Continuous Hopper Project?

I was just wondering if anyone had built something like this before? I've been wanting to built a continuous hopper to slowly drop out hop pellets into the boil, but not sure what kind of motor or hardware would accomplish this. Any ideas?

The goal would be to approximate what dogfish does for their 60,90, and 120 min IPAs. I've done clones of these before by doing additional every 2 mins, but a hopper to do this for me automatically would be awesome. Below is a picture of an old DFH one from their brewery that unfortunately doesn't give anything away.

What you want is a timer motor.

TIMER MOTORS - FOR SALE - Surplus $10 for a 3/4rpm.

Setup some small containers in a circular turntable (something like old 35mm film containers). It would pivot on a plate that has a small hole that is passed every time a container advances over it. This 3/4rpm motor would ride against the larger turntable. Size the wheel depending on how often you want to drop hops.

Well, just thinking to myself that looks like a grain mill at a glance.

So if we assume pellet hops are used they are of fairly uniform size. You could get a grain mill where the hopper nose is small enough to only allow a small volume of hops to go through the rollers at a time and open the gap of the rollers wide enough that it doesn't cling onto the hops, but tight enough that the hops do not fall through.

Then just attach a drill at a very low speed?

I came up with that idea in about 12 seconds so it probably isn't worth trying, hah.

Bobby_M said:

What you want is a timer motor.
Setup some small containers in a circular turntable (something like old 35mm film containers). It would pivot on a plate that has a small hole that is passed every time a container advances over it. This 3/4rpm motor would ride against the larger turntable. Size the wheel depending on how often you want to drop hops.

Click to expand...

This sound promising, just having a tough time visualizing it. Guess it wouldn't hurt to open my pellet stove and see how it works.

What about a miniature wheel at the bottom of the hopper that has little baskets. The hops would drop in and the wheel would turn slowly and eventually drop them when turned past 90 degrees.

Another idea comes to mind. Get some kind of variable speed motor, attach an auger to it that has a wide twist, put the augor in a fitted chute and place one end over your hopper. The pellets would drop into the end of the auger and depending on how fast the motor was pushing the hops forward, governs the speed of hoppage.

Any ideas what kind of motor to use?

The auger idea seems really easy to implement but sourcing the auger seems to be the tricky part.

Bobby_M said:

What you want is a timer motor.

TIMER MOTORS - FOR SALE - Surplus $10 for a 3/4rpm.

Setup some small containers in a circular turntable (something like old 35mm film containers). It would pivot on a plate that has a small hole that is passed every time a container advances over it. This 3/4rpm motor would ride against the larger turntable. Size the wheel depending on how often you want to drop hops.

Click to expand...

This is the ticket here. Plus it allows you to measure each addittion whereas an auger would not.

Google automatic fish feeders. I used to have one in my aquarium that did the same thing, but dosed every 12 hours and much smaller quantities.

DFH first system involved and electric football table...so there's that

Fish Feeder?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/hoppinator-73317/index3.html
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/so-you-think-i-could-hack-76731/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/zizzles-brewbot-99860/

Ahoy hoy,
I built one and it works like a dream. If your interested in seeing it, including a small video, check out my homebrew blog. The link is in my sig below. After that if you have any questions just send me a pm.
A great day to you all....

Dogfish Head - Zopinator Plans Now Available Here's the real deal. Good luck.

Ah, the zopinator,
Those are the plans i started with. I found though that it was vague on a few points, and when I emailed the author to clarify, the answers I got were just as vague. So, I built it, found its flaws, and modded mine to improve the design. Im sure theres ways to improve on my improvements as well. But in the end, my 2nd beta worked so well, I just left it at that. And since I designed mine with swappable hop templates to accomodate different size pellets, as well as ounces per hour, its just plain more user friendly. And you really do want the 2nd hole near the bottom so you can actually see whats going on, and be able to reach into it to deal with a jam or whatnot, without shutting down the thing and taking it apart like the original required. So, if your going to build such a beast, take the time to do research as I did. It will make it much easier going.
A good evening to all....

Have you considered looking at an electric paintball hopper? I would think it could easily be modified to feed whole hops, or pellets:
http://www.cozmopaintball.com/store/images/D/tippmann-a-5-top.jpg

Medo, I like your blog, you continuous hopper is the best I have seen.

Would you be willing to do a write up / tutorial / parts list for your design?

they make a device for that

its called a deer feeder

:rockin:

set the timer and it will dispence hop pellets