New way to control Pellet Hop gunk!

I got the carboy version of that, dropped an ounce of hops in. Just pulled it out and holyhell did the hops expand and just packed so tightly, I doubt most of the aroma even touched the beer. Thinking I may need to figure out how to let the hops expand before dropping all the way in.

EDIT: Anyone have any experience / advice on the expansion issue? And link to the carboy screen: http://arborfab.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=74

Also, got a kettle screen as well. Is pretty awesome, cleans up easy, doesn't plug up. Quality & workmanship are great.

Yeah, I've already decided the carboy version is too small for me, even for dry hopping. I think at this point I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy the corny dry hop version. My only issue is that at some point in the (hopefully) near future I plan on upgrading from an 8gal kettle to 15gal and I don't want have to buy two hop strainers (one that will fit in my current kettle will be ~6" from the bottom of a 15gal kettle). I'm hoping the corny version can work double duty until I've got the funds/space for the larger pot.

johnsonic said:

I got the carboy version of that, dropped an ounce of hops in. Just pulled it out and holyhell did the hops expand and just packed so tightly, I doubt most of the aroma even touched the beer. Thinking I may need to figure out how to let the hops expand before dropping all the way in.

EDIT: Anyone have any experience / advice on the expansion issue? And link to the carboy screen: http://arborfab.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=74

Also, got a kettle screen as well. Is pretty awesome, cleans up easy, doesn't plug up. Quality & workmanship are great.

Click to expand...

The screen tube fits around the auto-siphon tube. So I throw the pellets in loose and put the screen around the auto-siphon when racking.

Honestly though, I forgot the tube the last 2 times I've dry-hopped and not a single speck of hop has transferred to keg.

grathan said:

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

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Happens to me as well when I recirculate through the filter when chilling. I end up using two filters, one I put in at the end of the boil and recirculate through (cause I have a second one...bought a smaller one then went to 10G and needed the larger diameter one). You can "wash" some of the gunk off by spraying the outside with wort, but that has very limited results. I have clogged two before as well. Break and hops tend to do that and I don't see a lot of options. I have cleaned the second one before and dropped it back in, but you risk infection doing this...

Looks like rotary screen printing mesh. It's like screen printing tee shirts .. except this is for high quality printed consumer product labels. The mesh is much tighter than tee shirt printing mesh. The ink is pumped into the cylinder .. and squeezed out. That's pretty tight .. I'm not sure you would get good hop extraction .. the hop resin may not be able to get out of tight screen mesh efficiently. I spent 25 years in this type of printing industry. I would probably rather go with a hop bag (paint strainer) .. or nothing at all .. and just toss them in the pot.

johnsonic said:

I got the carboy version of that, dropped an ounce of hops in. Just pulled it out and holyhell did the hops expand and just packed so tightly, I doubt most of the aroma even touched the beer. Thinking I may need to figure out how to let the hops expand before dropping all the way in.

EDIT: Anyone have any experience / advice on the expansion issue? And link to the carboy screen: http://arborfab.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=74

Also, got a kettle screen as well. Is pretty awesome, cleans up easy, doesn't plug up. Quality & workmanship are great.

Click to expand...

I use the screen as a yeast/trub/hop filter for when Im transfering from the fermenter to the keg. It works wonderful and dont have to worry about keeping the siphon up off the trub, and Im able to get more of the beer out that way.

stonebrewer said:

Happens to me as well when I recirculate through the filter when chilling. I end up using two filters, one I put in at the end of the boil and recirculate through (cause I have a second one...bought a smaller one then went to 10G and needed the larger diameter one). You can "wash" some of the gunk off by spraying the outside with wort, but that has very limited results. I have clogged two before as well. Break and hops tend to do that and I don't see a lot of options. I have cleaned the second one before and dropped it back in, but you risk infection doing this...

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I've been thinking about buying one of these specifically for separating trub towards the end of the boil. I can't whirlpool due to a heating element in the BK and thought about recirculating into one of these for the last 15 min of the boil. I plan on using a second one for my hops but am mainly interested in feedback on how well it works for trub collection. I'm wondering if it constantly clogs. Also interested in what size mesh to use. Thanks!

NC_Brewmaster: remember size matters! So my experience has been that the smaller diameter screens, having less surface area, clog faster, which should make perfect sense. So my advice would be to get the 6" versus the 4" diameter one if you are choosing between the two. My experience has been if I am just using it to recirculate, neither one clogs. So why recommend the 6"? When I use it in the boil, they both tend to clog, with the 4" doing it every single time I have used it except when I am using less than 2 oz of hops (rare!). In the boil, the hop matter clogs it AND the break material/proteins tend to cling to the screen and clog it. But if I pop it in near the end of the boil to sanitize it and then filter through it, I have had no problems. I also use it as I drain the mash tun to catch grain particle...usually only getting a tiny amount, but there have been times when I have disturbed the false bottom that I have gotten a couple of spoons of grain. Best of luck!

stonebrewer said:

NC_Brewmaster: remember size matters! So my experience has been that the smaller diameter screens, having less surface area, clog faster, which should make perfect sense. So my advice would be to get the 6" versus the 4" diameter one if you are choosing between the two. My experience has been if I am just using it to recirculate, neither one clogs. So why recommend the 6"? When I use it in the boil, they both tend to clog, with the 4" doing it every single time I have used it except when I am using less than 2 oz of hops (rare!). In the boil, the hop matter clogs it AND the break material/proteins tend to cling to the screen and clog it. But if I pop it in near the end of the boil to sanitize it and then filter through it, I have had no problems. I also use it as I drain the mash tun to catch grain particle...usually only getting a tiny amount, but there have been times when I have disturbed the false bottom that I have gotten a couple of spoons of grain. Best of luck!

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Stonebrewer - Thanks for the quick response! Totally understand the surface area equation and was not going to go with the 4". I have a 20 gal BK and was planning on going with the 6" x 11" or 6" x 12". I have room for two of them so thought to use one for the hops and then drop the second one in towards the end of the boil to recirculate the wort through it. In your experience is this an effective way to separate the hot break?

My main reason for looking at these is because I have been having issues getting all of my wort out of the BK. I have a mesh screen that covers my pick up tube, essentially a hop stopper, but it gets clogged and pulls a ton of bubbles through into the pump. The last couple of batches I've had to ramp up the recipe due to the fact that I'm leaving 2-3 gal of wort in the kettle . I thought if I could separate most of the hot break out into this filter I could remove the hop stopper and collect more precious wort.

Also, love the idea to catch and grain bits while running off into the BK. I have a HERMS and recirc throughout the mash but a few bits always manage to get through anyway.

Thanks again!

You might want to contact the vendor and have him make a custom one for your like I did. He is really good about it and bangs them out quick. For 20G you might want to think about an 8" screen, though I think two 6" ones will suffice. And yes, that is exactly how I separate out the break material and it works well for me.

Are you clogging due to the break, the hops, or both? If it is just the break, that seems unusual. However if it is the hops or a combo, this spider will work wonders for ya! I still have a hop stopper (actually a bazooka tube) as well as my two screens. I get very clean wort and have not had any issues with draining the kettle...the bazooka tube actually helps that a little as it bends downward and touches the bottom of the kettle and allows me to suck out a little more precious wort than if I just use the outlet...

Best of luck!

I am thinking about getting this: 6" x 14" Brew Filter 300 Micron Stainless Steel mesh For Keggles.
http://arborfab.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=77

Any feedback on this one specifically?

ultravista said:

I am thinking about getting this: 6" x 14" Brew Filter 300 Micron Stainless Steel mesh For Keggles.

http://arborfab.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=77



Any feedback on this one specifically?

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My only recommendation would be to go 8" if you can. Especially if you do heavy hopped beers.


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marcb said:

My only recommendation would be to go 8" if you can. Especially if you do heavy hopped beers.


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I'll have to measure the ID of my immersion chiller, but what is the turn around for custom units?

EDIT: I emailed them

30Bones said:

I'll have to measure the ID of my immersion chiller, but what is the turn around for custom units?

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It depends where Chad is at in a production run but I've never waited very long for a filter from him.


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Roughly $10 more depending on hanger style. Dang quick response.

Seems that the Arbor Fab site is down at the moment.

I couldn't fit an 8" so I ordered a standard 6x14 center hanging mount unit.

30Bones said:

I couldn't fit an 8" so I ordered a standard 6x14 center hanging mount unit.

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You'll be fine. I worked with Chad on the original design and he's now making a bunch of them. Top notch customer service and he's really good at building anything as long as you can sketch it out for him. These filters are great quality and we use them in our pilot system for our brewery. I have been using them since the start of this thread without issue!


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CorwinGraves said:

Seems that the Arbor Fab site is down at the moment.

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I haven't had a problem. The website is up. & Chad responds very quickly. Just ordered a new 16.5"x 8" for my new BK.
Arrived w/in a few days & the quality is still amazing.


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Tried reading through all of the posts but there are a bunch.

I have two questions:

1. Is there consensus on whether the 300 micron lowers utilization? I had a 300 and think it did. I am leaning toward the 400.
2. Am I better of having a custom basket made to "line" my BK? Will it affect my boil drastically if I do this?

I am trying to maximize wort to hop contact to keep utilization as close to "free" pellets as possible. That's why I am leaning toward a 400 micron with as large a basket as my BK will fit. My only concern is whether the basket will significantly lower my boil temp as others have noted.

1) I think most have felt that the 300 has been fine, but if you think it has detracted from your utilization then that's enough reason for you to go with 400.

2) Consensus seems to be that the basket "liner" is not a good idea.

I have the 300 micron and lately I've been questioning my utilization. Trying to fine tune a Bo Pils and I keep adding more and more bittering hops to the recipe. I'm already at the higher end of the IBU scale for the style.

ChocolateMaltyBalls said:

1) Consensus seems to be that the basket "liner" is not a good idea.

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I'm curious if anyone can explain why they prefer the 6-8 inch diameter hop spider to the basket liner? I would think the big liner would give full contact of wort with hops and would make late additions work a lot better than a smaller spider.

sideshow_ben said:

I'm curious if anyone can explain why they prefer the 6-8 inch diameter hop spider to the basket liner? I would think the big liner would give full contact of wort with hops and would make late additions work a lot better than a smaller spider.

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My thoughts as well.

Having used my 6" on 2 batches so far. One a 10 gallon low hopped wheat, the other a 5 gallon 80 IBU Imperial Stout with 5oz of pellets. There was ~4' of gunk in that strainer and it takes a long time to drain the wort from that fine screen. Don't get me wrong, I love not having all the hops in my wort, but I am still not 100% certain I am getting full utilization.

sideshow_ben said:

I'm curious if anyone can explain why they prefer the 6-8 inch diameter hop spider to the basket liner? I would think the big liner would give full contact of wort with hops and would make late additions work a lot better than a smaller spider.

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The boil doesn't move inside the basket, you'll get boiling wort surges along the sides. If you line the kettle, there is not much space left for the boiling wort to go, it won't be pretty.

govner1 said:

I haven't had a problem. The website is up. & Chad responds very quickly. Just ordered a new 16.5"x 8" for my new BK.
Arrived w/in a few days & the quality is still amazing.

Click to expand...

I was eventually able to load the site and ordered a 16.5" x 6" screen. Received it within a few days of ordering and brewed with it last weekend. Assuming the screen doesn't impact utilization to any significant degree, this thing is awesome. Very nice build quality, too.

How long are you guys letting these drain after lifting from the BK? I'm thinking of some way to suspend it over the kettle to drain while I do other things, as it seems to take quite a while.

I never timed it. After I transfer to the carboy I prop it up on my immersion chiller and then take it next door to the empty lot where I dump my spent grains.

Going with the 400 micron on a pliny the younger clone (tons of hops) will post back with my results as soon as it comes in.

kcmobrewer said:

Going with the 400 micron on a pliny the younger clone (tons of hops) will post back with my results as soon as it comes in.

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That is going to be a great test! Curious about utilization with a recipe that is about as loaded with hops as you get. Please report back with pics

30Bones said:

That is going to be a great test! Curious about utilization with a recipe that is about as loaded with hops as you get. Please report back with pics

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Super good test! So much so that there are two or three Pliny clones tested earlier in the thousand some odd posts! Basket diameter seems to be most impactful on doing a super hoppy beer like Pliny! Cheers!

Yeah I have been emailing the guy. I am gonna go with 8" diameter. Hopefully that will suffice. Going to be using hop extract as well, so we will see how it works with that as well. Wondering how bad it will gum it up.

kcmobrewer said:

Yeah I have been emailing the guy. I am gonna go with 8" diameter. Hopefully that will suffice. Going to be using hop extract as well, so we will see how it works with that as well. Wondering how bad it will gum it up.

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Lol, you'll be great. I'll try to find that post, I did a 20g batch of my over the top Pliny Clone (more younger than elder) with an 8" basket and stuffed it to the brim with a 300 basket and it worked great. You'll be reducing pellet residue by leveraging extract although be careful with that stuff as if you overdo it or ferment too hot you'll get a sickly resinous flavor to your beer that will get stronger as the front side hops fade....

Found the post:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/new-way-control-pellet-hop-gunk-352293/index52.html#post4859993

It is a shootout of the 300 vs 400 with a ridiculous amount of hops

After reading your post I am leaning towards the 300 now lol. I use a plate chiller so I don't wan't much if any gunk getting through if possible.

kcmobrewer said:

After reading your post I am leaning towards the 300 now lol. I use a plate chiller so I don't wan't much if any gunk getting through if possible.

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Honestly I didn't notice a whole lot of additional hop sludge during cleanup with the 400 micron basket either, it will be fine! You'll probably have better flow through to recirculate through the basket to clean up the break material as well, the 300 basket will slow down flow so I can't run my march nano pump at full throttle during chilling in my nano brewery.

Either way you go you will be happy you bought one of these. I still say it was the best equipment buy I have made to date as it allows me to clean up a lot of the gunk and make cleaner, hoppy beers. I used to only use whole leaf, which I love, but they take up so much room and suck up way too much precious wort. Cheers!

marcb said:

Here's a new twist! Chad made me a grain basket for the 15g kettle! Fits like a glove, the pics are a little jacked so I took one with the flash and one w/o. This is a 400 micron basket so should be good to go for mashing in for BiAB and has a recirc line through a bulkhead in the lid.

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Is that the Bayou Classic 15 gallon kettle? I do BIAB with this kettle using a mesh bag inside the strainer basket and I recirc through the lid. Do you have an idea of how many pounds of grain Chad's grain basket can hold?

I was thinking if the height of the grain basket was extended to match the height of the strainer basket (or slightly taller) it would probably be able to hold more grain without overflowing.

sabitu said:

Is that the Bayou Classic 15 gallon kettle? I do BIAB with this kettle using a mesh bag inside the strainer basket and I recirc through the lid. Do you have an idea of how many pounds of grain Chad's grain basket can hold?

I was thinking if the height of the grain basket was extended to match the height of the strainer basket (or slightly taller) it would probably be able to hold more grain without overflowing.

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Yep, it's a good ol bayou classic!
I'm not sure of the exact poundage but I've done moderate beers in the 1.065-1.07 range in it for 10g batches with no issues. If the top is extended much more you'll have to notch it to deal with the handle mounts on the strainer basket, not too big of a deal but I'm not sure you'd gain much.

marcb said:

Yep, it's a good ol bayou classic!
I'm not sure of the exact poundage but I've done moderate beers in the 1.065-1.07 range in it for 10g batches with no issues. If the top is extended much more you'll have to notch it to deal with the handle mounts on the strainer basket, not too big of a deal but I'm not sure you'd gain much.

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Do you happen to still have the measurements of the grain basket? I might see if chad can make one for me and yours looks like a perfect fit inside of the strainer basket.

sabitu said:

Do you happen to still have the measurements of the grain basket? I might see if chad can make one for me and yours looks like a perfect fit inside of the strainer basket.

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Sorry! I looked through my emails to chad yesterday and couldn't find it so I must have relayed that to him on the phone. I still have the basket though so I'll get you some measurements and pics tonight.

sabitu said:

Do you happen to still have the measurements of the grain basket? I might see if chad can make one for me and yours looks like a perfect fit inside of the strainer basket.

Click to expand...

Sorry! I looked through my emails to chad yesterday and couldn't find it so I must have relayed that to him on the phone. I still have the basket though so I'll get you some measurements and pics tonight.