New way to control Pellet Hop gunk!

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Im interested in any tests done with 200, 300, and 400 micron. post some results and pictures please!

Just waiting on my new fermenter to arrive (eta friday) and SWMBO approval to do a 20 gallon batch of Belgian Dark Strong this weekend...... I will be using the 200 Micron filter again and posting lots of pics. In the next week or so I should be getting the 300 micron filter and will most likely test it on a 10 gallon batch of Pliny to really see how it holds up to hop gunk.
 
I ordered one and asked him if he had done any tests on 400 v. 300 micron. He said no, but thought the 400 would probably allow finer pellet material into the boil, but not a lot.

He then emailed me back to let me know he ran out, will be building more this weekend, and asked if I wanted the 300 micron screen. I told him yes. Pretty cool dude.
 
I will post some experience that I've had with a similar device, albeit with larger mesh (30x30 .013 wire 37.5% open area). It worked great for both hop types at first, with very little hop material getting through. After quite a few uses though, the holes started to plug with beer stone, turning it a nice shade of brown. My cleaning regiment was to wash the mesh with my water hose at high pressure, but the beer stone continued to stick, plugging up at least 40% of the open holes. To get the holes unplugged I used a pressure washer.

Another thing I notice with my device is that I sit it on the bottom of the kettle during a boil, and at first the wort bubbles up through just like the rest of the pot. After about 45 minutes or so, the protein starts to gather around the base, clogging any flow of wort from the boiling action. I bet the protein is at least 1/8" thick on the bottom after 60 minutes.


I will be making a new device with 28x28, .01 wire, 51% open to see if anything changes. The opening on this new mesh is .006 bigger, so I don't expect a big increase in hop material passing through.
 
Has anyone had this guy make one for a keggle? I'm looking for input on sizing for a keggle version.
 
Has anyone had this guy make one for a keggle? I'm looking for input on sizing for a keggle version.

I don't think so, Keggles can have some significant variances between the 50l and the 15.5 gallon versions and even between manufacturers there are several styles. The opening sizes will also play a factor as well. My suggestion would be to take some measurements and some pics, post them to this thread and we'll happily make suggestions.
 
Good brew day yesterday, filter performed well in a Belgian dark strong 20 gallon batch. This one only called for 8 oz of hops and still drained really slowly with zero hop gunk in my kettle once removed. I still believe the 200 is too fine and will be testing the 300 next.

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marcb said:
Good brew day yesterday, filter performed well in a Belgian dark strong 20 gallon batch. This one only called for 8 oz of hops and still drained really slowly with zero hop gunk in my kettle once removed. I still believe the 200 is too fine and will be testing the 300 next.

Forgot to note that I took the second runnings and made a 5 gallon batch alongside this one an just threw the hops in. No perceivable difference in bitterness/aroma in the filtered vs free floating hops
 
Forgot to note that I took the second runnings and made a 5 gallon batch alongside this one an just threw the hops in. No perceivable difference in bitterness/aroma in the filtered vs free floating hops

Thats a great idea. Thanks for all your information! I see your in Santa Clarita! I am in Redondo Beach.
 
My 300 micron filter just got here, looking forward to testing it out on a batch of Pliny. Here's a side by side but you can't really tell the difference in the pic, by sight it's obvious and I think that 300 is the right choice.... Looking forward to testing my theory. Chad from Arbor fabrication is a very good guy to do business with and I am very pleased with the quality of his work!

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marcb said:
My 300 micron filter just got here, looking forward to testing it out on a batch of Pliny. Here's a side by side but you can't really tell the difference in the pic, by sight it's obvious and I think that 300 is the right choice.... Looking forward to testing my theory. Chad from Arbor fabrication is a very good guy to do business with and I am very pleased with the quality of his work!

Lol, forgot to note that my brew helper on Sunday decided to crush my 200 micron filter a little. Still not sure how it happened or how much force was involved as in working with the filters I have not found them to be delicate or prone to damage.... Let's chalk it up to too many beers during cleanup ; )
 
This looks great as my hopstopper can't handle more than 3oz of hops... Has there be any conclusion on how keeping your hops inside one of these mesh assemblies vs letting them float free effects the flavor of the beer? That's the only reason I haven't tried one of these yet. I'm worried that I will be reducing the amount of hop bitterness, aroma and flavor.
 
Zeppman said:
This looks great as my hopstopper can't handle more than 3oz of hops... Has there be any conclusion on how keeping your hops inside one of these mesh assemblies vs letting them float free effects the flavor of the beer? That's the only reason I haven't tried one of these yet. I'm worried that I will be reducing the amount of hop bitterness, aroma and flavor.

Yes, I did a head to head with a second running smaller batch beer next to my primary brew last brew day and there wasn't any perceivable difference in the bitterness that I could tell. This was for a BDS with a single 60 minute hop addition. Looking forward to testing the 300 mesh with some Pliny coming up.
 
I am interested in one for my keggle. It has the top completely cut out and is a smooth wall to the handles and it is about 19" to the start of the handle and 14" diameter. I primarily do 5 gallon batches but see 10 in my future. Do you think your design would work? If not, do you have any modifications you would suggest? I currently use a hop bag and am not satisfied with it.
Thanks
 
TnFarmer said:
I am interested in one for my keggle. It has the top completely cut out and is a smooth wall to the handles and it is about 19" to the start of the handle and 14" diameter. I primarily do 5 gallon batches but see 10 in my future. Do you think your design would work? If not, do you have any modifications you would suggest? I currently use a hop bag and am not satisfied with it.
Thanks

Can you post a pic to this thread so we can see how the top is cut out/off? You would probably need to modify the design a bit but Chad (the seller) is flexible so if you can draw it, take a pic and email it, he will build it for you!
 
Picked up one of these a few weeks ago and it works great! The only "design flaw" is that it must be kept upright to do its job. I was draining off the liquid at the end of the boil and tipped it over too far, spilling half the hop debris into the kettle! I think it's more of a design flaw with me and drinking a few too many while brewing!
 
Here is a pic of my keggle. It is probably hard to see but I have cut out and ground smooth where the keg bend in and meets the handle skirt. It might not look like it but it is very smooth. I left three tabs to rest a lid on if I can find one that fits.
Would it be best to just hang the strainer from the skirt or a handle or try and have feet on it? What diameter and how far off the bottom should it be for 5-10 gallon batches? I will ask the fabricator as well but I figure more input is better.

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TnFarmer said:
Here is a pic of my keggle. It is probably hard to see but I have cut out and ground smooth where the keg bend in and meets the handle skirt. It might not look like it but it is very smooth. I left three tabs to rest a lid on if I can find one that fits.
Would it be best to just hang the strainer from the skirt or a handle or try and have feet on it? What diameter and how far off the bottom should it be for 5-10 gallon batches? I will ask the fabricator as well but I figure more input is better.

Nope, that is exactly what I needed. I'll sketch something up for you off and post it as a pic with measurements this weekend. You'll need longer hooks for sure, how high up the keg are the five gallon batches? It might be expensive to get one 6" x 20" to cover the entire rise of the keg.
 
marcb said:
Nope, that is exactly what I needed. I'll sketch something up for you off and post it as a pic with measurements this weekend. You'll need longer hooks for sure, how high up the keg are the five gallon batches? It might be expensive to get one 6" x 20" to cover the entire rise of the keg.

I got a quote for a 6 by 14 with 300 micron and it was $60.00.Not too bad.
 
I've been following this thread and am definitely going to order one of these eventually... This forum is going to be the best thing to happen to this guy lol
 
I should also mention that I've been using mine as a filter from the mash tun in to the kettle. No more vourlaufing to keep the chunks of grain out - and no more clogged plate chiller!
 
cadillacandy said:
I should also mention that I've been using mine as a filter from the mash tun in to the kettle. No more vourlaufing to keep the chunks of grain out - and no more clogged plate chiller!

Dude, that's awesome! My buddy has an issue with lautering and I hadn't thought of that!
 
marcb said:
Dude, that's awesome! My buddy has an issue with lautering and I hadn't thought of that!

I tried everything - triple vourlauf, kettle bazooka, mesh bag filter and this has been the best. Plus it holds the hose nicely so I don't worry about it flying out and dumping a gallon of wort on the floor. Best $40 I spent on brewing equipment so far.
 
marcb said:
Definitely don't want to do feet on the bottom as it would be bobbing around during the boil.

I got a piece of stainless heavy gauge wire to secure it down a little lower. Not on the bottom, just down another couple of inches. It's fine for a 5 gallon batch in my 11 gallon kettle but needs a couple inches for smaller batches.
 
TnFarmer said:
Here is a pic of my keggle. It is probably hard to see but I have cut out and ground smooth where the keg bend in and meets the handle skirt. It might not look like it but it is very smooth. I left three tabs to rest a lid on if I can find one that fits.
Would it be best to just hang the strainer from the skirt or a handle or try and have feet on it? What diameter and how far off the bottom should it be for 5-10 gallon batches? I will ask the fabricator as well but I figure more input is better.

Something like this should work pretty well for you for 5-10 gallon batches based on my measurements off of a standard 15.5 gallon keg. For others if there is a lip or if they are using 13 gallon (50 liter euro kegs) there will be differences.

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Thanks for that. I really appreciate it. How far off the bottom should the strainer be? Then I can use the actual measurements from my keg to keep it that distance off. Would an I ch be to close to the heat?
 
TnFarmer said:
Thanks for that. I really appreciate it. How far off the bottom should the strainer be? Then I can use the actual measurements from my keg to keep it that distance off. Would an I ch be to close to the heat?

I was assuming that 3" was safe off of the bottom based on the measurements I took off of my buddy's keg. Two is probably fine as well.
 
if you looking for a real good strainer google Chinois or china caps. these are what we use in restaurants. china caps are larger, have different hole sizes and would be good for removing hop leaf. chinois are super fine mesh and would remove any fine particles from what ever you run through it
 
So the last post gave me an idea since my 300 mesh strainer showed up this week but the SWMBO hasn't sanctioned a brew day until next sunday.... I used it to strain a beef stock for her and it worked beautifully! Couple of things different about the 300 over the 200. Even when cleaning with PBW (nothing solid or chunky in the liquid) it would trap air if inverted when cleaning so it is definitely too fine for this application. The 300 did not. I switched from doing a Pliny next week to a 10 gallon Pumpkin ale recipe for seasonal goodness. I will report back with how the 300 performs with lots of pics. So far it is easier to clean and seems to be better suited for hop straining.... will see!
 
Dumb question, but I use an immersion chiller to cool down my wort. Because of that, I'm figuring the only way to make this work would be to have the stainer in the center of the pot. Any thoughts on the best way to brace it to make that happen? I use a 9 gallon pot from Adventures in Homebrewing (see link) with a ball valve and sight gauge/thermometer from BrewHardare.com. The picture below is the stock photo from Adventures in Hombrewing without the sight gauge and thermometer.

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http://www.homebrewing.org/One-Weld-9-Gallon-Stainless-Steel-Pot_p_1683.html

Everything works great, but I get a ton of hops and break in the fermenter. I've tried a bazooka screen, but it gets clogged like crazy. This seems like a better option.

Thanks for the help.
 
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