Best method to prevent clogged lines

Last brew day went great, right up to the point I was pumping boiled wort into the CFC to chill and recirculate. Whole leaf's got stuck in the quick disconnect. Caused me major grief and ended up quite short on final volume. Normally I use a hop spider but the boil volume was small on this beer and wouldn't reach deep enough into the keggle for the 7 hop additions. Lowering the hop spider seemed the best option, but second thoughts of overheating the plastic due to being deeper in the keggle come to mind. So what's the other options? SS Scrubby? Mesh? Hop Stopper? How does the scrubby compare to the mesh tube?

Well may not be the best answer, but I chose other. I hate whole hops. Pellets for me. Whole hops clog my system and I hate using bags. Many have luck with the hop blockers sold commercially though.

Well, I don't "hate" whole hops, but I do prefer to use pellets. Higher IBU's and less mess. Do you find pellets are small enough to circulate without causing flow issues?

If i use pellets I use a hop spider. If I use leaf I use a false bottom.

Not sure I can help you much. I don't use a CFC but I do recirulate (whirlpool) without any problems.

I use hops bags, and then I also have a hop blocker on the dip tube, although that probably doesn't accomplish much since the hop bags do the heavy lifting.

My ghetto hop spider is me sticking a yardstick on top of the pot, and then hanging hops bags from it into the kettle.

For my set up I use hop bags and nothing else. this works for both whole and pellet. I run my wort through a plate chiller and have had no problems yet after 40 gallons doing it this way. it does get expensive doing this with multiple hop additions but still allot cheaper then replacing my plate chiller. I have wondered about the dip tube screens though. I wonder if using that and a hop spyder would solve the need to use hop bags all together. Sorry kinda

I use whole hops and a bazooka T screen. Between the leaf and the screen, a lot of hot break gets filtered out. I also do no-chill, whirlpool and rack into primary to get rid of anything else that gets through.

I use a homemade hop blocker (and I recirculate to a plate chiller). My blocker is simply a folded sheet of stainless steel mesh (with a hole for my dip tube) that I temporarily seal up with some SS split rings.

I have a SS tea ball that works great. Cost me like $11.00 shipped.

I put all hop and other boil additions in this guy, and end up with only the finest particles in the final wort, which is all small enough to easily pass through my plate filter. I can fit up to about 8 ounces of hop pellets in this guy, even after they expand, and haven't experienced any dropoff in utilization:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004X4LGIO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

There was a post last week where a guy was asking for a good way to filter out hops that kept clogging his plate filter. I told him my method and he acted like I was retarded. He seemed to have his heart set on a $150.00 monstrocity of a tri-clover stainless steel in-line filter/hopback, and wanted someone to talk him into it. The thing was about 12" long, 4" wide and weighed like 20 lbs. Looked more like tri-clover, stainless steel Dachshund, and probably every bit of a PITA.

In the end, those things tend to clog up, limit wort flow and burn up a pump or two.

I'm telling you, this low-tech, low price tea ball works better!! I'd recommend either this route or building yourself a hop spider. Both are cheap and effective!

@TopherM
I already have a spider, but with 5 gallon batches it won't reach far enough down. I'm thinking of bending some new legs for it that allows it to reach further down but was worried that it would get too hot down there and melt the pvc.

Snafu said:

@TopherM
I already have a spider, but with 5 gallon batches it won't reach far enough down. I'm thinking of bending some new legs for it that allows it to reach further down but was worried that it would get too hot down there and melt the pvc.

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I have been using a hop spider as well. However, I am personally not a big fan of dealing with the hop spider, and might just go back to the "hopstopper" I purchased awhile back.

Also, I noticed your earlier comment about being hesitant of placing the plastic reducer to low for fear of it melting. I think it might be worth your while to take a look at this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/hop-spider-woes-solved-stainless-274172/

I just recently took my new single-tier on its maiden voyage a couple of weeks ago. My boil kettle was originally set up with a side pick up tube covered with a large ss mesh tea ball and whirlpool arm. I used whole leaf hops without any hop spider or bags. At the end of my boil I first tried recirculating back into my BK to whirlpool. This was a mess... After about 3-5 minutes I realized nothing was moving anywhere. Turned off the pump, scraped spent hops off the tea ball, unhooked tubing, etc. Total disaster... Then, pumping through my plate chiller pretty much gave me the same results. Needless to say, I only salvaged about 4 gallons into the fermenter. Once I got everything cleaned up I took the ss mesh tea ball and threw it as far as I possibly could into the woods in my back yard.... Ha!

This past weekend I tried out the new system. I built an all SS hop spider with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag and cake ring that hangs all the way to the bottom of my converted keg. I also put a SS chore boy around the base of my side pick up tube. The results were night and day. Used all pellet hops and my pump & plate chiller couldn't have been happier! I am really liking this set up.

Once I got everything cleaned up I took the ss mesh tea ball and threw it as far as I possibly could into the woods in my back yard

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For the logically impaired:

The reason the SS Tea Ball SUCKED in Crag's inline application and clogged up the circulation and wouldn't let anything through is the SAME reason the SS Tea Ball ROCKS when you put additions on the inside to keep them from coming OUT into the wort independent of your lines.

Nothing much gets through this guy, so as long as you are using it for the application I specified earlier, it is a great filtering tool. Don't do what Crags did.....it's the same difference as a inline filter and will clog the system pretty quickly! You want your filter to be INDEPENDENT of your circulation lines, not a part of them!!

TopherM - This aggression will not stand, man...

I was simply trying an idea posted in the thread below:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/10-stainless-diy-hop-blocker-289349/

Didn't work for me. I'm sure they're great for putting the hops into them, but I prefer the hop spider. Thanks for your insight, though....

Crags....nothing is f**ked here! The Dude abides....

I just didn't want anyone to dismiss my hop ball (into the woods), which works perfect for me (a.k.a., really ties the room together). No worries...

It's so funny how different things work for different people! As long as I'm making good, quality brew, that's all that matters!

I like your style dude...