obtaining a nice steady flow is how tight your seals are. I've taken to using keg lube on my carboy cap, and occasionally holding the carboy cap down once pressure is flowing to ensure that I'm not oozing CO2 out of the top of the carboy. I also release the pressure on my keg every 30 or so seconds once it builds up (my setup is completely closed with regulator to line in on carboy cap, to cane out to beer in line to keg).

 

It sounds like you diagnosed the issue...hop matter. Once your beer is flowing, it should keep flowing, unless something clogs the line, or you lose pressure, or the vented receptacle (e.g. the keg) is suddenly unvented.

 

I've gone to using nylon paint strainer bags when adding hops to the boil, I just add a bit more hops and overshoot my target ibu's to compensate for any loss in eff, I'll also use hop extract for my bittering charge. I've only dh in my kegs (secondary) and I don't use any type of bags for my hops, just cold crash before transferring and I use a ss mesh screen over the end of the dip tubes to help aid in filtering out any hop material. So far I've yet to experience any issues with flow, and I get good clean pours from the serving keg.

 

Pushing with CO2 seems to create more problems than it solves. a healthy siphon works just fine for me. trying to use CO2 pressure inevitably ends up popping the lid or causing the racking cane to move.

I keep a pitcher handy to dump the first few ounces. once the flow starts don't move the racking cane, not even a little. the wort or beer will flow perfectly all the way down to the last drop. the cane forms a small dimple in the trub/hops/break/what have you and the beer will go right to the lowest spot and get sucked up.

I purge the keg with CO2 a few times. CO2 is heavier than air, so you can drain right into the keg with little worry. the gas will push out oxygen. not totally sealed. I have checked the inside of the purged keg with a fancy oxygen meter for atmosphere (as opposed to D.O.) and it is virtually oxygen free.

I will also blast the headspace of the carboy or bucket with CO2 to blow off air as well. pushing with CO2 seems to create more problems than it solves. a healthy siphon works just fine for me. trying to use CO2 pressure inevitably ends up popping the lid or causing the racking cane to move.

that's been my method for quite a while for what it's worth.
Cheers.

 

Probably. I mark the racking cane in advance so that when the mark reaches the entry point, the bottom of the cane is just above the trub. You may have to fudge a little for particularly larger/smaller trub piles.

 

There was something else I did that I forgot to mention, that @VikeMan just did. I visibly inspect where the trub is in the fermenter and then adjust the height of my racking cane in an empty fermenter so that it about 1/2" above the trub and then lock the cane in place with a clamp. I tend to get about 5.5 gallons in a six gallon fermenter, to account for trub and a little bit of volume lost during racking to get a full five gallons in the keg.

 

The former.

 

Here's a pretty good thread on the subject:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/racking-from-primary-to-kegs-via-co2.217698/

The best part is reading about @jbakajust1 and his explosive decompression . . . boys and toys . . .

 

One issue that I have been having with a couple of my kegs is that the stinking dip tubes are too freaking long. On 2 kegs they sit right at the bottom of the keg and then restrict the flow into (and out of) the keg. Clipping them this weekend so I can rack my APA into the kegs next week. I too put my DH in the keg that I am dispensing from, in a bag, suspended from the lid. For trub I push the racking cane to the bottom of the fermentor before starting, pull up an inch, then start the siphon.

 

Me too. I tend to pick up a good pint of yeast to get that last 1/4 cup of beer. At the end I tilt it forward and place the cane right above the trub. Past few batches I have just gotten 5.75 gallons of wort in the fermentor and fill the keg easily.

 

My setup for racking from my fermenter.....

Nah, I transfer from the primary to the first keg to dh in, then I transfer again to my serving keg. I have though in the past served out of the dh kegged and after the first couple pours they are pretty clear. I don't us a raking cane when transferring from my fermentor to the dh keg, I use a Speidel fermenter that has a bottom drain valve, I Co2 push through the top with this...