Prototype Previews: Hopback and Heat Stick

still no word on a product for sale in regards to the heat stick? I am about to build a couple

Sorry guys, saying that I've been swamped with work is an understatement. I'm hiring more people to run the day to day operations so that I can get back to new product work. I should know by Friday if the hop back manufacturing went well as that's when I should receive the first 40 units. I plan to offer them at special intro pricing for people willing to give me some comprehensive and honest feedback on their experience with them.

The heat stick took a back seat for a bit, but I will be getting the order going on them soon. I'm willing to offer them in the current prototype phase without the hanging clamp and built in thermocouple and then I can address premium options later on. It occurred to me that the long drop tube doesn't necessarily have to be large enough for 10/3 SJ cord. It just needs a grip on top to hold the cord and then the three inner conductors can be run down a thinner drop tube. This is especially true due to how many people will likely be running 120v elements.

I am also interested in a prototype heat stick.

Ok, well scratch the hop back off the list of "soon available". They forgot to make a critical component and I didn't realize it until I just received the shipment today. Damn.

It's okay Bobby…. At least you'll have those slick thermowells for sale soon. That's what I'm waiting for right now.

Got em, just have to put them on the site today.

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Put me on the list for the hopback when you get it worked out.

The good news on the hopback is that the factory did make all the parts and they just missed some in the shipment. They are being shipped DHL and I'll have them next week. I still need to make sure it all fits together properly, but it's a lot better than what I thought happened.

The 10" and 18" long thermowells are now in stock and on the website. For those who don't know, we had those 18" long bare tube thermowells that we first got specifically to use in carboys that have either a carboy cap or double drilled stopper. The new ones with the reverse bushing welded on are the answer to the same problem, but for those who use fermenters with a flat top such as a conical, SS Brewbucket, etc. These allow you to drill a 1/2" hole and install a thermowell in a weldless and reasonably sanitary way. No grommets or stoppers. Basically they look like this, but longer. The larger tube accepts the probes from the STS-1000, Johnson A419, etc:
http://brewhardware.com/measurement-devices/thermometers-71/174-thermowells



The other thing we just got in, which may not be particularly useful for the masses, is a triclover to camlock adapter fitting. It's pretty to look at anyway.

Thanks bobby. That new triclover fitting would be perfect for changing out an element for another inlet/outlet if needed on cleaning day or some other purpose.

Already put in my order for thermowells…

Any word on the heatsticks? Love the design. Not particularly interested in clamps or height adjustments, as I can do that myself when needed.

I'm in for the hopback / filter.

Ok, we're go for beta testing the hopbacks. These are called "HOPBOMB JR" as I plan to have larger ones made after the user experience is confirmed positive on these. These smaller units were made specifically for small batch brewers, that is 5 gallons or less.

We've made some mods to how the top filter plate is held in place. After you drop the bottom filter into place (it has legs to suspend it above the inlet port), you jam your hops or rice hulls in. Fill it just about up to the level of the top output port and then drop the TC cap on with the filter assembly in place. This thing will hold the fill back so it doesn't exit the top port.

Just like our RIMS system, we've had an attachment point welded on to the main TC clamp allowing you to suspend the unit from your brew stand for easy connectivity (and to show off the bling, who are we kidding).

I'm looking for beta testers that have a pump and an external chiller such as CFC or plate chiller. I have 6 camlock I/O units, 3 with 1/2" Female NPT I/O, and 3 with 1" TC I/O. Here's the offer, beta test price of $80 and use it for two brews, one with hops and one with rice hulls. Privately report back your findings with pictures and/or video. I'm looking for honest feedback so here's the deal.

If you had a good experience and want to keep it, great. If you provided me some written feedback, an account of how the brew day went, pics, or video I'll refund you $30 or give you store credit.

If you did the two brews and didn't like it, I'll pay for you to ship it back and you'll get a FULL refund. I still require that you provide me with a reasonable amount of feedback and and explanation as to why you wouldn't want it in your brewery, but otherwise it's absolutely no risk.

Please be aware that for maximum "hopback" effect, i.e. locking in hop flavor and aroma, the hot wort should hit the pump, then the hopback, then the chiller and be sent to the fermenter in a single pass. If you were to recirculate back to the kettle, the reheating of the wort would defeat the purpose.

I have a couple units in the hands of friends who had good intentions to test these for me over the last couple weeks but obligations have prevented most of that. I realize it's potentially bad form to ask for people to buy units to do beta testing so go ahead and flame me about it if you want to.

Please PM me or email me Bobby (at) brewhardware dot com if you're interested or have any questions.

Pretty slick looking bobby. If I hadn't just dumped $400+ on your site this week I would volunteer to test out. Looking forward to seeing results though.

It might be helpful if you give a time frame that you are looking for results to be in. Also, what is the reason for using rice hulls? As a primary filter?


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I would love to test this out for you. Let me know what you need from me.

PM sent


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I'm pretty flexible on the time. The units I loaned to my friends have all my costs riding along with it. If the paying beta testers never get around to testing, at least I've recovered my costs. I expect life to get in the way of brewing for many people so that's why I'm not just sending freebies out on promises. Of course I'd love to see feedback sooner than later, but a month maybe? 6 weeks?

Yes, the idea behind the rice hulls is to just use as an inline filter for trub before hitting a plate chiller. I'm not sure what the particulate load limit is on this size of hopback so I'd like to hear from someone that free floated a couple ounces of pellet hops for example. I'm also OK with people who just want to use them with hops.

Email away…

Had a good question come my way from a fellow brewer. How do you think this thing would perform as a hop randall for serving?

I think it's the perfect randall if you don't mind not seeing the hops or other filling. I already have my manufacturer working on female camlocks with 1/4" hose barb. The faster way to get them is to use a Cam D with a 1/2" MPT x 1/4" barb fitting threaded in.

Ok, I thought about it more and I think November 1st would be a fine deadline for feedback. That's 2 months. If nothing is received, no harm done.. you own the unit at a good price anyway. We're just about out of units for beta testing at this point (thanks for the fast responses). I have a couple left.

Sounds good and I'll have a review for you after that as a Randall. We'll be using it in November for our group beer fest

Bummer I would need the bigger one. I do mainly 10g batches. I'll be waiting to test the bigger version. Bobby the bling factor on that thing is top notch.

I might be interested in testing the hopback. PM you?

Hi Bobby,
I would love to try the Hopback and give you an evaluation. Please feel free to contact me in Shanghai, Chiba where I have China's only Honebrew Store and I train locals and expats alike for homebrewing.
I current do evaluations for many companies and would love to help you also. The same thing with the heartsick when it becomes available as long as it is 220-240 volt.
M.sherretz at yahoo dot com.


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Man I wish I had a pump setup so I could give it a try. Nice looking piece of kit there, Bobby.

Send you a PM about Beta Testing Bobby, thanks!

Can't wait for my hopback to show up. Bet your ass I'll review the hell out of it. Beta testing with reviews is why ussolarpumps now carries the heftier td-5 12v pump for us. All you guys that got in an early order, be sure to do your part and review your products. Homebrewing wouldn't be where it is without guys like bobby. Help him out to the best of your ability.

Sent you a pm, but if you have any more available I am in for some reviewing. I have three brews coming up for an Oct 19 tasting.
Let me know

I take one to try, I'd also need a plate chiller to go with it and some female camlocks.



It would be neat if it had a plug on top to burp the air out as it fills.

Also, does it have any mount holes for the brewstand?

Just like brewhardware's rims tubes it has mounting points on the triclover clamp itself.

Any idea of a timeline and pricing on the element?

I'm currently working with my manufacturer on some design changes for the heat stick hardware. I'm still at the point where I can possibly integrate some idea you folks have. For one thing, the down tube is only going to be large enough for three 10 gauge inner conductors of a 10/3 SJ/SO cord. There's no reason it has to have the outside jacket all the way down to the element. With that consideration, I'm going to have NPT threads welded to the top of the tube to accommodate a cord grip. Where I have to make some decisions now is whether to build two different units, one for 120v and one for 240v applications. For 120v, the max element you'd use is 2000w and the wire would be #12 gauge which only requires 1/2" OD downtube and 1/2" NPT threads on the top cord grip. It makes it less bulky, a little cheaper to make and ship. Everything gets bigger for 10/3 SJ cord for 5500 watt elements.

I'm hopeful about getting these into production soon, like available for purchase in October if I get these last decisions made soon.

I can see the need for both… but heat sticks that use 240v require the user to have access to a 240v. 120V applications are more user friendly and would most likely sell faster. Giving u time to fine tune the 240v model and start making money right away at the cheapest production costs.

For what's it worth, I think there could be value in having a heat stick you can grow into. I.e. have a single product that would work for both 120V and 240V applications. And if there's only one model, is there a price break due to more volume?

Walter, That's a good point. I'm taking a rough guess that if there were two versions, the 120v version would outsell 5 to 1 due to how many people would use them as stovetop supplement.

Wino, that's where I was when I started these. I figure why make it complicated and have to figure out what stock levels to maintain. I know that I can use the same 3/4" NPT cord grip for both applications because I do that on my kettle element enclosures now. Honestly, downsizing is not going to be THAT much cheaper on the 120v side. I'm leaning to this side though.

ram5ey said:

Any idea of a timeline and pricing on the element?

Click to expand...

I would like to try keeping the heat stick unit to about $40.

Does 40 include everything, ie element, and cord? Or is some assembly required?

An element will cost you anywhere from 15 to 30 bucks. Do you really think he will be able to roll an element into the 40 bucks…