Kettle Spigot Filter Clogged by Hop Pellet Crap

Hey guys -- this past weekend I brewed the CYBI Mirror Pond Recipe and had one hell of a time transferring the wort from my kettle to my carboy.

I have one of those screen filters on my Kettle spigot and it got clogged up super fast with all of the pellet hop debris. The only way I could get it out was to use my paddle to scrape the screen back and forth continuously. It was a real pain in the ass.

Before this, I used hop bags and really didn't like my hop utilization and flavor/aroma. Any other suggestions for keeping that crap out of my carboy or do most people just let it flow into the carboy?

I don't worry about keeping the hop debris out of the primary. I leave it behind when I rack to the secondary. I have also noticed a significant decrease in hop utilization when using hop bags. I have a false bottom in my BK and much of the trub and hop debris will cake up and be retained as I drain the kettle, but not all of it. Whole hops don't pass through like the pulverized pellets do, but they sure do retain a lot of juice.

I stopped using pellets, way too much trouble with the sludge & cold break for me. I bought the largest filter/grain bags I could find (Northern Brewer or others) and use that for leaf hops. I don't notice any hop utilization troubles but if I did I would just change the recipe now that prices have come so far down. You can squeeze the wort out of the hops when they are in a large bag and not leave much in the kettle.

I've used whole leaf hops before and Really didn't like them compared to Pellet hops -- especially since I buy in bulk and need something that stores well.