keggels and diptubes and scrubbies, oh my!

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Zacharomyces

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So..... I have a keggle with an L shaped diptube that points to the bottom of the keggle. I then put a stainless steel scrubby guy between it and the bottom of the keggle. I use the nylon paint stainer bag for hops. I STILL cant get this bugger to drain worth a damn. The slightest amount of break material clogs the filter immediately, god save me if I'm using pils malt. Should I just throw the scrubby out? I dont mind SOME break material in my wort, but I dont want ALL of it..... Any suggestions? Anyone in this same boat?
 
I made my siphon tube run around the perimeter of the keggle and put a SS braid on for a strainer. It lays right in the roll at the bottom of the keg. Once I whirlpool the wort after chilling, the break and hops detritus mounds up in the center and the runoff is relatively clear.
 
I made my siphon tube run around the perimeter of the keggle and put a SS braid on for a strainer. It lays right in the roll at the bottom of the keg. Once I whirlpool the wort after chilling, the break and hops detritus mounds up in the center and the runoff is relatively clear.

Like mine also.

Even though my braid is off to the side of the kettle, I still get some trub going into the fermenter. I usually let this settle and do another rack if I want clear wort to ferment with.
No big deal for me, just another fermenter to wash and clean.
 
So..... I have a keggle with an L shaped diptube that points to the bottom of the keggle. I then put a stainless steel scrubby guy between it and the bottom of the keggle. I use the nylon paint stainer bag for hops. I STILL cant get this bugger to drain worth a damn. The slightest amount of break material clogs the filter immediately, god save me if I'm using pils malt. Should I just throw the scrubby out? I dont mind SOME break material in my wort, but I dont want ALL of it..... Any suggestions? Anyone in this same boat?

I had the same problem. I understand that the scrubby works better if you have the dip tube near the edge of your keggle and then whirlpool the break to the center. That being said I just decided to make a home made hopstopper like Bobby_M' s which works great even without a hop strainer.
 
Thanks for all the quick replies everyone. For those that have the braid around the bottom circumference: did you have to get multiple braids and use some sort of T joint? I've got one for my MLT that was one of the longest I could find, but im pretty sure it wouldnt make it around the bottom of a keggle.
 
Thanks for all the quick replies everyone. For those that have the braid around the bottom circumference: did you have to get multiple braids and use some sort of T joint? I've got one for my MLT that was one of the longest I could find, but im pretty sure it wouldnt make it around the bottom of a keggle.

I'll try to get a pic and post it...

I used a 6-7" piece of soft copper tubing from a 90 deg. EL off the bulkhead fitting. This is bent and angled to lay right into the radius of the side/bottom of the keggle. The SS braid is just one length( about 12") attached with a hose clamp with the end rolled and crimped.
 
The diptube I made is more S-shaped so that the end/inlet lays on the bottom of the keggle. (parallel to the keggle bottom). I don't have any sort of filter on it. I whirlpool the wort, let it settle 10 minutes, and open the ball valve and what goes through, goes through.

The hop material/hot break are in a cone in the bottom and largely stays in the keggle. When I open the ball valve, a small amount of material around the inlet gets pulled into the chiller and fermenter. Once that small area goes through, no other break material seems to be pulled in.

Am I the only one with this sort of KISS setup?
 
Containing your hops during the boil will solve 95% of your siphon problems.

hopbag6.jpg


kegscetchwbag.jpg


Once you remove the bag it's just a matter of giving the wort a good stirring and letting the cold break settle out. No strainer necessary on your siphon.
 
I use the hop sock method and it does work great for hops. My problem is break material, 15 pounds of pils gives me way more than I want going into my fermenters. I suppose I will rework the dip tube some how so that it's not right on the center of the bottom and then I can try this so called whirlpool method, even though I never had much luck with it with my smaller pots. Anyone got any pics of their SS braid setup just incase I need a backup plan?!
 
This is what I do. Whirlpool, let settle for 20 minutes, then drain. You can see the trub forming a cone in the middle, as well as the orientation of my pickup tube...angled back towadr the corner of the kettle. Works like this every time.


first_brewday_032.jpg
 
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