Trub Filter & Plate Chiller

I have an electric system in my basement that currently uses a hop filter that is in the kettle. I have had varying degrees of success with it but have not been completely satisfied with it's performance. I am thinking of picking up one of the Brewers Hardware Trub Filters to use with it.

I would be implementing it for chilling in this order: From the kettle -->trub filter-->pump-->plate chiller-->fermentor. Question for anyone out there is what would be the best practice to sanitize everything prior to chilling? I have heard of a couple different methods just wondering what everyone is doing and how successful its been. Thanks.

Plus if you have any pics of it integrated into your system I would love to see it for ideas

I use the Brewers Hardware filter and it works great. I also have a Blichmann Plate Chiller. I boil the filter and Plate Chiller together to sanitize them and run Star San through the pump before use. After reading a lot of post about the position of the filter I settled on BK - pump - filter - chiller. This has worked very well for me with no issues. This configuration allows me to prime the pump while clearing some of the hops away from my pick up tube in the BK (before it even gets to the filter). The Brewers Hardware filter does a super job. I just bought one for my son & son-in-law for Christmas. I do have a picture that I will try to post later.

Thanks. Sounds like a good system you have going, I would love to see a pic.

Do you use the standard filter with it or do you have one of the smaller additional filters?

I just dropped around $380 on plate chiller, SS fittings, hoses, and hop rocket. And I haven't gotten my pump yet. Is it worth it for this filter?

I ask because I brewed an iipa Saturday and used my brand new false bottom with pickup tube in my kettle. It was a disaster. The false bottom moved and my pickup tube came off. I had 15 oz of hops floating around which clogged my valve. So I had 12 gallons of wort in my kettle with no functional valve. It was awesome....

I use the standard filter (0.5mm). The most (pellet) hops I've used with this system is about 8 ozs with no clogging of the filter. I use a nylon bag when I use my homegrown hops so I don't know how that would work with this system. If you go to the Brewers Hardware website they have a demo posted where they used 17 ozs of pellet hops without clogging. I've posted a picture of my system (I've gone to Blichmann connectors since this picture was taken). You can see it comes from my BK to my pump, thru the filter and into the chiller. I've done about 12 -15 batches with no problems. As I said, I boil the chiller and filter for about 5 minutes and then let it sit in the pot until ready for use. I run starsan thru the pump and soak the rest of my tubing starsan. I use a plastic tie to hang the filter from one of the burners on my top tier system.

Check out this thread, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/trub-hop-filter-brewershardware-235608/

There are guys that have had mixed results but I think the majority of users really like it. I got the filter at the same time I got my plate chiller and it does a fantastic job of blocking hop debris. I use mine without the optional sock filters and I'd definitely recommend putting it after the pump (BK>Pump>Filter>Chiller>Fermenter). I think the key is to stir and get a whirlpool going at the end of the boil then allow things to settle out for about five minutes before chiling. This method seems to work really well even when brewing beers with tons of pellet hops.

I clean after each brew session by first flushing with hot water until it runs clear, then recirculating hot oxyclean, then recirculating hot water to rinse. To sanitize, I submerge my filter and chiller in a bucket of sanitizer while I'm doing the boil.

BullGator said:

I just dropped around $380 on plate chiller, SS fittings, hoses, and hop rocket. And I haven't gotten my pump yet. Is it worth it for this filter?

Click to expand...

I have the morebeer hopback. When I use it, I place it between BK and Pump. I've found that it does a great job of pre-filtering hop debris, so the amount that makes it into the hop/trub filter is substantially reduced. However, I only use the hopback when brewing certain styles.

Just a thing about plate chillers (IMHO). I don't recirculate to sanitize the system. I think your asking for trouble if you go that route. I read a lot of bad reviews about the plate chillers and almost didn't buy one. I can chill a 6 gallon batch in the winter in about 5 minutes. If you follow the instuctions for cleaning the chiller you will not have any problems from my experience. You have to flush it right away (both ways) pump PBW thru it for the prescribed time, rinse, and then every couple of batches pump starsan thru it. My chiller runs clean everytime. Never any residue or tinting of the water when I boil it the next time. You have to do this from the very first time you use it. I have waited to clean up my equipment the next day after a brew day but NEVER the chiller.

At the end of my boil, I wait 5 minutes for the convection to settle down, whirlpool, and then wait 20 minutes for it to settle. I purge the first part of the wort to expell the hops around the pick up tube and then proceed to chill. Using this method I find very little hops in the filter if I have less than 2 ozs.

Thanks for the info. I have been trying to nail down a good routine for the plate chiller and you guys gave me some good starting points. Think I will be picking this up for my next purchase.

So what does everyone using in the kettle? I have been using a hop spider which works great until the amount of hops gets too ridiculous (I might do 2 for my iipa's). I also have one of those bazooka screens I have used before. I went the false bottom route so I could use a pickup tube to get more wort out of my keggle.

I just got a plate chiller (still in the box) but I'm trying to get my setup right to filter as much as I can before getting to the pc. A series of 'filters' I think would be ideal. For example, if I just went with the trub filter from the original post, I would clog my valve before I even got there (in addition to dropping more cash on yet another piece of equipment). What my goal this past weekend was that the false bottom would keep the leaf hops in the kettle while any smaller bits would be filtered outside the keggle (either my hop rocket or perhaps this trub filter). But like I said, my false bottom moved and ruined that whole plan.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

BullGator said:

So what does everyone using in the kettle?

Click to expand...

The only thing I use in my kettle is a stainless steel pot scrubber over the pickup tube, and that's only when I use whole hops. With pellets I just whirlpool and give it a few minutes to settle out. The majority of hop debris stays in the BK, but what gets picked up by the pickup tube gets filtered out by the hop/trub filter. I'd tried doing some pre-filtering in the BK with stainless steel braids and such, but they had a tendency to clog on me so so I removed them altogether and haven't had any issues.

microbusbrewery said:

The only thing I use in my kettle is a stainless steel pot scrubber over the pickup tube, and that's only when I use whole hops. With pellets I just whirlpool and give it a few minutes to settle out. The majority of hop debris stays in the BK, but what gets picked up by the pickup tube gets filtered out by the hop/trub filter. I'd tried doing some pre-filtering in the BK with stainless steel braids and such, but they had a tendency to clog on me so so I removed them altogether and haven't had any issues.

Click to expand...

What kind of pickup tube do you have? Mine goes to the center which I imagine wouldn't work to well with a whirlpool.

BullGator said:

What kind of pickup tube do you have? Mine goes to the center which I imagine wouldn't work to well with a whirlpool.

Click to expand...

Good point. Mine is homemade with a mix of 1/2" copper pipe and 45 degree elbows, so it kind of loops back to the edge of the pot.

BullGator said:

What kind of pickup tube do you have? Mine goes to the center which I imagine wouldn't work to well with a whirlpool.

Click to expand...

My pickup tube is toward the side of the pan (Blichmann Brewpot) Piling the hops up in the middle of your BK using the whirlpool method would not work very well....it would make it worse.

NMG318 said:

I use the standard filter (0.5mm). The most (pellet) hops I've used with this system is about 8 ozs with no clogging of the filter. I use a nylon bag when I use my homegrown hops so I don't know how that would work with this system. If you go to the Brewers Hardware website they have a demo posted where they used 17 ozs of pellet hops without clogging. I've posted a picture of my system (I've gone to Blichmann connectors since this picture was taken). You can see it comes from my BK to my pump, thru the filter and into the chiller. I've done about 12 -15 batches with no problems. As I said, I boil the chiller and filter for about 5 minutes and then let it sit in the pot until ready for use. I run starsan thru the pump and soak the rest of my tubing starsan. I use a plastic tie to hang the filter from one of the burners on my top tier system.

Click to expand...

Sorry to revive a fairly old thread but I'm thinking about picking one of these inline filters up. My system is all camlock right now but I'm thinking I could just cut two short hose runs before and after the filter and install camlock fittings to the hoses and keep everything else the same.

It looks like you have some sort of adapter on your hoses where they connect to the filter. Can you tell me how they are connected? Thanks!

Rick

ricksox said:

Sorry to revive a fairly old thread but I'm thinking about picking one of these inline filters up. My system is all camlock right now but I'm thinking I could just cut two short hose runs before and after the filter and install camlock fittings to the hoses and keep everything else the same.

It looks like you have some sort of adapter on your hoses where they connect to the filter. Can you tell me how they are connected? Thanks!

Rick

Click to expand...

The filter shown comes with several options for connecting tubing:

http://www.brewershardware.com/Tri-Clover-X-NPT-Adapters/

These come in male or female options.

You then need to get the correct connectors. Here are several options:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/blichmann-quickconnector-fittings.html

http://home-brewing.northernbrewer.com/search?asug=Polysulfone&view=grid&w=Polysulfone

Or your camlock connections.

The ones shown in the photo are polysulfone connectors. I have since gone to Blichmann connectors.

I brewed up a Dark Saison yesterday and had my wife snap this pic as I opened the trub filter. This kind of looks like it's something that got shoved up the shady side of a constipated bull, but it's actually hop debris. I know the hop/trub filter isn't the cheapest piece of equipment out there, but it's good to know it's keeping all this junk out of my plate chiller.