Keggle siphon issues or clogging?

I just converted a keg to kettle and I've done two batches.

The first batch I had a bazooka screen mounted in the bottom of the middle of the kettle. That did not work I kept clogging when I was trying to drain to my fermenter.

So the second batch I put a 90 degree copper fitting on the keg side of the kettle and used a stainless scrubee as a filter. The bottom of the 90 is about 2 inches from the vertical wall of the keg. I whirlpooled and waited about 4 minutes. I then opened the ball valve while slowly raising the hose to get a full hose before draining into my carboy. The first gallon drained great and then I clogged. It wasn't a heavy hop batch, how can I get my siphon working for my entire batch without clogging?

Thanks for the help.

Blah - I hate this problem. There are tons of solutions but I just siphon off without a screen in the kettle & use a coarse strainer above my funnel (also oxygenates the wort a bit).

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41D6BA145EL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Do you use a hop bag? Muslim or the nylon paint strainer from lowes to put your hops in during boiling.

I have a dip tube with no strainer or filter material. Instead the filtering is done on the CFC exit with a nylon strainer. Helps to aerate and catches any proteins trub that didn't settle during whirpooling.

Works great, never had a slow or stuck flow with 4 batches.

Not sure if this is the right way to do it, but definately works for me. The newb is learning.

I am hoping that maybe I clogged because I didn't let the beer settle long enough after whirlpool. I run a hose from my ball valve to inside my fermenter. Having to deal with an external strainer would be kind of a pain.

Forgot to add that I am using an immersion chiller for cooling.

I searched the forums and it seems like this is a common problem - hopefully the longer settle time will help.

Do you use whole or pellet hops? I like pellet hops for just this reason. On my keggle I use a 6in piece of pipe with a 90 on the end, no screen. I get a little trub in the fermenter, but i have never had it plug off.

I use the 1/2" copper pipe with 90* angle fitting into the center of the keggle. that goes down to almost the bottom of the keggle with a SS scrubbie wedged underneath it. I use a CFC so drain the BK within 5 min of flame out W/O whirlpool. the first time I did this it was painfully slow/stuck. I decided to dril a series of holes 3/4" up on my angled copper pipe but still within the scrubbie. This drained incredibly fast, without Clogging.

-Nathan

Until I get around to adding a weld-less faucet to my keggle, I am using my auto siphon.

I just wrap the end of it in a large grain bag. When the trub stops the flow, I move the bag around until I find a clean spot, then restart the siphon.

It is SLOW going, though.

dunleav1 said:

I whirlpooled and waited about 4 minutes.

Thanks for the help.

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This might not be a full answer the what you are asking, but a 4 minute wait after whirlpool is pretty much like nothing. Try more like a half hour.

bazooka tube does not have the surface area. search for hop taco hop stopper

Alemental said:

This might not be a full answer the what you are asking, but a 4 minute wait after whirlpool is pretty much like nothing. Try more like a half hour.

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That's exactly what I was asking! I don't think I was waiting long enough.

Alemental said:

This might not be a full answer the what you are asking, but a 4 minute wait after whirlpool is pretty much like nothing. Try more like a half hour.

Click to expand...

Reddog68 said:

Do you use whole or pellet hops? I like pellet hops for just this reason. On my keggle I use a 6in piece of pipe with a 90 on the end, no screen. I get a little trub in the fermenter, but i have never had it plug off.

Click to expand...

I used pellet hops on both clogs.