blocking during recirc whirlpooling

Hey fellas so i have just started an attempt at recircing my whirpool to chill but i am using a bazzooka(mesh filter) tube to filter my hop additions(at the outlet to the ketteL)recircing from the kettle to the pump and this has blocked straight away on each attempt what is everyone suggest to stop the blocking and make the jamil chilling method work also? as far as whirlpoling goes i am using pellets and generally making hoppy beers.
the last few times i have brewed i have had to siphon off the top of the brew to get my wort and im not happy with the technique
what am i doing wrong

I use a 300 micron ss cloth screen rolled into a tube, and placed inside of a standard acrylic household filter housing, but I don't use pellets.
I have a feeling pellets are going to get through just about anything.
My suggestion, switch to leaf.

Those bazookas work great with whole (leaf) hops, but aren't designed to work with pellet hops unfortunately.

When I use pellet hops, I either bag them or skip the bazooka.

Just getting ready to do the same Jamil setup (His article actually saved me about $200 in a plate chiller and fittings). Seems like folks are using a hop bag or a hop spider to hold back the goopy pellet hop mess. Can't wait to get my first pumped whirlpool'd beer brewing! Good luck!

If you whirlpool well and give enough time for it to settle you don't need the bazooka screen.

I got rid of my Bazooka screen for that same reason. Next I went to a hop spider which worked ok for a bit and now I just whirlpool then let it settle for 20 mins or so and then run the wort directly through my plate chiller with no issues at all.

Ramitt said:

If you whirlpool well and give enough time for it to settle you don't need the bazooka screen.

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I agree with this. After my whirlpool I have a beautiful cone/pile of all my hops in the middle of my kettle. Just make sure your dip tube goes off to the side.

Ramitt said:

If you whirlpool well and give enough time for it to settle you don't need the bazooka screen.

Click to expand...

Isn't he talking about using the pump as part of the whirlpool process? It's hard to pre-whirlpool your whirlpool...

Not an issue really because most of the hop and trub particulate is suspended due to the boil. As soon as you get the whirlpool going, most all of that is going to concentrate in the center. Just work your flow control valve open and closed a few times during the recirculation to dislodge any debris in the valve. Beyond that is a pretty much a self-cleaning process.