Okay who here uses a Hop Back

I am considering using a hop back for added aroma as well as filtering before the plate chiller.

I'm wondering who here uses them?
Did you DIY or buy it
Any images would be great,

looks like a drilled asparagus steamer.
would go that route if you wanted to save about 70$

I plan on using one as well. I have a ss mesh filter on kettle but hop pellets escape so want to filoter last bit before I pump in into my Therminator. I figure If it strains out and adds aroma hey dual purpose. I will post results. Figure I would use some rice hulls and an ounce or two of whole hops.

This seems like a fun DIY project. Pretty straight forward and most likely would save you a good bit of cash. I'm think a quick trip to cooking aisle at walmart or any other department store and pick up a SS storage container and then a ss mesh screen. Add couplers and then you good to go!

the asparagus steamers come with a mesh basket and a lid

and typically run under 20$

Rowdy said:

the asparagus steamers come with a mesh basket and a lid

and typically run under 20$

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Looks like a winner to me!

Of course I can't find it now...But there's a how-to for making one out of a mason car, some SS Scrubbies...and a few other small parts.

I have not used mine yet, but I converted my 10 gallon polarware kettle. I installed the couplings as well as a sight gauge to monitor the flow. Inside is a home made hopstopper of stainless 20x20 mesh. I move to a 20 gallon build and though I could use it as a hopback and a decoction/MLT for small batches. We will see how it works.

I have the exact one you linked to from More Beer (but it was given to me for free - I would never spend $80 on this). I have used it a grand total of 1 times. I think I will use it more this year, but I just seemed to migrate away from hoppy beers recently.

It works very well. I think I should consider hooking this up full time when I have a more long term brew rig and use it as a grant when not using it for hops.

I am using the B3 with Rice Hulls and a steamer basket as a plate chiller pre-filter.

To use it properly.

Mine was a DIY out of a piece of .040 wall, 6" Ø stainless pipe. It is approx 8" long, and has a piece of circular stainless perf with .187Ø holes in it on .250 centers about 2" up from the bottom. The perf is also supported by a circle with a cross, kinda like a wagon wheel to give a little extra support under the perf. Then I welded caps with Sanke valves (minus the "valve") and use 2"tri-clamp caps and clamps to seal it up.

I place it just below the boil kettle as seen in the pictures. My first run I did not regulate the flow through the hop-back. Not sure the wort was exposed for enough time to do much. The second time I regulated the flow and gave the wort more contact time. It is sealed, and my only gripe with my design is even though I have the 2" opening from the sanke valve openings, it is a beeaacchh to get the hops out afterwards.

Harpo what a nice fab job. Even if you aren't totally happy with it, I like it.

Heres a good DIY instruction page. Enjoy

http://www.pjmuth.org/beerstuff/hop_back.htm

I have the more beer version as well. I agree it is way over priced but do not have the time to build one..I figure the overtime I work each week can pay for it. I plan to also use some rice hullss along with whole hops to help filter the beer before its pumped into the Therminator..
My ss screen at the bottom of my keg did great for removing 95% of the hops and material but want to limit what gets into the plate chiller to very little.
the added benifit of hop aroma and flor locxked in is good as well.

J

My ss screen at the bottom of my keg did great for removing 95% of the hops and material but want to limit what gets into the plate chiller to very little.

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That's exactly what I'm looking to do....If I can add a litle more hop aroma while filtering out more trub, all the better.

Thanks for the DIY link...I've looked at the mason jar version and decided against it.

SAMPLER - does your have a ss screen on the bottom or do you just fill the bottom with rice hulls? I didn't see any pics of a ss screen.

Harpo...do you think your Hop Back would make it through TSA checkpoint, lol?

So is it better to have the hopback in upstream of the plate chiller or downstream? It seems that upstream would have the advantage of hot wort extracting the hop oils, while downstream would have the advantage of filtering the cold break before the wort hits the fermenter.

Between the BK and chiller (upstream) from what I understand. To filter as well as add hop aroma.

Throw expense to the wind and do both!

Upstream is what I have seen as well, you just won't be able to filter out the cold break that way.

Holy cow Harpo you've got mad fab skills!

Moose777 said:

Harpo...do you think your Hop Back would make it through TSA checkpoint, lol?

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Bomb, anyone? LOL.

It is funny you mention it. When I received the hops in the mail for my first trial of the hop back, I went to pick up my kids (5 year old daughter and a 2 year old son) from school. They both love to watch (and help sometimes) when I brew, and therefore are picking up terms. My daughter knows what hops are, and that the yeast eats the sugar in the wort to get CO2 and alcohol. When I picked them up, they could smell the hops (I opened the bags when I got them as I was brewing the next day) and she asked "daddy, do you have hops in the car?". I pulled them out and let them both smell the hops. The folks in the car next to mine looked at me really weird like I was showing my kids a bag of marijuana or something. It was classic!

pickles said:

Holy cow Harpo you've got mad fab skills!

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Thanks! Just put to use stuff that is sitting around here and there. I had the sanke valve bodys from when I cut the tops off of 3 to make my MLT, BK and HLT.