Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Has anyone shortened their dip tubes on kegs? if so would you do it again?

I've been reading this could be a good way to limit the amount of sediment picked up initially, and if cold conditioning could allow you to transfer while still under pressure.

I read to do that many years ago but never did it. I don't mind that first burst of sediment in the keg. I just dump it out which is usually about half a glass. After that my beer pours clear.

The thing to think about when shortening your dip tube is that by shortening it, that is just more precious beer that is left over in the keg.

With kegs being so easy to deal with, you really are just better off to keg it and cold crash, then just transfer it to another keg. All you need is a small jumper hose, with two liquid connectors on it, leave the full keg hooked up to the gas side (turn it down to reduce foam), and open the relief valve on the keg to transfer too. You will transfer a small amount of sediment. But not enough to pick up in the new keg after everything has settled out.

I agree with the previous posts, it is not that big of a problem and I don't want to leave any more beer in the keg than I have to.

One interesting device I saw awhile back was a floating beer pick up connected to a length of hose, then you replace the normal pickup tube with a gas in tube and connected the hose to that. This way you always would draw your beer from the top of your beer, leaving any sediment in the bottom of the keg. At the time I looked at it, it was only available in England and was insanely expensive for what it was.

JimF wrote:I agree with the previous posts, it is not that big of a problem and I don't want to leave any more beer in the keg than I have to.

One interesting device I saw awhile back was a floating beer pick up connected to a length of hose, then you replace the normal pickup tube with a gas in tube and connected the hose to that. This way you always would draw your beer from the top of your beer, leaving any sediment in the bottom of the keg. At the time I looked at it, it was only available in England and was insanely expensive for what it was.

It looks like they have a US distributor now, still pricey at $34 with hose or $19 without plus $12 shipping since you would need one for each keg but at least you don't have to buy the entire kit. http://www.ukbrewing.com/CaskWidge_Floa ... /40165.htm

So when you transfer to a new keg, you dump the first 8 oz or so (where its really thick), and then allow the rest to fill through the liquid out posts? Is your beer carbonated, or flat at this point?

BrewHound wrote:The thing to think about when shortening your dip tube is that by shortening it, that is just more precious beer that is left over in the keg.

With kegs being so easy to deal with, you really are just better off to keg it and cold crash, then just transfer it to another keg. All you need is a small jumper hose, with two liquid connectors on it, leave the full keg hooked up to the gas side (turn it down to reduce foam), and open the relief valve on the keg to transfer too. You will transfer a small amount of sediment. But not enough to pick up in the new keg after everything has settled out.

I don't throw any out. Since you are leaving 90% of the trub behind in the first keg, once the second keg settles out, it will not be high enough to get into the dip tube as kegs have a concave bottom. You will get a very small amount if the fist glass but not enough to even warrent dumping the first glass.

You can transfer it carbonated or uncarbonated. I like to do it before I carb as you can transfer much quicker since you don't have to turn down gas pressure as much. But you can easily transfer it carbonated just turn down your gas pressure on your gas.
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whitedj wrote:So when you transfer to a new keg, you dump the first 8 oz or so (where its really thick), and then allow the rest to fill through the liquid out posts? Is your beer carbonated, or flat at this point?

BrewHound wrote:The thing to think about when shortening your dip tube is that by shortening it, that is just more precious beer that is left over in the keg.

With kegs being so easy to deal with, you really are just better off to keg it and cold crash, then just transfer it to another keg. All you need is a small jumper hose, with two liquid connectors on it, leave the full keg hooked up to the gas side (turn it down to reduce foam), and open the relief valve on the keg to transfer too. You will transfer a small amount of sediment. But not enough to pick up in the new keg after everything has settled out.

I have found with most beers, cold crashing my fermenter and letting everything settle out there reduces the sediment transferred to the keg. That is another reason I don't mess with the dip tube, you rack clear beer to the keg there won't be much sediment.

One other item, if you cut the tube, make sure it is a clean cut. Rough cuts harbor bacteria.

if you have multiple kegs , use ones that already have a shorter tube, i have a couple that do already have a shorter tube than some others, i use those on hoppy beers to avod the hop junk in my pickup tube



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