Kettle Hop Screen issues

I recently had my homemade hop screen get so clogged during the runoff, that I had to reach in and clean off the hops after the wort had cooled! Besides the risk of infection, this also allowed for much more trub to get thru. The 60 minute Columbus hops were small and broken up, so there were finer particles, causing the clog. I usually don't have this problem. The other additions were in hop bags.

Would like to build or buy a better screen. How is the bazooka? It seems about the same as my setup of a threaded nipple and short piece of SS braid and wort drained from kettle. May have to go to hop bagging exclusively to eliminate the problem. I can squeeze more wort out of the bags while the wort is still hot and have less wort loss due to hop absorption.

Interested to hear any other tactics for whole hop boil screens. Still trying to get the system fine tuned and avoid these freak occurrences.

What about using a large muslim bag and just dont tie it. Thread a piece of string through about an inch of the top of the bag then tie that string to the handle or something above the brew pot. Just keep the open end of the bag out of the wort and you should be fine. This way you only use one bag and you can reuse it. The nylon bags are great.

Good idea. Ive never used the nylon bags, but I always clean and reuse the muslin bags. Also just found the Hopstopper contraption. Might try to build something with more surface area.

I am looking for an old link now but I cant find it, its basically a 3in long section of 5" pvc pipe with a rod through it and the muslim bag tied to that and. well Ill keep looking.
Found It!!

I built a hop-taco and it got so clogged the first time I used, I haven't used it since. The one thing I found for me that got good flow and perfectly clear wort in the fermenter was a combination of two things:

One is the dip tube on the inside of the pot turning at a 90 degree angle and slightly down to put the suction point at the outside/bottom of the inside of the pot (then whirlpooling before wort transfer). But this still got some trub into the fermenter. So, I tried stuffing a stainless steel scouring pad at the end of the tubing, so that it's sandwiched between the tube and the wall of the pot. This was the first time I ever got clear wort into the fermenter.

As others have reported here, I've found that a large schedule of pellet hops only will clog just about any hopstopper. My solution has been to always use at least some portion of the hops in leaf form. It doesn't take much, maybe half an ounce. Like the grain in a mash, the leaf hops will form a large surface area filter bed. Yeah, leaf (or any for that matter) hops are getting hard to find. But I've been hoarding.

I used to use the bazooka screen and never had a problem. My new kettle came with a much smaller screen and I found it useless against pellet hops. I use bags now and am pleased with the results.

I still have a few Stainless false bottoms available. Just PM me
Cheers
JJ

I use a Sanke Keg with a SS ball valve and 90 deg. ss down tube that sits dead center. I have been using a stainless steel strainer that I bought for $5.50..

what I did was tear off the handles so I was left with a "straining basket". I put a hole in the center of the stainless mesh dome using a pair of needle nose pliers and some twisting. then I put the SS down tube through the hole and secured it with 2 SS hose clamps on either side. It holds it well in the bottom of the kettle and I dont get any hop particles in my fermentor. plus it drains the kettle to the same level as if I didn't even have a screen.. all for about $7..

-DIG

I use the hop bags for the hops and the Taco for the trub (break) filtering. Depending on the grist, sometimes the protein from hot break can get pretty nasty.

I do not try to stop hops from going into the fermenter any more and get more hop flavor from late hop additions. In the past I was concerned that the beer would not clear but found that using a fining agent and good hot and cold breaks is what I was lacking so hops in the fermenter does not hurt anything.