Upgrading to 1bbl, some questions

As the title implies, I am working on upgrading from 10g to 1bbl. There's a few procedural questions that I have in upping the scale.

The main one is with hops and their removal. I've always used hop socks, but think that would be impractical. How do the "big boys" do it? I'll be using a plate filter as I do now, and will still recirculate to form the whirlpool. So, how do you keep the hops out of the pump/chiller?

The other question is burners. I have the bayou burners now (200k BTUs), will those be adequate for boiling 35+ gallons? They will be, of course, incorporated into a stand, not just sitting on the grounds...

On a side note, does this place seem reasonable to everyone else on prices? http://conical-fermenter.com/products/ It seems like some awesome quality for the price to me...

Bump.

The pro brew houses that I have seen primarily use whirlpool to remove as much crap from the wort. I know one brewery around here says they end up having to plan on leaving a little wort behind when they do their IPA due to the amount of hops in the brew. You could also probably use something like a hopback or grant with a filter before the chiller. That might help clear the wort up before it hits the plate chiller.

How do you whirlpool with loose hops without the hops getting sucked into the pump? I think I'm missing something really simple somewhere. I can't imagine frantically stirring 30g with a spoon to create a whirlpool...

Maybe there is some component that I didn't see, but it was pretty much just draining from center drain > pump > side whirlpool port. Then drain from side port after whirlpool > heat exg. Also hose/fittings/pump diameters are much larger than homebrew scale.

curlyfat said:

How do you whirlpool with loose hops without the hops getting sucked into the pump? I think I'm missing something really simple somewhere. I can't imagine frantically stirring 30g with a spoon to create a whirlpool...

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Use pellets is my suggestion. I pump pellets all the time, recirculating through the entire boil and after, never had a problem with a march 809. I'll be stepping up to a march 815 and a 55g kettle soon as well, and I plan on doing the same.
Edit: ah, can't comment on the prevention of hops in the chiller, that might be a problem.. I would think a counterflow would work fine though.

pellets should go thru your pump ok. I'd imagine large breweries are using tubing larger than 1/2" as well. 1" tube won't plug with pellets.

I've been putting my leftover leaf hops in the food processor and grinding to a powder to get around the whirpool pump issue. It works great, just like pellets.

curlyfat said:

How do you whirlpool with loose hops without the hops getting sucked into the pump?

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Budzu said:

Use pellets is my suggestion. I pump pellets all the time, recirculating through the entire boil and after, never had a problem with a march 809.

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strat_thru_marshall said:

pellets should go thru your pump ok.

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Word of caution. I use a Little Giant pump, and the pellets do go through it fine, but one time I had the hose on the outlet of the pump sitting down against the bottom of my kettle while the pump was running.

The hop sludge couldn't get OUT of the hose fast enough, started to pile up, and eventually backed all the way through my chilling coil and into the pump head. Stopped that pump dead in it's tracks. Took a lot of coaxing to get the damn thing unclocged and working again (the batch I was making had to be dumped manually into the fermenter)

Royal pain in the ass.

curlyfat said:

How do you whirlpool with loose hops without the hops getting sucked into the pump? I think I'm missing something really simple somewhere. I can't imagine frantically stirring 30g with a spoon to create a whirlpool...

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You should be able to pump pellets, a false bottom will stop leaf hops.

Just curious, are you moving up to 1bbl batches to move towards commercial production? Or for personal use?

Ha! Too bad you'll only be able to brew a few times a year, what with that 200 gallon rule and everything,.

mlanoue said:

Ha! Too bad you'll only be able to brew a few times a year, what with that 200 gallon rule and everything,.

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I have brewed about 80 gallons this year, but... there's only 15 gallons sitting at my house. No way for anyone to prove that I brewed more than 15 gallons, right?

Somehow I didn't consider the possibility of pellet hops...

I imagine that would work dandy even with 1/2" hose. I'd still need some sort pre-filter before the chiller which shouldn't be too difficult.

jamest22 said:

Just curious, are you moving up to 1bbl batches to move towards commercial production? Or for personal use?

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I would like to go pro at some point, but right now it's a "because I can" situation. I will still have my ten gallon setup for exerpimenting, but will produce tried and true on the 1bbl.

I think down the road the 1bbl could be my pilot system.