New way to control Pellet Hop gunk!

Anybody using this hop strainer with a Blichman 10 gallon pot? Does the 6x14 standard strainer fit well?
After brewing a Red IPA with whole leaf hops and having my pick up tube clog repeatedly as I drained the wort I am desperate for a better way to keep the hops from clogging the drain!

Travestian said:

I've actually done that before. I didn't collect a whole lot of hot break material but you will definitely get the hops out. YMMV.

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i've also used a filter to catch grain debris as i run the mash out of the MLT into the BK. even though i've been recirc'ing for an hour i still get a tablespoon or two of fine grain particles in my runoff.

Fishin-Jay said:

Anybody using this hop strainer with a Blichman 10 gallon pot? Does the 6x14 standard strainer fit well?
After brewing a Red IPA with whole leaf hops and having my pick up tube clog repeatedly as I drained the wort I am desperate for a better way to keep the hops from clogging the drain!

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i don't know if you'll be able to fit sufficient whole leaf hops in one of these to make an IPA. with my IPA recipes, i would need a bigger sized filter, or a second one.

sweetcell said:

i don't know if you'll be able to fit sufficient whole leaf hops in one of these to make an IPA. with my IPA recipes, i would need a bigger sized filter, or a second one.

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+1; I find these filters work great for pellet hops, but remember surface area is critical so larger diameter screens are much better. As far as leaf hops go, I throw them in the boil and let the bazooka keep them out of the carboy. that said, if you add enough leaf, you will clog a bazooka. Recommend you use a mix of pellet and leaf, put the pellet in a hop basket like this one, or go all pellet with one of these.

stonebrewer said:

+1; I find these filters work great for pellet hops, but remember surface area is critical so larger diameter screens are much better. As far as leaf hops go, I throw them in the boil and let the bazooka keep them out of the carboy. that said, if you add enough leaf, you will clog a bazooka. Recommend you use a mix of pellet and leaf, put the pellet in a hop basket like this one, or go all pellet with one of these.

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Good advice, thanks!

diS said:

I made strainer 11" in diameter (sankey keg as BK, aprox. 15" wide ) and I have boil over problems with it.
Strainer is big enough to enable boil in it, but vigorous boil takes place between strainer and keg wall, and this is where the problem comes:
space between basket and keg is pretty limited so boil can easily pour over keg side, especially at the beginning and with large pre-boil volume.

I will have to reduce diameter, perhaps to 4-6" just to increase boil surface.

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I'm thinking about going this route. I see here that having an 11" strainer in a keggle is problematic. i couldn't have one that big anyway as the opening in the top is only a bit over 10".

I note that other folks in this thread have discussed trying an 8" filter in a keggle, but i can't find anyone who actually posted results. Anyone try this? Problems/success/etc.? Do folks think that there will sufficiently vigorous boil to drive off DMS?

Also, I know some folks have multiple versions of this thing. For anyone who's used both something in the 8" range and a more typical 6" (in any kettle style), was there a noticeable difference in things like clogging and other performance?

I boil in a keggle made from a pony keg. So it's about 15" wide with a 10" opening, and is around 10" deep. I was thinking of going with a 300-um filter that was 8" diameter by about 8 or 9" deep. This would give me a gap in the opening about 1" on either side, and about 3-4" between the filter and the walls of the keggle, and 1-2" above the bottom.

Based on everyone's experiences with these units, does that seem like a workable design?

I am using Two 6" x 14" 300 mesh filters for my "House" Pilsner which uses 1 pound of Saaz pellets per 15 gallons (18 gallons at beginning of boil). 1 filter works but ends up quite stopped up with the wort level above the boil volume line when recircing while sanitizing the plate chiller with the recirc discharge going into the strainer. 2 keeps things a bit more where I like them. No discernible taste difference yet - will update again in 2 months when the product of 2 filters has had full lagering and carbonating time.

So just checking in again with some keggle brewers. From experience, will an 8" diameter filter both (a) provide sufficient boiling/circulation within the filter and (b) not cause any major problems in the portions of the keggle outside the filter? I would probably plan on the 300 micron.

Thanks!

Question for those who are using this device or something similar:

I've heard that you should not try to "squeeze" your hop gunk to extract any wort that's been soaked up by the hops, and instead you should just consider that to be lost wort. I have the tall, cylindrical version of this device, and at the end of my boil, immediately after flameout, the first thing I do is lift the hop screen out of the kettle and hold it there for a minute for the wort in the hop gunk to drain out, into the boil kettle. I'll sometimes even give it a little shake to get even more wort out of the hop gunk contained in the hop screen.

Is this a bad practice? What am I risking by doing this? Should I instead just leave the screen in the kettle all through the chilling, and even while racking it out of the kettle into a fermenter?

kombat said:

Question for those who are using this device or something similar:

I've heard that you should not try to "squeeze" your hop gunk to extract any wort that's been soaked up by the hops, and instead you should just consider that to be lost wort. I have the tall, cylindrical version of this device, and at the end of my boil, immediately after flameout, the first thing I do is lift the hop screen out of the kettle and hold it there for a minute for the wort in the hop gunk to drain out, into the boil kettle. I'll sometimes even give it a little shake to get even more wort out of the hop gunk contained in the hop screen.

Is this a bad practice? What am I risking by doing this? Should I instead just leave the screen in the kettle all through the chilling, and even while racking it out of the kettle into a fermenter?

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I do the same thing with no issues. I will however put any last few minute hops directly into the boil.

Hi all, I'm getting ready to order one of these things for the boil. It will be an 8" diameter filter which will be operating in my pony-keg keggle.

I was wondering if, as peoples' experience has grown, what the current consensus is on the optimum mesh size. Seems like there are both 300 um and 400 um fans on the thread so far. I use an immersion chiller, not a plate chiller, but I'm not totally sure that will always be the case.

So what is working for people? Do the big 300s (not the little 4" ones) clog? And do the 400s let a ton of crap into the kettle? Thanks!

106 pages, and still no answer on how to control the gunk.

Clue: Leaf hops.

If you're looking to filter hop pellets gunk? 400 is plenty small enough for that. No visible hop particiles will be evident outside the mesh, which would lead me to beleive that perhaps it is even too fine.

ResumeMan said:

Hi all, I'm getting ready to order one of these things for the boil. It will be an 8" diameter filter which will be operating in my pony-keg keggle. I was wondering if, as peoples' experience has grown, what the current consensus is on the optimum mesh size. Seems like there are both 300 um and 400 um fans on the thread so far. I use an immersion chiller, not a plate chiller, but I'm not totally sure that will always be the case. So what is working for people? Do the big 300s (not the little 4" ones) clog? And do the 400s let a ton of crap into the kettle? Thanks!

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I've been using a 300 that's about 6" long in my BK for 6 months or so, about 15 batches w/ no problem. Just clean right away & don't let the hop gunk dry! I also use a 300 in my BB's for dry hopping. Same great results. I got not from Chad & Arbor Fabricating.

ResumeMan said:

Hi all, I'm getting ready to order one of these things for the boil. It will be an 8" diameter filter which will be operating in my pony-keg keggle. I was wondering if, as peoples' experience has grown, what the current consensus is on the optimum mesh size. Seems like there are both 300 um and 400 um fans on the thread so far. I use an immersion chiller, not a plate chiller, but I'm not totally sure that will always be the case. So what is working for people? Do the big 300s (not the little 4" ones) clog? And do the 400s let a ton of crap into the kettle? Thanks!

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I still prefer the 300 and am now using them on my 3BBL nano. They rock. I am convinced that I get better hop utilization with the larger basket!

marcb, how is your 400 mesh grain basket working? any comments on efficiencies, stuck sparges, or noticeable channeling (if you use a herms or rims system)? I'm about to order one myself and am debating between 300 and 400. I'm worried 300 will let a little too much grain through (especially since I won't be circulating through it for a while until I get everything for a RIMS), but I wanted to make sure 400 isn't too small. What's your take on this?

wobdee, what size mesh is yours? ever have any issues with grain debris getting into the boil? Do you have even temperatures throughout the mash (not hotter around the outside than in the middle..)?


For the record, I also plan to get a hop basket, but am planning on upgrading my kettle at some point so I'm waiting for that to make sure I get the right size. Sounds like 300 is the way to go there, so that'll be my plan.

bunt1828 said:

marcb, how is your 400 mesh grain basket working? any comments on efficiencies, stuck sparges, or noticeable channeling (if you use a herms or rims system)? I'm about to order one myself and am debating between 300 and 400. I'm worried 300 will let a little too much grain through (especially since I won't be circulating through it for a while until I get everything for a RIMS), but I wanted to make sure 400 isn't too small. What's your take on this? wobdee, what size mesh is yours? ever have any issues with grain debris getting into the boil? Do you have even temperatures throughout the mash (not hotter around the outside than in the middle..)? For the record, I also plan to get a hop basket, but am planning on upgrading my kettle at some point so I'm waiting for that to make sure I get the right size. Sounds like 300 is the way to go there, so that'll be my plan.

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Hi,

300 micron is finer than 400. My 400 grain basket works awesome and efficiency is great as long as you don't overpack the basket with grain. I continuously recirculate my mash and it works fine. The only stuck sparge issue I had was on a recent pumpkin beer due to the fact that I ignored the rice hulls in the recipe as I though the basket would be fine... It wasn't as the pumpkin coated it and it took forever to drain out. Other brews in it have all gone great. 300 is my goto for the hop basket as it's a little finer and keeps all the gunk out of my plate chiller assembly. Chad (arbor) has now fabricated these for me in a variety of configurations and they have all worked excellent! I even have a small corner one he made for my waste sink in the brewery to keep any stray chunks or grain out of the drain, this works exceptionally well when CIP large fermenters with free dry hops at the bottom.

Marc

oh.. 300 micron, not mesh. big difference. thanks for clearing that up for me.

bunt1828 said:

marcb, how is your 400 mesh grain basket working? any comments on efficiencies, stuck sparges, or noticeable channeling (if you use a herms or rims system)? I'm about to order one myself and am debating between 300 and 400. I'm worried 300 will let a little too much grain through (especially since I won't be circulating through it for a while until I get everything for a RIMS), but I wanted to make sure 400 isn't too small. What's your take on this?

wobdee, what size mesh is yours? ever have any issues with grain debris getting into the boil? Do you have even temperatures throughout the mash (not hotter around the outside than in the middle..)?

For the record, I also plan to get a hop basket, but am planning on upgrading my kettle at some point so I'm waiting for that to make sure I get the right size. Sounds like 300 is the way to go there, so that'll be my plan.

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I have the 400 mesh basket, no issues it works great. I like to recirculate for a bit while bringing up the temp for mash out and it seems to clear the wort a bit. The only thing that gets through is fine flour.

I've done a couple dozen batches and get anywhere from 75-85% efficiency. I seem to get a few more points if I do a little sparge but don't think the extra step is really worth it.

Also use a 300 4x10 hop basket and very pleased with the results.

OK my custom 300 micron basket just arrived! It's 8" diameter to comfortably fit in my 1/4-bbl keggle and hopefully have plenty of space to keep from clogging.

Service was pretty quick. Shipped about a week after order. It was shipped slow boat to China so it took awhile to get here, but not bad overall.

Will unfortunately be a couple weeks till my next brew day, so I guess I will have to wait and stare at it for awhile

After yet another incredibly frustrating clogged pickup tube, I pulled the trigger today on a 6x14 300 micron. Hopefully the days of sanitizing my arm to reach into my cooled wort and clear my pickup tube are over!

I picked up a 6x16 300 micron filter a couple weeks ago. I have only used it once but it contained 12oz of pellet hop gunk quite nicely. I won't be able to taste the finished product for another few weeks.

I keep clogging mine with break material. ANyone using a coarser mesh than the 400?

grathan said:

I keep clogging mine with break material. ANyone using a coarser mesh than the 400?

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Are you leaving it in the kettle post boil/cooling? Is this a cleaning issue (break not coming off) or draining/utilization issue? Please describe your process details and maybe we can help with some best practices....

marcb said:

Are you leaving it in the kettle post boil/cooling? Is this a cleaning issue (break not coming off) or draining/utilization issue? Please describe your process details and maybe we can help with some best practices....

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Yeah, it's mainly when i try to do whirlpool hops with the pump running.

grathan said:

Yeah, it's mainly when i try to do whirlpool hops with the pump running.

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Are you running the return into the filter or outside?

Hey all. I'm going to be building a home made 400 micron filter soon. I guess some small particles will get through but the majority will be kept out of the brew, correct? Is the consensus that hop flavor and utilization is not significantly affected?

TheHairyHop said:

Hey all. I'm going to be building a home made 400 micron filter soon. I guess some small particles will get through but the majority will be kept out of the brew, correct? Is the consensus that hop flavor and utilization is not significantly affected?

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I'm noticing more and more that my hop utilization is actually better with these than the strainer bags I used to use! I use a 300 micron although it's a huge one for my 52g kettles.....

Does anybody use one of these with an immersion chiller? I'll need to remove the screen in order to use my IC, so I'm wondering if there are any tips related to late addition hops/hops at flameout? I was thinking I would only use this for bittering and flavor additions since I'll be removing it to put the IC in at flameout. Late additions and flameout hops will probably go in a bag.
Thoughts?

I sometimes put mine in the middle of my chiller. This way I can still whirlpool pretty good.

fifthcircle said:

I sometimes put mine in the middle of my chiller. This way I can still whirlpool pretty good.

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That's a great idea I hadn't thought of

OK then, I finally had a chance at a brew day with the new hop basket.

Overall I thought it worked pretty well. It is 8" diameter and 9" tall, to fit my pony-keggle. It rests on the rim of the keg, and the bottom is about 2" off the bottom of the pot.

I waited for the hot break before I put the thing in. Even without any hops in it, there was some surge of the boil around the filter, which caused a bit of splashing. I'm somewhat concerned about that, but today it wasn't too bad. Something to keep an eye on.

Other than that, everything went smoothly. When I cleaned out the kettle, there was a bit of hop residue inside, but not anything significant. Much less in fact than I usually got when using a nylon bag.

I must say marcb is right on about the cleanup. I had pulled the hop-filled filter out when I started chilling, and then ended up doing most of my cleanup before I got around to this thing, and the hop sludge had dried out quite a bit. But I just banged it out into my green waste bin, and blasted it with a hose, and it cleaned right up perfectly.

So so far, I have two tentative thumbs up for this thing!

What is the best size for a 15.5G Keggle?

I use a 200 micron filter bag on my hop spider and have begun to wonder if it is too fine to let the hop goodness flavor the boiling wort. To my pallet, it seems like flavor and aroma is missing, despite long hop stands post boil.

I went with 200 micron to keep my plate chiller clean.

For those of you using spiders - what size bag are you using?

Is 200 micron too fine?

I just read through this entire thread - took a while. Great information all.

I have been tempted to have a hop basket sized to just "sleeve" into my boil kettle (it is about 17.75 inches in diameter and 25 inches tall). That way nearly the entire volume would be contained within the hop basket so concerns of hop utilization would be eliminated. And the temperature differential between the wort inside and outside of the basket would be minimized.

The only downside appears to be that the 300 micron mesh is too small to let the boiling bubbles through, thus redirecting them to the outside of the basket. This could cause splashing in the small outer ring. Any experience out there on this approach?

See my post above. I've got a lot more than a "sleeve" around the outside and bottom of my screen. On my one brewday with it, I did notice more splashing in the outside than I was hoping for. I would describe it as annoying but manageable (more brew days will tell of course). But based on my experience and some comments upthread, I would be leery of your approach.

FWIW, while I haven't tasted a finished beer with this technique, plenty of folks are reporting that with reasonably-sized baskets their utilization is just fine.

Santa gave me a 6x16 300 micron filter. Can't wait to use this!!! Any recipes i should try and put this thing to the test?

Got one of these a few weeks ago....guess what I can make?

has anyone brewing ~5gal batches ever tried to use the kegging dry hop filters (http://arborfab.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=67) as a filter in the kettle? I'm thinking if I can make something to hold that guy off the bottom of my kettle, I can use it for brews with modest to average hop additions. Would this work or am I just being cheap?

Hmmm - link to a pro looking Arbor Fabricating website. Cool beans! congrats!

bunt1828 said:

has anyone brewing ~5gal batches ever tried to use the kegging dry hop filters (http://arborfab.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=67) as a filter in the kettle? I'm thinking if I can make something to hold that guy off the bottom of my kettle, I can use it for brews with modest to average hop additions. Would this work or am I just being cheap?

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Haven't used it in the kettle, I would guess that it could do 3-4 oz without getting packed.