Corny keg not dispensing

[Darren Wood]

Hi,

Filled the keg with a pretty expensive black IPA on Saturday. Put a bunch of dry hops (in a hop bag) in there as well. Sealed her up and purged the O2 with a few good blasts of CO2.

Tried to take a sample yesterday but nothing came out. I tried a different beer line. I moved the beer line from the blocked keg to a working keg – all good, so it's not my beer lines.

I blasted some CO2 through the 'out' valve and I heard bubbles. Still not dispensing. I dismantled the out tube and gave it a rinse with hot water, etc – not blocked. And still not dispensing...

Anyone have any ideas? Maybe I've filled the keg too high? I'm out of questions/options...

[Pierre Malan]

I think it sounds like a blocked dip tube.  

When I have had this in the past, I've released the pressure, pulled the dip tube, cleaned it, sanitised it and then reassembled.

If you have hop junk at the bottom of your keg it may re-block.  This has happened a few times to me early on.  Not much fun :)

Good luck!

[Pierre Malan]

OK, I just re-read your message, so sorry for suggesting somtehing you already tried.

Sounds very unusual as you can push gas down the tube, it's not blocked when you take it out, but you are not getting beer through.  Maybe a blockage at the head assembly?

Failing that, siphon to another keg and try leaving debris behind at the bottom.

[Tom]

Put the Co2 disconnect on the beer out post and push a bunch of gas through the tube to unblock it. Then dispense a bit to try clear out some junk.

[Kevin Sharp]

Did you secure the hop bag so that it doesn't sink and block the dip tube?

If not what will probably happen is the bag floats until you pressurise the keg. At that point the small amount of gas that trapped with the hops gets compressed and the bag becomes less buoyant. As it sinks it gets carried with the beer flow and blocks the dip tube.

[Crusader-Rob]

"I blasted some CO2 through the 'out' valve and I heard bubbles"

Was the lid open?

I'm wodnering if you have a CO2 leak? if nothing block there may not be any pressure on the keg?

Can I suggest Racking to a new keg? attached 2 out connection to some beer line, and push through using CO2

[Nathan]

You mentioned cleaning the dip tube....What about the post as well I have had hop matter cause blockages there as well..My money is on a blockage as even with a gas leak it will work still you'd just use a shit ton more gas to get the result..And a leak that bad you'd know about it.

Frozen beer?

[Pierre Malan]

How did you get on?

[Darren Wood]

I didn't secure the hop bag - that was most likely the cause. So I opted to leave it in there for a while longer then just (gently) yanked it out.

Sadly - that didn't actually help... So it was clearly some sort of blockage. I pulled the diptube out and disassembled the post which was where the problem was – that little spring was 1/3 caked with hop residue. Turns out I got a lot of hop gunk into the keg from the kettle – I think i'll use a hop bag when dryhopping in the kettle, too!

Anyway – after the cleaning everything started flowing again; thank god! Thanks for all your help. Cheers & beers!

[Nathan]

Glad to hear....nothing worse than stuck beer....I dont use a hop bag for any of my beers and have only had blockage issues twice, Once was a very heavy dry hop and the other was just a to much gunk into keg.

I find with good processes etc most trub can be avoided getting into keg....Never dry hopped in a keg though.

[Kevin Sharp]

"nothing worse than a stuck beer"

One thing worse than not being able to get beer out the keg is not being able to keep it in there. I had a picnic tap leak because it had accumulated a small amount of hop debris. To stem the leak I pulled the quick connect off the keg. At that point I discovered the hop gunk had jammed the poppet open and the keg emptied its self over the ceiling until I could depressurise it. Nowadays nothing goes into my kegs without going through a filter first.