Bottom drain ekeggle boil question

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interplexr

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I'm contemplating converting a spare sanke into a bottom draining ekeggle. I have a ekeggle now with a dip tube and ss mesh filter on it and it works pretty well. Its difficult to keep the SS mesh from sitting up against the 5500W ULWD element though. I was thinking about going with a bottom drain tri clover conversion but was wondering about the dead space the wort will be in until the first valve.

Would there be an issue of this not boiling or is it to small a volume to matter? Also, does anyone have any suggestions on how to mount the ss mesh for a bottom drain so it doesn't plug with pellet hops? I haven't had any issue now but the mesh goes around the dip tube so it has plenty of surface area that can drain through.
 
I really don't think the dead space will be an issue. There is enough movement going on during the boil to basically eliminate that dead space.

What I recommend (as I am about to do the same thing)...is put a bottom drain in with no filter or anything, just open. Leave your dip tube in, get rid of the S/S mesh and reposition the pickup of the tube to the side/corner of the BK and whirlpool. Plan on losing a little bit more each brew day, but the bottom drain is useful during cleaning.
 
So I have exactly the system you're contemplating: Upside down keg with 2" tri-clover bottom drain and a 5500W ULD element. I used a 10" false bottom in mine, since I brew exclusively with whole leaf hops. I don't bother with hop bags and it works great. I'm not sure how it would respond to pellet hops, though, as I imagine there may be some serious issues.

As far as my process, I boil like normal. 10 min before I cut the power off I start recirculating through my CFC. That sanitizes everything and it sets the hops as a filter bed that traps most of the break material. When I cut the power I start the cooling water, which gets put into the HLT for cleanup.

Whirlpooling with a bottom drain in the center of your kettle will be counterproductive if you don't give the material a solid platform to land on. This could plug your drain, pump, or chiller. If you go with the center drain I highly suggest using a false bottom or hop bags to contain the hop material.
 
I don't have easy access to whole hops so I need to keep using the pellets. I might be able to find a frame in the shape of a false bottom to sew the SS mesh to. That sould allow me to filter them out. I'm not sure if the false bottom would handle those as well either. I use a plate chiller now so I need to make sure I keep the wort as clean as possible going into it.
 
Whirlpooling with a bottom drain in the center of your kettle will be counterproductive if you don't give the material a solid platform to land on. This could plug your drain, pump, or chiller. If you go with the center drain I highly suggest using a false bottom or hop bags to contain the hop material.

Yeah but what if you employ both a bottom drain (on the bottom, obviously) AND a pick up tube (coming off the bottom side of the kettle). This is what I'm planning (electric w/ a 5500 w element)...the ONLY time the bottom drain will be used is to dump/clean. I can't envision why this wouldn't work slick for cleaning at the end of a long brewday.
 
using the bottom drain just for cleaning, and then whirlpooling and using a pick up tube would work great I would think.
 
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