New way to control Pellet Hop gunk!

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Dude, that is an awesome idea! Take some pics of the basket sitting in the spiedel when you get a chance and post, we can brainstorm a solution....

It will be about a week since it's full of Oktoberfest right now. I think I may just leave as is and have chad make me another one for dry hopping. This may also fit nicely inside the rim of my fermenter so I can use it as a filter during transfer from boil kettle.

I have also used this 4x10 basket for washing yeast. If I brew a heavily dry hopped IPA and want to reuse the yeast I'll transfer beer to keg, place the basket inside a large pitcher, swirl the yeast around in the fermenter, and dump the yeast through the basket into the pitcher. It catches all the dry hop leftovers and lets most of the yeast through, then just transfer the yeast to mason jars.

Maybe I don't even need another basket, this one accomplishes everything as is.
 
I think I'm pretty sold on one of these filters.

Since I BiaB, I was actually considering lining the steam basket of my BK with some 300 or 400 micron stainless mesh instead of using a bag, but am finding myself leaning towards a filter.. not quite sure yet... but seeing the quality of Chad's work and the level of customer service he provides, I have to thank Marc for this thread.

I was thinking of doing the same thing... but lately I've been contemplating having Chad/Arbor Fabricating make a custom "bucket filter" for this purpose as it should be a lot easier to clean/reuse than a fabric/plastic mesh filter, and be a lot stronger to boot. It should also be better for filtering out the hot break material and hops from the boiling kettle when transferring to the fermenter, especially if you have added a lot of hops during the whirlpool (which the regular 4x10 filter can't be used for, seeing as it interferes with the whirlpool).
 
I was thinking of doing the same thing... but lately I've been contemplating having Chad/Arbor Fabricating make a custom "bucket filter" for this purpose as it should be a lot easier to clean/reuse than a fabric/plastic mesh filter, and be a lot stronger to boot. It should also be better for filtering out the hot break material and hops from the boiling kettle when transferring to the fermenter, especially if you have added a lot of hops during the whirlpool (which the regular 4x10 filter can't be used for, seeing as it interferes with the whirlpool).

Yup. My thoughts exactly.
 
I think I'm pretty sold on one of these filters.

Since I BiaB, I was actually considering lining the steam basket of my BK with some 300 or 400 micron stainless mesh instead of using a bag, but am finding myself leaning towards a filter.. not quite sure yet... but seeing the quality of Chad's work and the level of customer service he provides, I have to thank Marc for this thread.

Check out my thread. This is how I BIAB (brew in a basket) Chad built it to my specs and it works great and achieves 80% efficiency.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/my-one-vessel-ag-system-380656/
 
My concern is that my 5G just starts to curve at 15". I am thinking I need one of these to be 18" total length with stoppers. Want to see if this is true or if I can make do with 15.75" total length.

why is this a concern? the fact that it is lower than the curve means that it flops over and out of the way when you drop it in. this in turn allows your to rack with a cane, without having the dry hopping tube in the way.

you can always attach a piece of fishing line if you want to extract the tube before racking, but i think i makes sense to leave it in: it'll drain as the level of liquid falls during racking. removing the tube before racking = needs to let it sit and drip/drain = additional exposure to O2 while you leave the carboy open.
 
If I am doing multiple hop additions, then I will need to remove and replace. Not a fan of string in the carboy, so it would make more sense to me to just be able to pull it out of the carboy, replace hops, and plop it back in. YMMV. ;>

Seeing it in action may change my mind, but I thought the original concept I saw on this was to have a wire bottom and have it come up to the neck. That sold me...
 
Yes - 6 gallon BB. The bottom is recessed slightly in the tube and welded all the way around. Very solid.

View attachment 111093

View attachment 111094

I was pretty sold on this so emailed about it, he made a bunch of them this weekend and I got mine in today. After seeing it in person and holding it, it's really solid, I don't think the top needs to be reinforced at all. It's the perfect size for a better bottle and I think it'll work great with the 3oz Galaxy/Citra I have in a brett IPA right now :mug:

Pics:

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20130404170707.jpg
 
bovinblitz: what you have is different from what is on the web site. You have what I was expecting. Was this a special order? Do you know if he has more of them? I use glass versus BB...what is the length of the one you received?

Thanks in advance...
 
bovineblitz said:
I was pretty sold on this so emailed about it, he made a bunch of them this weekend and I got mine in today. After seeing it in person and holding it, it's really solid, I don't think the top needs to be reinforced at all. It's the perfect size for a better bottle and I think it'll work great with the 3oz Galaxy/Citra I have in a brett IPA right now :mug:

Pics:

What size did you have made? I bought the one he has on website but think I would like one of these instead.
 
1.5" by 16.5", as posted here by mcbaumannerb - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/new-way-control-pellet-hop-gunk-352293/index20.html#post5015767

The glass ones are shorter by 3/4" and the diameter is smaller so as to fit into the mouth of a glass carboy, and there's stoppers on both ends. The one I got has mesh welded onto one end and the other is left open, it's the right length to just sit in the mouth of the better bottle.

It was a special order, I emailed about it and he said he doesn't know when he'll get to making them as he wanted to make a bunch at once. I can see why, they're pretty small and I bet that weld on a small diameter is a pain.
 
Shifting gears for a sec, i was brainstroming the other night, and was courious what is the finest mesh he uses, and can he make on that would fit in a water filter, for filtering beer....

Tim
 
1.5" by 16.5", as posted here by mcbaumannerb - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/new-way-control-pellet-hop-gunk-352293/index20.html#post5015767
It was a special order, I emailed about it and he said he doesn't know when he'll get to making them as he wanted to make a bunch at once. I can see why, they're pretty small and I bet that weld on a small diameter is a pain.

Do you mind sharing how much your special order was? I would like to get one like yours.
 
Used both the 300 and 400 to steep grain last night for a tandem extract batch. Need to build one with a 1" perf ring to test for sitting on the floor of the kettle during the boil w/o scorching!

I love these things. It's definitely a multi tasker!
 
I was thinking about purchasing one of these but was curious about the size. I have a 17.5 gallon kettle whose height is 17". I am currently only doing 5 gallon batches as I have yet to perfect my methodology of all grain yet so my wort maxes out at around 8" from the bottom (leaving 9" of the kettle empty) . Basically if I purchased the 6x14 it would be 3" above the bottom but the hops would only float in the strainer for about 4-5" of the mesh. Would this suffice as enough space to get a decent utilization or should I beg him to make a custom one for longer length?
 
rpryor said:
I was thinking about purchasing one of these but was curious about the size. I have a 17.5 gallon kettle whose height is 17". I am currently only doing 5 gallon batches as I have yet to perfect my methodology of all grain yet so my wort maxes out at around 8" from the bottom (leaving 9" of the kettle empty) . Basically if I purchased the 6x14 it would be 3" above the bottom but the hops would only float in the strainer for about 4-5" of the mesh. Would this suffice as enough space to get a decent utilization or should I beg him to make a custom one for longer length?

Given your batch size I would increase the length another 2". There is no begging Chad, email him and let him know what you want, he's happy to build damn near anything we've thrown at him. That and his excellent customer service keep me coming back for all sorts of crazy projects. He's going to build me a couple of custom ones for these bad boys!

image-1520480375.jpg
 
marcb said:
Used both the 300 and 400 to steep grain last night for a tandem extract batch. Need to build one with a 1" perf ring to test for sitting on the floor of the kettle during the boil w/o scorching!

I love these things. It's definitely a multi tasker!

Marcb,

Did the 400 leak any grains? How did the 300 do with grains?

Which sizes did you use and how much in weight were you able to fit in them?

Thanks!
 
Carlscan26 said:
Marcb,

Did the 400 leak any grains? How did the 300 do with grains?

Which sizes did you use and how much in weight were you able to fit in them?

Thanks!

Nope, the 400 rocks as a grain filter and the 300 steeps just fine as well. Both of these are 6X14 and I'm not sure as we were just doing two 5gal extract kits with steeping grains to justify an extended drinking session in the garage ; )
 
Used my 400micron and it did really good. I used a mix of pellet and whole and nothing got through but liquid flowed through the hops just fine. Thanks Chad, great product!!

Take 2. Used 3 oz pellet hops today and I think the sludge was too much for the liquid to move through the 400 micron hop filter. May have to use two filters next time. Anyone else notice this?
 
kapbrew13 said:
Take 2. Used 3 oz pellet hops today and I think the sludge was too much for the liquid to move through the 400 micron hop filter. May have to use two filters next time. Anyone else notice this?

Hi Kapbrew13,
What size filter are you using? Did you stir the hops once you added them? Also what size are your batches? I know that there are differences in hop manufacturing but you should be sailing with only 3 oz of hops in there......
 
Hi Kapbrew13,
What size filter are you using? Did you stir the hops once you added them? Also what size are your batches? I know that there are differences in hop manufacturing but you should be sailing with only 3 oz of hops in there......

I got the 4x10 400 micron ones. The thing was pretty clogged up by the end of my brew day. 5.5 gallon batch. Had no issues when I did a 1 oz pellet 2 oz leaf hops the previous brew day.
 
kapbrew13 said:
I got the 4x10 400 micron ones. The thing was pretty clogged up by the end of my brew day. 5.5 gallon batch. Had no issues when I did a 1 oz pellet 2 oz leaf hops the previous brew day.

Crazy, so I've never used the 4x10, mine are 6x14 or larger. I always stir vigorously at every addition and in those baskets have stuffed greater than a pound of pellet hops in each (pictured earlier in the thread) without issue, even with the 300 micron. I would think that you would be able to get 10-12 oz in there maxed out with good perfusion with the 400. Can you describe your hop addition steps/process?
 
Crazy, so I've never used the 4x10, mine are 6x14 or larger. I always stir vigorously at every addition and in those baskets have stuffed greater than a pound of pellet hops in each (pictured earlier in the thread) without issue, even with the 300 micron. I would think that you would be able to get 10-12 oz in there maxed out with good perfusion with the 400. Can you describe your hop addition steps/process?

Add .50 oz at 60, .50 oz at 15, 1.00 oz at 10, .50 oz at 5, and .50 oz at 1.
I think it might be the 4 inch compared to the 6 inch and the pellet supplier. Was not hop union, just a mylar silver packaging. I'll just use my second 4x10 filter next time.
After the boil, the sludge was about 6" and shrunk to about 2" after the liquid drained. Crazy?
 
Add .50 oz at 60, .50 oz at 15, 1.00 oz at 10, .50 oz at 5, and .50 oz at 1.
I think it might be the 4 inch compared to the 6 inch and the pellet supplier. Was not hop union, just a mylar silver packaging. I'll just use my second 4x10 filter next time.
After the boil, the sludge was about 6" and shrunk to about 2" after the liquid drained. Crazy?

I think I have a buddy with the 4" so I can probably borrow it and test it out in a small batch but I have not seen this from others with that size and definitely not with the 400 micron. Are you stirring with each addition? That helps break up the solid layer that forms on the top and I usually stir vigorously until I get the hop soup consistency. As for drain out, that sounds about right - makes a nice compact dump out.
 
I think I have a buddy with the 4" so I can probably borrow it and test it out in a small batch but I have not seen this from others with that size and definitely not with the 400 micron. Are you stirring with each addition? That helps break up the solid layer that forms on the top and I usually stir vigorously until I get the hop soup consistency. As for drain out, that sounds about right - makes a nice compact dump out.

Stir? Not as much this time. I'll stir more next time. See what happens. Thanks!!
 
I have similar issues with mine clogging after a 90 minute boil. Starts out fine, but after about an 45 minutes or so it clogs. This weekend I added a total of 5 oz of pellet,@90, @10,@5, and the spider clogged badly by the end. It seems that not only do the hops clog from in to out, but also that break material adheres to the outside as well. Mine is a 4x14 with a 1.5 drop down into the kettle so most of it is in the wort at start of boil. I also had an issue when I did my bittering addition where the hops sorta foamed up and out of the spider. I was able to pull it out and get most of the overflow back in, but I suspect I had quarter oz of hops overflow into the boil. When I added my flavor and aroma hops, they kinda formed a cap on the surface which I had to break up in order to get them into the boil. I generally ladle wort in during the boil whenever I stir (even though I have an active boil...) and stir the spider from time to time.

All that said, I am still pretty happy with the product. It is better than what I had before and I think I am getting good utilization of bittering hops. My flavor and aroma additions may suffer a bit from the clogging issue and I am thinking about a second spider to fix this. I also use the spider at the start of transfer from the MLT to catch grain, which I was suprised to see about a tablespoon or so if this last boil. I would like to use it to catch break material, which I have been able to do with brews that use <= 2oz of hops (not many of mine use this little, esp. when I do 10G).

I also have seen an "issue" where bubbles are getting trapped under the spider. Doesn't seem to have an effect on anything, but just something I noticed.
 
if the filter is too tight, it will clogs and water doesn't circulate.

if the filter is too loose, it won't hold back the hop gunk and it'll end up in the boil.

hence we'll never be happy since you can't have both.

the 300 micro filter is more on the "too tight" side of things, but i'm OK with that because you can manage this issue: mix the hops inside the basket, ladle water in, lift the basket out over the kettle once or twice during the boil to let the water drain out, etc. there is nothing you can do to deal with a filter being too loose.

i'm quite happy with my filter. it's not perfect, but it's better than my old hop bags IMO. i'm getting better hop utilization and clean up is easier.
 
if the filter is too tight, it will clogs and water doesn't circulate.

if the filter is too loose, it won't hold back the hop gunk and it'll end up in the boil.

hence we'll never be happy since you can't have both.

the 300 micro filter is more on the "too tight" side of things, but i'm OK with that because you can manage this issue: mix the hops inside the basket, ladle water in, lift the basket out over the kettle once or twice during the boil to let the water drain out, etc. there is nothing you can do to deal with a filter being too loose.

i'm quite happy with my filter. it's not perfect, but it's better than my old hop bags IMO. i'm getting better hop utilization and clean up is easier.

I find the 400 micron to be on the too tight side of things as well. It works fine but certain hop pellets seem to clog it up (Sorachi Ace for example). Any looser would probably be bad though.
 
Did a pilot run on my new stand yesterday with BM's Centennial Blonde, using the 300micron filter from Chad. Started out gangbusters, with good boiling action inside the filter. Didn't last, and I had to stir and scrape the sides a few times with my spoon to unclog. Not a big deal and still better than loose hops and a hop bag. Just build a quick stir/scrape into the routine every 15-20 minutes.
 
I find the 400 micron to be on the too tight side of things as well. It works fine but certain hop pellets seem to clog it up (Sorachi Ace for example). Any looser would probably be bad though.

That's the hops I used sorachi ace.
 
Just build a quick stir/scrape into the routine every 15-20 minutes.
yup, just incorporate that into your process.

when i was using hop bags, a few times during the boil i would pull them out and let them drain (somewhat - if you think a 300 micron mesh clogs, try a tight-weaved hop bag!). now i ladle wort into my filter instead.
 
Columbus and Cascade.

Can hops act differently. As one the previous posters that had clogging I also used sorachi ace. My cascade pellets didn't seem to give me problems my previous batches. Am I going crazy? Maybe it was the phase of the moon.
 
Not that I know of. I have used Simcoe, Chinook and Centennial as well with no problems.

Not saying anyone isn't having issues. I stir mine each time I add an addition and that really seems to make a difference compared to when i didn't on the first two batches.
 
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