Did my first, solo all-grain brew on Saturday with my new, homemade wort chiller. Everything was working great, the beer was coming out cool, couldn't have been more happy. Then, all of a sudden, no flow. I was using both pellet and leaf hops, and it turns out a leaf hop got caught in the copper tubing of the CFC. Couldn't get it out to save my life, and I still had 4 gallons to cool. So, through the pot into the bathtub and turned on the cold water.
Eventually, I got the stuck hop out, but it was too late to use the CFC again. I ended up pitching my 2L Trappist yeast starter (big beer!, OG=1.072) into the wort at 81F and had active fermentation in a few hours. I think I turned out fine, no contamination from the prolonged sitting at warm temps due to the large, fresh starter, I hope.
My question is how do people stop hops from getting into the CFC? I don't have a brew kettle with a ball valve or anything, and I won't be doing that until I get my SS keg. So, what I am looking for is something to hook the CFC inlet tubing up to and submerge into the brew kettle. Any ideas?
Eventually, I got the stuck hop out, but it was too late to use the CFC again. I ended up pitching my 2L Trappist yeast starter (big beer!, OG=1.072) into the wort at 81F and had active fermentation in a few hours. I think I turned out fine, no contamination from the prolonged sitting at warm temps due to the large, fresh starter, I hope.
My question is how do people stop hops from getting into the CFC? I don't have a brew kettle with a ball valve or anything, and I won't be doing that until I get my SS keg. So, what I am looking for is something to hook the CFC inlet tubing up to and submerge into the brew kettle. Any ideas?