HopRocket to multi stage stainless steel filter

After about 3 years of collecting parts, I'm finally in the process of assembling my all electric 20 gallon brewery. It will consist of three 20 gallon G1 boilermakers w/ BoilCoils and a Rims Rocket. I have the ultimate sparge arm, a SS hop back, and two SS center head March pumps. It will also have two terminator plate chillers running in tandem with inline oxygen. All of it will be controlled by a 60a BCS control panel. And I will be building the stand with 8020 extruded aluminum. I have a lot of work ahead, but it's going to be an insanely awesome set-up.

One of the things I really didn't want to do was have a hop filter using 300micron mesh screen. I rather dump the hops right in. Since I have plate chillers, I am concerned about blockage. I decided to build an all stainless inline multi staged filter. I'll whirlpool the beer and run it through the filter into the chiller and into the fermenter.

After countless hours searching the internet for a solution, I came to the conclusion the hop rocket was the most economical solution for this. And since I already have one for my Rims Rocket, I have additional accessories to use to build the different stages of the filter.

Here's my solution:

Take the perforated plates from both hop rockets and put them in a series. I'll probably let the largest plate be first, smaller plate second, then I'll get two different sized SS micron screen to cover the other two plates. This way the larger chunks are filter down to the smaller. The other idea is to let the smallest one go first and do 3 stages of micron screen for the others:



I might get a full length screw, and SS nuts to evenly distribute the distance between each plate:



The top and bottom screens will have the rubber gasket around them making a tight seal when entering and exiting, so it will filter nicely:



And finally, I will mount it upside down. This way the wort will funnel out like a conical vs having any dead space in the unit. I'll make a nice little bracket to attach it to one of the 8020 rails:



I found if I turn the bottom cap part around, so the cone part faces up, there's a small screw to make a handle with and use it as a lid. It actually fits pretty well and kind of locks in. This gives an option of possibly tossing some hops in so it filters and acts as a hop back. But I have a separate hop back, so not sure I'll worry.

I know not everyone will have two hop rockets, but I suspect it would be easy enough to make the plates to the screens to rest on.

I'm also looking for better ways to filter trub out so it doesn't make into the plate chiller and fermentor. I like the idea, but don't you think this will clog pretty fast? Particularly on a 20 gallon system, there could be a lot of hop fiber in there, even with moderately hopped worts. Or do you have some sort of filter inside the kettle too?

Are you going to place this after the pump? You probably must to create enough pressure.

The only way to know is to try it. I'm pretty confident it will work great. There may need to be some adjusting, but I imagine it will work exceptionally well.

First I'll whirlpool to avoid majority of the gunk. The top filter will collect the larger stuff and that will act as a filter for some smaller particles too. The stepping down should keep the plates freely moving liquid. I can't imagine anything will get too compacted in.

The only thing that may need to be worked out is the hole size of the filters--mainly the last one. But I don't want to filter it down too much anyway. Just enough to keep the plate chiller unclogged.

If the screens cause problems, another method for filtering is to use stainless steel scrubber pads. I've also heard of people using rice hulls in a bag.

But I want to avoid having to buy or replace stuff each time I filter. I just want to clean it and use it again.

Any new updates??? I like the idea of additional screens attached to the centre screw! This could stop clumping of hops as well!

Silentdrinker said:

The only way to know is to try it. I'm pretty confident it will work great. There may need to be some adjusting, but I imagine it will work exceptionally well.

First I'll whirlpool to avoid majority of the gunk. The top filter will collect the larger stuff and that will act as a filter for some smaller particles too. The stepping down should keep the plates freely moving liquid. I can't imagine anything will get too compacted in.

The only thing that may need to be worked out is the hole size of the filters--mainly the last one. But I don't want to filter it down too much anyway. Just enough to keep the plate chiller unclogged.

If the screens cause problems, another method for filtering is to use stainless steel scrubber pads. I've also heard of people using rice hulls in a bag.

But I want to avoid having to buy or replace stuff each time I filter. I just want to clean it and use it again.

Click to expand...