How do you Filter Out Hops after Boil?

Last night I made an IIPA. Lots of leaf hops.

I have used a hop spider before but I wanted maximum utilization so I did not.

I'm using a Blichman 15Gal Pot with false bottom (I use it to mash and to boil)

I take the false bottom out after I dump the grains for boiling.

Everytime the downspout gets clogged and I have to man ahndle the thing and pour it into a funnel with a strainer.

Last night I tried whirlpooling with a drill and paint mixer. Got a nice vortex going for about 1 min. Let it settle for about 2 min and opened the downspout to drain.

Yep clogged. SO I had to dump it into a funnel/strainer by lifting the thing up

So aside from using a hop spider what other methods do you guys use that is successful?

Is the whirlpool thing only really useful with pellet hops? Because it did jack squat for me. Unless I did it wrong!


I'm just thinking when I move to 15 gallon batches I can just lift the thing up. I will need a better way to stop the dip tube from getting clogged when I'm draining.

I use a paint strainer bag. As far as whirlpooling goes... 2 minute rest is no where near long enough. Most guys I know let it sit for a 1/2 hour.

I answered a similar question in another thread today but I just got back from purchasing all the material necessary for a hop spider from Lowes. I had a similar situation this Sunday where my stainless scrubby filter got clogged with leaf hops and I ended up having to siphon the wort from the top of the kettle instead of using the ball valve/drain assembly. That was a big PITA.

I am 99% certain I will not have this problem with my soon-to-be hop spider.

Materials bought:
6 x 4 PVC reducer – $7
4-5 inch stainless worm clamp – $2
5 gallon paint strainer bag (2pack) - $3
4 zinc plated hex bolts 5/16 x 8 inch - $4 total
8 nuts -5/16” = $1 total
8 washers &#8211; 5/16&#8221; = <$1 total

For a grand total of around $18 bucks.

Couple things I&#8217;d like to point out &#8211; PVC does not do well under very high temperatures (You could substitute a stainless collar or CPVC. I plan to keep the majority of it mounted above the kettle, with a vent hood constantly on, and never putting a lid on the pot. I would rather have the larger opening for hops dumping and dont want to spend $50 on SS). And some people get worked up about having zinc plated metals near their brews (I plan to never immerse any of the zinc objects in the wort. Dripping condensation will be zero to minimal IMHO.)

Hop bazooka, hop taco, hopstopper, all screens. Google this site for these. Actually using a screen with whole hops works really well, even a smaller screen. It's the pellets that prove difficult.

[Edit] the hopstopper is not a screen, I mention it because you have a Blichman kettle.

Hey imperialipa,

I have the Blichmann 15 as well and have always used a paint strainer bag with whole leaf hops--never tried it without. Maybe go a little slower with the valve? It will take a little longer but you might find it doesn't clog. Also, maybe check out blichmann's hop blocker. I don't have any experience with it but it could improve your situation.

TK

If you are using a Blichmann Pot, then you must use the Hop Stopper! It is the absolute perfect solution for filtering out hops in the Boil Kettle.

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/hop-stopper

I have one and love it. Not only does it work great, the cleanup is super easy!!!

hopstopper, hopblocker...too many hop thingys to keep straight!

tknice said:

Hey imperialipa,

I have the Blichmann 15 as well and have always used a paint strainer bag with whole leaf hops--never tried it without. Maybe go a little slower with the valve? It will take a little longer but you might find it doesn't clog. Also, maybe check out blichmann's hop blocker. I don't have any experience with it but it could improve your situation.

TK

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Blichmann's hop blocker is one of the few Blichmann Fails out there. I was going to purchase it but was persuaded by several resources saying that it tips easily and just does not perform up to typical Blichmann Standards.

Here is my kettle screen. Works great with any amount of whole hops. Actually works pretty good for a reasonable amount of pellet hops. There are a ton of threads here about making your own. This is 28x28 SS screen from mcmaster with stainless rivets.

I always find it pretty amusing that people put the pick-up tube near dead-center from the kettle. If you whirlpool, that's exactly where all the hops debris + hot break are going to end up.

I've fitted my kettle with a simple copper ring that has very small holes drilled underneath it, and it's installed about 2/3rd of the way on the floor of my keggle. The hops + break all end up inside the center of it and I can draw off all of the liquid after whirlpooling briefly and letting it sit for 5-10 minutes.

In fact, the brewpub I briefly worked at used a whirlpool of 5 minutes (thru a pump) and settle time of 5 minutes. Their draw-off outlet was mounted, you guessed it, about 2/3rd of the way up from the kettle center. Their kettle was nearly flat but with a aim towards dead center, and there was a drain there too, to clean the kettle.

When I refer to 2/3rd of the way up, I am referring to the horizontal plane, not vertical.

MC

Ok I ordered that hop stopper for the blickman from Electricbrewing. I"ll boil up my next batch of iipa and post back so you guys with Blichmans will know if it works or not.

imperialipa said:

Ok I ordered that hop stopper for the blickman from Electricbrewing. I"ll boil up my next batch of iipa and post back so you guys with Blichmans will know if it works or not.

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Cool.. let us know! I have heard a few complaints about it as well but I don't see how it wouldn't work provided you open the valve slowly like he says in the videos.

I am also interested how the hop stopper works,I asked for it for my birthday which is next month

What I do is just line my fermint bucket with a 15 by 15 sanitized nylon brew bag. Pour the entire brew kettle into it.. and then lift it out. Hop pieces trub and all

I think that is honestly the most elegant and simply solution leolee66. If you are doing batch sizes that you feel comfortable with lifting and dumping the entire kettle by hand, I endorse that method 100%. However this becomes a little tricky brewing a 10 (or 15 in the OPs case) gallon batch by yourself.

With that being said, there has been more than one occasion where me and a buddy have had to dump a nearly full keggle into fermenting buckets due to hops clogging up the diptube.

Look up my build. Works pretty well for around $30 altogether. All stainless steel. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/12...-electric-brew-kettle-bazooka-pellets-325650/

tknice said:

Hey imperialipa,

I have the Blichmann 15 as well and have always used a paint strainer bag with whole leaf hops--never tried it without. Maybe go a little slower with the valve? It will take a little longer but you might find it doesn't clog. Also, maybe check out blichmann's hop blocker. I don't have any experience with it but it could improve your situation.

TK

Click to expand...

I have a hopblocker from blichmann and it is marginal at best, not really worth the price.

imperialipa said:

Ok I ordered that hop stopper for the blickman from Electricbrewing. I"ll boil up my next batch of iipa and post back so you guys with Blichmans will know if it works or not.

Click to expand...

if you did not order the diptube with the HopStopper you may have to modify your diptube by putting notches around the tip otherwise it may tend to clog. the first time i used mine i was able to drain 3.5 gallons before it started to clog intermittently then it really slowed. now i have cut notches and know to slow the drain for the last gallon or so. also, do no whirlpool or recirculate for best results.

eastoak said:

I have a hopblocker from blichmann and it is marginal at best, not really worth the price.



if you did not order the diptube with the HopStopper you may have to modify your diptube by putting notches around the tip otherwise it may tend to clog. the first time i used mine i was able to drain 3.5 gallons before it started to clog intermittently then it really slowed. now i have cut notches and know to slow the drain for the last gallon or so. also, do no whirlpool or recirculate for best results.

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The diptube is part of the hop stopper (the one from the electric brewery). I have it and just pulled the Blichmann Diptube out, replaced the lock nut thingie on the new one and inserted the hop stopper. It works fabulously!

Whirlpool with a pump and use a side-pickup on the kettle. That leaves most the hops behind. If it's a super hoppy beer, just sanitize a paint strainer bag, and use it to filter the wort heading into the fermenter.

Are hop bags not standard equipment for most people?

I use the draw string bags for 1-2oz of leaf or pellet hops and never have any problems. Is there a reason other people don't use them? If I have even more I use a larger fine mesh bag, I guess what a lot of people use for BIAB.

I can't imagine doing it any other way.

Gameface said:

Are hop bags not standard equipment for most people?

I use the draw string bags for 1-2oz of leaf or pellet hops and never have any problems. Is there a reason other people don't use them? If I have even more I use a larger fine mesh bag, I guess what a lot of people use for BIAB.

I can't imagine doing it any other way.

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utilization. I like the fact that the hops are flowing freely through out the kettle during the boil.

chemman14 said:

utilization. I like the fact that the hops are flowing freely through out the kettle during the boil.

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How significant do you think the difference is? If it isn't fairly significant I'd rather deal with lower utilization than clogging my kettle valve.

scottland said:

Whirlpool with a pump and use a side-pickup on the kettle. That leaves most the hops behind. If it's a super hoppy beer, just sanitize a paint strainer bag, and use it to filter the wort heading into the fermenter.

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Whirlpooling might work with pellet hops, but whole cones are almost guaranteed to get stuck in the diptube/valves/pump assembly, no? If not, please give me some more details because I’d like to overcome whole cone clogging!

Misplaced_Canuck said:

I always find it pretty amusing that people put the pick-up tube near dead-center from the kettle. If you whirlpool, that's exactly where all the hops debris + hot break are going to end up.

I've fitted my kettle with a simple copper ring that has very small holes drilled underneath it, and it's installed about 2/3rd of the way on the floor of my keggle. The hops + break all end up inside the center of it and I can draw off all of the liquid after whirlpooling briefly and letting it sit for 5-10 minutes.

In fact, the brewpub I briefly worked at used a whirlpool of 5 minutes (thru a pump) and settle time of 5 minutes. Their draw-off outlet was mounted, you guessed it, about 2/3rd of the way up from the kettle center. Their kettle was nearly flat but with a aim towards dead center, and there was a drain there too, to clean the kettle.

When I refer to 2/3rd of the way up, I am referring to the horizontal plane, not vertical.

MC

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Pictures? Sounds like an interesting set up that I might be willing to try on my Keggle.

peter78 said:

Look up my build. Works pretty well for around $30 altogether. All stainless steel. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/12...-electric-brew-kettle-bazooka-pellets-325650/

Click to expand...

I love this screen setup. Mine is difficult to clean inside the screen, this looks like it could disassemble for a deep clean. Thanks for the links in your build!

BigB said:

Pictures? Sounds like an interesting set up that I might be willing to try on my Keggle.

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I don't have a picture handy, but think of this (below), but instead of exiting over the side, it exits through a compression fitting, and ball valve through the wall.



When I built mine, I put the part I wanted to be flat between 2 sheets of plywood, and gently hammered into shape. It also flattened the tube slightly, which helped when drilling small holes.

MC

I have a 15 gallon Blichmann brew pot and have used the following methods with various results, all using pellet hops only, on a variety of brews:

- Straight draining - huge trub and mess into the fermenter, occasionally this is the result of a failed alternate method

- Blichmann false bottom - like an idiot I tried this with pellet hops. DO NOT DO THIS. It stopped up within a gallon of transfer.

- Hop Blocker from theelectricbrewery.com - used the screen and dip tube as shipped, clogged on two brews, both within the last gallon of transfer, and without whirlpooling.

- Whirlpool then racking with hops thrown directly in - fairly successful, but lots of trub in the pot left over. I missed my usual fill mark into the fermenter due to this.

- Whirlpool then racking, hops hung in a hop bag for boil - Extremely successful. Probably the best method for filtering I've used, and honestly, one of the cheapest.

To whirlpool I did the following: Chilled wort, settled for 5 minutes, whirlpooled violently for a minute. Let it sit for 15 minutes, repeat whirlpool, repeat sitting again for 15 minutes. Rack the wort off from the side of the kettle with an auto-siphon.

SkipperNC said:

[...]
To whirlpool I did the following: Chilled wort, settled for 5 minutes, whirlpooled violently for a minute. Let it sit for 15 minutes, repeat whirlpool, repeat sitting again for 15 minutes. Rack the wort off from the side of the kettle with an auto-siphon.

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Seems like the second whirlpool would totally undo the first, wasting 15 minutes...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

Seems like the second whirlpool would totally undo the first, wasting 15 minutes...

Cheers!

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Yeah I'm thinking so too. I read the technique elsewhere. At this point I'm still trying out everything to see what fits my brew day routine while still getting good results. I could certainly try skipping the second whirlpool.

EDIT: I should note that I have not gone back and tried just using a false bottom or hop blocker while placing hops into a bag. That could be just as clear and save time used on whirlpooling. I'm interested in seeing what others use here too.

Skipper, how much hop material are you seeing in the bottom of kettle/whirlpool cone when using the hop bags? Is it mostly break material?

BigB said:

http://oi50.tinypic.com/1e30bt.jpg[/IMG]4168097]Pictures? Sounds like an interesting set up that I might be willing to try on my Keggle.

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Here :



Not quite adjusted properly.

MC

kpr121 said:

Skipper, how much hop material are you seeing in the bottom of kettle/whirlpool cone when using the hop bags? Is it mostly break material?

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With the bags used for hops, the stuff in the kettle bottom is mostly break material. Depending on the time they go in, I use multiple hop bags, I will see more or less hop material IN the bag that I have to dump after flameout. It certainly doesn't all break up, but a portion of it does and seeps out I'm guessing. I hang them from a double strainer over the top of the brew kettle, something similar to a hop spider but just made from what I had on hand. Since they hang from the strainer, it's easy to sit them on top of it after the boil so any trapped liquid can drain.