Bazooka/Hop Stopper/Hop Sack/etc.

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bdnoona

bdnoona

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Am I missing any options in the title? I'm trying to determine what the best method for hop filtering is to drain the kettle through a ball valve. I brew IPA's a lot and as a result use lots of hops (leaf and pellet; sometimes both, sometimes only one type). So what is the best idea/design for this purpose? I really don't want to spend for the hop stopper.

Would something like Orfy's set up work best? I'm really not all that concerned about some pellet muck getting into the fermenter, but will it drain through that scrubbie if there is a lot of hop pellet junk? Or will it clog?

I have used the suspended hop sack a few times and really noticed a significant drop in hop utilization on those brews. It is extremely convenient but not worth the loss in that regard IMO.

Would it be best to just whirlpool successfully and drain through the ball valve w/o a filter?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Brian
 
I've used the hop sacks before, but I've been curious lately whether the hops would settle out enough in primary not to even worry about it.
 
Im about to chuck my bazooka as it makes it more difficult when it comes to cooling time with my IC. I dont really care about trub in my fermenter as it all settles and I rack off the beer anyway. And yes, most of the hop trub settles or gets stuck on the side of the fermenter as well.
-Me
 
Berserker_Brew said:
in my experience, the best solution i have found has been a combined whirlpool and bazooka-type screen. without a whirlpool, the bazooka-style screens clog very easily.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm afraid of, but there has to be a better way. Can anyone vouch for the copper pipe with small holes method? I can't imagine that would work any better.
 
bdnoona said:
Am I missing any options in the title? I'm trying to determine what the best method for hop filtering is to drain the kettle through a ball valve. I brew IPA's a lot and as a result use lots of hops (leaf and pellet; sometimes both, sometimes only one type). So what is the best idea/design for this purpose? I really don't want to spend for the hop stopper.

Would something like Orfy's set up work best? I'm really not all that concerned about some pellet muck getting into the fermenter, but will it drain through that scrubbie if there is a lot of hop pellet junk? Or will it clog?

I have used the suspended hop sack a few times and really noticed a significant drop in hop utilization on those brews. It is extremely convenient but not worth the loss in that regard IMO.

Would it be best to just whirlpool successfully and drain through the ball valve w/o a filter?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Brian
Click to expand...


Are you using the cloth hop sacks or the 5 gal paint strainers? I've got the same problem as you and I've read a lot on the site about using a 5 gal paint strainer bag and how you get much better hop utilization out of that because the hops are still free floating and not so tightly packed together.

:mug:
 
Beavdowg said:
Are you using the cloth hop sacks or the 5 gal paint strainers? I've got the same problem as you and I've read a lot on the site about using a 5 gal paint strainer bag and how you get much better hop utilization out of that because the hops are still free floating and not so tightly packed together.

:mug:
Click to expand...

I've been using the 5G paint strainers, suspended above the kettle via the plastic PVC collar, etc. I even make sure the bag is completely submerged by putting a piece of copper in the bottom. Still I had massive hop utilization problems, probably because my kettle is so wide. I'm quite convinced I don't want to use a hop sack anymore. I'm a total hophead, and lacking that hop punch is something I desperately want to avoid.
 
I use a bazooka, but I've seen some incredible piles of hops on a hop stopper. Figure it has 10 times the straining area of a bazooka. I'm building one out of two splatter screens.
 
I use a false bottom in my keggle. Works like a champ. I also whirlpool. Significant amounts of pellet hop debris will pass through the false bottom, but most of that accumulates in a pile around the siphon tube. Some inevitably makes it to the fermenter, but that doesn't worry me at all. Whole hops get pretty much completely strained out by the FB. When I was using a smaller kettle with a spigot, I simply whirlpooled the wort and after waiting 10 minutes or so drained through the spigot without any kind of screen or strainer.
 
I'm going with the home made hop stopper. I've read too many threads about how awesome they are. Check out Bobby M's sig and you can see how to make one and part codes. If you don't want to spend the time, then I would buy a hop stopper. I like the home made version because you can size it to fit your kettle.
 
My problem isn't so much a worry about hops ending up in the fermentor it's keeping the hop sludge and cold break from clogging my drain tube emptying my kettle. On my first AG batch it got clogged about 2.5 gals into draining it. A major problem since my autosiphon wasn't sanitized yet. I'm looking for a way to keep my drain tube from clogging while I'm draining into my fermentor. I wonder why some people feel they haven't lost any hop utilization while a couple others are adament they are losing hop performance? I want to start making some IPA's as I'm a hop junky too so I'd like to solve this problem before too long.

:mug:
 
I know people say they lose utilization with a strainer. I can't see it if you have a good boil and a sack that is large enough. Not saying people don't know what they are talking about. I'm going to use the sack and make me a hopstopper both.
 
I have a kettle made from a 15.5 keg. I used a SS collander, turned upside down in the bottom of the kettle. Has a hole drilled in the center for my copper pickup tube to go through. It filters out the leaf and lets most of the pellets go on through. It has worked like a champ for almost a year and cost about 5 bucks or less.
 
I have a 1/2" valve on my brew kettle and primarily use pellets. Recently, I've started using my hop sack, sterilized, and wrapped around my funnel as I run off into the carboy. It filters the same as it would in the brew kettle, but by not introducing it until after the wort leaves the kettle, I still get full utilization. I'm assuming you could use the scrubby for the leaf and a hop sack (post-boil) for the pellets/hops.
 
Grizzlybrew said:
I have a 1/2" valve on my brew kettle and primarily use pellets. Recently, I've started using my hop sack, sterilized, and wrapped around my funnel as I run off into the carboy. It filters the same as it would in the brew kettle, but by not introducing it until after the wort leaves the kettle, I still get full utilization. I'm assuming you could use the scrubby for the leaf and a hop sack (post-boil) for the pellets/hops.
Click to expand...

My only concern here is regarding the hop pellet sludge clogging the scrubbie up and stopping the draining. I don't care if all the sludge makes it into the fermenter, I just want it to drain through the ball valve. This will work if it lets pellet stuff through but stops whole leaf hops.

To everyone mentioning using a 5G paint strainer, let me say again, it limits my utilization. I'm not crazy. jackson_d tried it too at almost exactly the same time I did, with practically identical equipment. We brew IPAs almost exclusively. Hop utilization suffered for both of us. We had a sample size of probably 7-8 brews before ditching the sack.

I suppose building the hop stopper screen myself is the best solution, but that seems like a hassle to take off and clean. Not to mention a pain to build. Anyway, thanks to all for the suggestions.
 
bdnoona said:
Am I missing any options in the title? I'm trying to determine what the best method for hop filtering is to drain the kettle through a ball valve. I brew IPA's a lot and as a result use lots of hops (leaf and pellet; sometimes both, sometimes only one type). So what is the best idea/design for this purpose? I really don't want to spend for the hop stopper.

Would something like Orfy's set up work best? I'm really not all that concerned about some pellet muck getting into the fermenter, but will it drain through that scrubbie if there is a lot of hop pellet junk? Or will it clog?

I have used the suspended hop sack a few times and really noticed a significant drop in hop utilization on those brews. It is extremely convenient but not worth the loss in that regard IMO.

Would it be best to just whirlpool successfully and drain through the ball valve w/o a filter?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Brian
Click to expand...

Funny, I did an experiment and found no loss in hop utilization using the hop bag.

Sawdustguy said:
I have found a better alternative to the paint strainer bags for Lil' Sparky's hop filter gadget. I use the 150 micron Polyester Multifiliment version of these:

Bags19a.JPG


http://www.filterbags.com/filter_bag_pricing.htm

The Polyester Multifiliment version is good to 300* F and you can load the heck out of them with pellet hops. Back in July I did some tests on the bags to see if they would restrict hop flavoring. I brewed a simple brown ale. I had enough grains to do a 10 gallon batch so I split the grains and brewed one 5 gallon batch on a Saturday without the a hop bag using an immersion chiller and on Sunday I brewed the other 5 gallon batch using the Polyester hop bag and a Shirron plate chiller. I used an equal amount of hops in each batch. When the beer was ready to drink (barely) I had my brother Gary do the taste test. Damn if he could tell a difference in hoppiness and neither could I. While this was not a perfectly controlled laboratory test, it told me what I needed to know. The cool thing was that I found no hop debris in the Keggle when using the bag. The other neat thing is that you do not need a clamp when using the Polyester Multifiliment Bag as they have a molded top that is wider than the small piece of PVC pipe I used. They are washable also.
Click to expand...
 

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