Whole-leaf hops with Blichmann Boilermaker

I'm looking for recommendations for separating whole-leaf hops in a Blichmann Boilermaker? Their hop-screen is advertised for pellets only. Is their false-bottom a good solution?

I currently have a 10gal Polarware kettle with a false bottom and that works great with whole-leaf hops. I'm upgrading to 15gal and was looking for a similar setup for Boilermakers.

Get a Stout Kettle. The weldless fitting can be a PIA after many uses on a Blickman. We use a hop filter from Brewers hardware.

oakbarn said:

Get a Stout Kettle. The weldless fitting can be a PIA after many uses on a Blickman. [...]

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Umm....what? I have three years and ~500 gallons brewed using those fittings, never ever had even a hint of a problem with them.

As for the whole hops thing, the Blingmann FB should work quite well, the price isn't a turn-off...

Cheers!

oakbarn said:

Get a Stout Kettle. The weldless fitting can be a PIA after many uses on a Blickman. We use a hop filter from Brewers hardware.

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Do you use that with flowers or pellets?

Also, are the Stout kettles the same thing as the kettles Brewers Hardware sells? They sure look like the same thing.

day_trippr said:

Umm....what? I have three years and ~500 gallons brewed using those fittings, never ever had even a hint of a problem with them.

As for the whole hops thing, the Blingmann FB should work quite well, the price isn't a turn-off...

Cheers!

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The false bottom doesn't allow enough flow for boiling liquid, you'll end up with scorched wort.

I use a hop bag. There was an aftermarket hop screen for leaf and pellet by someone else... Lemme find that..

ne0t0ky0 said:

The false bottom doesn't allow enough flow for boiling liquid, you'll end up with scorched wort.

I use a hop bag. There was an aftermarket hop screen for leaf and pellet by someone else... Lemme find that..

Click to expand...

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/hop-stopper

The hop stopper is pretty sweet (have one myself).

Great tip on the HopStopper. Thanks. Do you foresee any issues using it with a Stout kettle?

herman2011 said:

Great tip on the HopStopper. Thanks. Do you foresee any issues using it with a Stout kettle?

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Buying a stock one would probably be an issue because the dip tube is bent for the stock Boilermaker ball valve outlet height, but the guy says they can be made for any kettle. Hit the website and shoot him an e-mail.

Thanks.

Any opinions on whirlpooling and drawing from the side versus straining trub and hobs through a hop-stopper like approach?

Not sure whirlpooling will ever really work when using flower hops... i.e. not sure there's enough diameter in the typical 15gal homebrewer kettles for getting all the flowers to move to the center and leave enough free room on the side of the kettle. Hence the hop-stopper idea might be better for flowers. But I've never tried either approach so I'm curious for opinions out there on this.