Mesh size for kettle screen (30x30 too big for pellets going through a plate chille?)

This is really a followup to this thread, and thought this might help others as well doing similar projects.

i am making a huge hop stopper, just two sheets of mesh around a dip tube in my keggle. It's going to just be a 12"24" piece folded in half, so no circles or fancy octagons for me.

Anyway, there doesn't seem to be much coherency (or at least that I could find) regarding a mesh size that will sufficiently filter pellet hops out of the boil so that the plate chiller does not clog AND the screen doesn't get clogged.

30x30 seems to be what a lot of people use, however I think that this is not fine enough (see this thread)

Looking to buy from McMaster, and they of course have everything you can ever want. I am thinking about getting the 40x40 for my hop stopper build. Anyone have any input on mesh sizes from personal experience?

Browse to your heart's desire: http://www.mcmaster.com/#wire-mesh/=c5hb6r

30 x 30 is going to let too much trough for your plate chiller. I use a 20 x 20 mesh and it catches most of the pellet matter, but some small matter gets through. Never used a plate, but I would go smaller than that, especially if i used all pellets.

It's not that easy to figure out. The instinct is to just go finer but it also needs to flow. You'll never stop all particulates which is why plate chillers require back flushing and occasional high-heat bakes.

The only configurations that I've tried is 2 sq feet of 60x40 mesh (effectively 60 mesh rather than 40. It was too close and it would choke on 100% pellet bills over 5 ounces total. I also tried 1 sq. foot of 30 x 30 and it was a little better when hot draining in the case of a plate chiller. If you try cooling in place with an IC, forget it. Cold break + pellet hops = concrete wall on the mesh.

Bobby_M said:

It's not that easy to figure out. The instinct is to just go finer but it also needs to flow. You'll never stop all particulates which is why plate chillers require back flushing and occasional high-heat bakes.

The only configurations that I've tried is 2 sq feet of 60x40 mesh (effectively 60 mesh rather than 40. It was too close and it would choke on 100% pellet bills over 5 ounces total. I also tried 1 sq. foot of 30 x 30 and it was a little better when hot draining in the case of a plate chiller. If you try cooling in place with an IC, forget it. Cold break + pellet hops = concrete wall on the mesh.

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Thanks for the reply. I was planning backflushing, so I am not planning on completely getting rid of 100% of all particulates, however I don't want to irreversably damage my plate chiller, especially while I am using it.

So perhaps something a little smaller than 30x30 sounds like it would work? Maybe 35x35 or something?

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