New way to control Pellet Hop gunk!

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Ok need some advice from you experts.
I'm ready to make a run of the bigger 1-1/2" Dry Hoppers and I'm wondering what length is going to be a "good for all"?
I've done 16, 16-1/2, 17" & some others.

Thanks.
 
chads454 said:
Ok need some advice from you experts.
I'm ready to make a run of the bigger 1-1/2" Dry Hoppers and I'm wondering what length is going to be a "good for all"?
I've done 16, 16-1/2, 17" & some others.

Thanks.

Whatever it is I want one. :). From what I've read 16.5 looks good
 
chads454 said:
Ok need some advice from you experts.
I'm ready to make a run of the bigger 1-1/2" Dry Hoppers and I'm wondering what length is going to be a "good for all"?
I've done 16, 16-1/2, 17" & some others.

Thanks.

No longer than a pin lock keg height...that will cover just about all keg sizes except 2.5gal ones.
 
Yambor44 said:
Does anyone have the size of this?

Now you guys are just getting lazy on me ; )

A pin lock keg is about 2" shorter than a ball lock keg. So overall height (external) would be close to 23". All kegs have variants though whether the dip tube is in the center or side as well as the depth of the dish bottom. I would recommend getting some measurements to be sure. I've got a buddy that has some pin locks that can take some measurements for us if there isn't anyone out there with ready access to one.....
 
I measured my pin lock at about 20-1/2" at center. I'd say about 20" long would be the max, at least in my pin locks.
 
Thanks for the info.
I made up a few.
Here's the way I'm doing the bottom now.
These are 1-1/2"x16" and 1-1/2"x16-1/2"

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I am looking to purchase one of these for my keggle. I do not have a false bottom as of now. Looking for recommendations for a 300 or 400 micron mesh.
 
vaheel said:
I am looking to purchase one of these for my keggle. I do not have a false bottom as of now. Looking for recommendations for a 300 or 400 micron mesh.

With my experience for removing hop trub if you are using a plate chiller a 300 is the way to go.
 
you can read through this thread to get opinions, but they seem to be mixed on the 300 vs 400 debate. i think either one will do. personally i slightly lean towards the 400 but it's not a strong preference.
 
I have used both and see little difference between the two meshes, though there is a tiny bit of difference. What I believe may be more important is the diameter, though this is just conjecture on my part at this point. I am going to order either a 6" or 8" one (still trying to decide) to compliment my 4" one. I use the spider/filter for multiple purposes in my setup. I run my mash through it to get out any bits of grain, I use it to keep hops out of my plate chiller and eventually my carboy, and I try to use it during recirculation to catch break and hop materials. When the 4" doesn't clog, this works wonderfully, but it has clogged at least half the time thus the reason I want a larger one. If the larger diameter has an issue (others on here have not had the same issue with as large if not larger doses of hops, so this is why I am leaning this way...) then I will just use two, reserving one for post boil recirculation. Is this overkill? I dunno, but I would really like to keep as much gunk out of my chiller and carboys as I can so it is worth experimenting with. Good luck with whatever you choose...I am sure you find this a great addition to your brew day just like the rest of us!!
 
Does anybody have any experience with a larger basket in a keggle?

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.
 
I just ordered one of the 1.5" x 16.5" dry hoppers from Chad. However, I am going to try using it primarily for filtering my wort from the kettle to my Better Bottle. I use an immersion chiller, so I don't need clear wort out of the kettle. I just want it clear in the fermenter. So, I am going to put this guy in the Better Bottle and drain through it.

Some relevant dimensions. Better Bottle opening is about 1.77" ID, so 1.5" is perfect. From the top of the Better Bottle to the bump on the bottom is about 17.75", which means the dry hopper will sit a little over an inch down from the top so with my fingers or floss I can pull it out. Lastly, from the bump at the bottle of the bottle to the bottom of the neck, it is about 15", so I don't have to worry about the filter falling into the BB and being a pain to fish out or even scratching the bottle.

We'll see how it works. Even if it doesn't work for this purpose, I can still use it to dry hop, but I am hoping it can do double duty.
 
I recently did the same concept with my 6x14. Threw my pellet hops directly into the boil, chilled with IC, hung sanitized 6x14 screen onto edge of interior fermentation bucket, gravity drained from top of screen. Worked perfectly for a very clear wort. Knocked down the aeration I usually get from gravity transferring but fermentation started in less than 16 hours.
 
Glad to hear it worked for you. How hard was it to clean out the strainer afterwards and get it sanitized for future sessions of straining into a fermenter?

I saw a couple people say they had used it as a strainer into a bucket, but since I was using Better Bottles I couldn't find a good option with the standard strainers (closest was funnel with strainer). The dry hopper hopefully will fill that need. If not, the search will continue and may involve a strainer in the kettle and perhaps a screen or false bottom for the kettle to keep out the break. Definitely more complicated and expensive than the dry hopper if it works.
 
The dry hopper you ordered will work perfectly I'm sure. Just a good spray with the water hose sprayer and it was clean. This things have so many uses. I have a nice collection now! wouldn't get rid of any at this point.

8661740786_04aeec6d35_b.jpg
 
So I'm considering either an 8 or 6 inch diameter model for my boilermaker. How many oz of leaf hops can be crammed into something like that? I usually use 6 to 8 oz in an ipa.
 
My brew-buddy and I just received two of carboy style dry-hoppers and two of key style dry-hoppers. They arrived in tip top shape.

dry hoppers.jpg
 
Keg dry hopper looks great.
Can you please take a picture of cap.
Is it screwed on the mash frame?
 
Keg dry hopper looks great.
Can you please take a picture of cap.
Is it screwed on the mash frame?

Here are some pictures of the keg dry-hopper. Yes, the top is screwed to a matching band which has been welded to mesh frame.

2013 04 19_0033.jpg


2013 04 19_0034.jpg


2013 04 19_0032.jpg


2013 04 19_0035.jpg
 
15yvg20.jpg


So here is why I think you guys should go with the 6" version. It is massive in comparison to the 4" diameter version. I think that I will use it for all my hop additions and then recirculate through the 4" filter. Also picked up a keg hop spider for doing Pliny type clones...brew on!!
 
Just wanted to give an update on the carboy dry hop tube. The one with the two red stoppers with it. I used it this morning as a filter when transfering from carboy to keg and it worked wonders. I transfered my raspberry Amber that had 2.5 lbs of raspberries and the yeast cake. I cold crashed for 3 days prior to transfering and just stuck my auto siphon in the filter with the stopper on one side. Made life so much easier not having to hold the siphon off the bottom and it kept all the raspberry parts out and the yeast. Simply amazing
 
Adeering said:
Just wanted to give an update on the carboy dry hop tube. The one with the two red stoppers with it. I used it this morning as a filter when transfering from carboy to keg and it worked wonders. I transfered my raspberry Amber that had 2.5 lbs of raspberries and the yeast cake. I cold crashed for 3 days prior to transfering and just stuck my auto siphon in the filter with the stopper on one side. Made life so much easier not having to hold the siphon off the bottom and it kept all the raspberry parts out and the yeast. Simply amazing

Great idea!
 
I'm hoping you guys might have some ideas. I used my 1.5" x 16.5" dry hopper yesterday as a filter for the finished wort going directly from the BK into a Better Bottle. I was excited to have this as I had some crazy break in the kettle that I wanted to keep out. However, the initial flow clogged the filter immediately. I mean nothing really got through. Chad said the filter used 300 micron mesh and I'm assuming 400 wouldn't have made much of a difference.

So, is this usage doomed to fail especially with it being so narrow? Is there another option from keeping the break material out, but not clog everything up? False bottom? Remove the immersion chiller and do a crazy strong whirlpool? Up the micron size on the filter?

Thanks for your help.
 
I'm hoping you guys might have some ideas. I used my 1.5" x 16.5" dry hopper yesterday as a filter for the finished wort going directly from the BK into a Better Bottle. I was excited to have this as I had some crazy break in the kettle that I wanted to keep out. However, the initial flow clogged the filter immediately. I mean nothing really got through. Chad said the filter used 300 micron mesh and I'm assuming 400 wouldn't have made much of a difference.

So, is this usage doomed to fail especially with it being so narrow? Is there another option from keeping the break material out, but not clog everything up? False bottom? Remove the immersion chiller and do a crazy strong whirlpool? Up the micron size on the filter?

Thanks for your help.

I've been following this page for something to this effect also. I have whirlpooled with little to no benefit. My only idea was to use a basket style filter over a bucket but I don't own any buckets and like the idea of fermenting in the glass carboy much better. I don't want to have to try and transfer twice either, risking infection that much more. Ideas?
 
I'm hoping you guys might have some ideas. I used my 1.5" x 16.5" dry hopper yesterday as a filter for the finished wort going directly from the BK into a Better Bottle. I was excited to have this as I had some crazy break in the kettle that I wanted to keep out. However, the initial flow clogged the filter immediately. I mean nothing really got through. Chad said the filter used 300 micron mesh and I'm assuming 400 wouldn't have made much of a difference.

So, is this usage doomed to fail especially with it being so narrow? Is there another option from keeping the break material out, but not clog everything up? False bottom? Remove the immersion chiller and do a crazy strong whirlpool? Up the micron size on the filter?

Thanks for your help.

I ended up tossing mine in the trash. Put 2oz of hops in it to dry hop a batch. When it was done I pulled it out and the hops were packed in there tight. The outside layer of hops touched the beer, but the inside mass was dry as a bone. Spent a good half hour trying to break the stuff up to get it clean with out much success. I like alot of the stuff Chad has but in the end this was more of a headache and I tossed it.
 
I ended up tossing mine in the trash. Put 2oz of hops in it to dry hop a batch. When it was done I pulled it out and the hops were packed in there tight. The outside layer of hops touched the beer, but the inside mass was dry as a bone. Spent a good half hour trying to break the stuff up to get it clean with out much success. I like alot of the stuff Chad has but in the end this was more of a headache and I tossed it.

I noticed that too in my one time using it. I did not toss it in the trash but I was a little bummed about that.
 
I just got the carboy hopper also and was planning on giving it a try soon, but not happy hearing these results with it.
 
I use one of the bigger filters (6") during recirculation to clean up the break material. I found that my 4" filter was clogging so I went with the 6" one and am happy after one brew...sample size too small to mean anything. I used the 4" one yesterday to recirculate through my plate chiller and I was EXTREMELY happy with how little (NONE!) break material ended up in the screen on my carboy funnel. I usually get enough break material on that screen to clog it 6-8 times for a 10 gallon batch, meaning I have to stop, clean the filter, start filling, rinse and repeat. Yesterday it was fill one carboy most of the way, move to the other, top off the first (foam from filter so had to let that die down), then top the second. Basically filled two carboys with clean wort as fast as I could pump. Yesterday I filtered about 1/2 the time through the 4" but later decided to filter through the hops in the 6" one. It filled up near the top once, but I sprayed the outsides of the basket down with the wort a bit to knock hop/break material off and was able to resume recirc through the larger basket...this made me happy!! I only had about 4 oz in the basket as I had 8 oz of leaf hop which I just tossed into the boil, so I definitely want to try this with a big IPA w/ all pellet and see how it goes. Push comes to shove, I reuse my 4" guy as a break filter and give up on recirculationg through pellets. Best case, I can recirculate through the pellets and capture break...that is what I am hoping for! I took some pix I will try to post if I ever get out of work...
 
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