How to keep my bazooka tube from getting clogged?

I recently upgraded to a 15 gallon boil pot. I added a valve and a bazooka tube. I've made two batches...a 5 gal batch with 1 oz of pellet hops, and a 10 gal batch with 4 oz of pellet hops. Both times the tube got clogged. This last batch I had to rack from the boil pot to the fermenter, hops and all.

I'm thinking of ditching the bazooka tube and going back to my home-made hop filter made from paint strainer bags. Anyone have any solutions to clogged bazooka tubes? Are they just no good for pellets? Or should I just go back to what worked for me?

Subscribed cause I have one that I can never use it is always clogged. I whirlpool too and it still gets clogged.

yeah, i just spent $20 on one and stopped using it after one batch, went to paint strainer bags. Also it screws up stirring and whirlpooling.

fizgig said:

yeah, i just spent $20 on one and stopped using it after one batch, went to paint strainer bags. Also it screws up stirring and whirlpooling.

Click to expand...

Exactly, I can't stir the darn wort either, and it messes up the immersion chiller too cause the bazooka screen extends 4" into the pot.

So glad I am not the only one! My bazooka screen pisses me off. Always clogs, hard to stir without crashing into it, and it interferes with my chiller. Was thinking about a hop strainer.

Good luck. Hop pellets are gonna clog that no matter what. You might try some whole hops. Otherwise, paint strainers work wonders.

i'm looking for a solution myself. Considering a http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/hophanger.html

I've also seen BobbyfromNJ's youtube vid on building a hopstopper which looks
pretty good.

What about building a hop spider? I brew 10 gallon batches, typically hop heavy, and have no real issues with hop gunk now. I built it for about 10 bucks.

I have a hop spider and have used it for years. I'll just go back to that and ditch the bazooka screen.

I'm looking at doing a jay bird 15" false bottom (I use a keggle) with the three stage stand. Check out NorCal brewing. Not cheap at $130 with the reverse hinge and handle but I've read good things about it stopping hops and break while letting you drain virtually all the liquid.

megavites said:

i'm looking for a solution myself. Considering a http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/hophanger.html

I've also seen BobbyfromNJ's youtube vid on building a hopstopper which looks
pretty good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypBIcRE2cV8&list=UURBBPlmq3OnbhiOm7EshI3g&index=51

Click to expand...

I made one similar to this and it clogs badly with pellets, the mesh is way to fine. I've made several versions and all had similar problems. This is what I'm using now and its the best yet but still clogged once in a brew with alot of pellets. Going to use a sock for pellets from now on

megavites said:

i'm looking for a solution myself. Considering a http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/hophanger.html

I've also seen BobbyfromNJ's youtube vid on building a hopstopper which looks
pretty good. Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypBIcRE2cV8&list=UURBBPlmq3OnbhiOm7EshI3g&index=51

Click to expand...

I like the idea of this "hop spider" for keeping the hops in the kettle but that doesn't keep the break from

bd2xu said:

I like the idea of this "hop spider" for keeping the hops in the kettle but that doesn't keep the break from

Click to expand...

Oops. Keep the break from going in. Reading that with the false bottom the hops and break collect in the bottom and stay back in the boil kettle.

Hops and cold break aren't necessarily a bad thing going into the fermentor... Can be positive for fermentation, only down fall is if you harvest yeast from primary