What Am I Missing? A-G HELP

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barside laundry

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I made my 2nd AG batch today and things started smooth as butter but I came up short again! I followed Charlie Papizan's guidelines:

10 pounds of grain

2.5 gallons 170 F in Mash Tun (10 gallon cooler)

Mixed and let rest for 90 minutes (154F)

Sparged out with 5 gallons of 170F water (actually 182 but when it reaches the grain bed it is 170)

Before the boil, my kettle (15 gallon keg w/electric heating element) had 5.5 gallons in it so I ran 1 gallon of 182F water from HLT through grain to bring kettle upto 6.5 gallons.

Boiled for 60 minutes making 2 hop additions along the way. (pellets just tossed in, no bag)

With about 10 minutes left I noticed I only had 5.25 gallons so I added 1/2 gallon of water and it quickly returned to a boil.

At the end of the boil I put the lid on and ran wort through my homemade wort chiller (as seen in BYO). With close to 3.5-4.0 gallons in my carboy the wort flow stopped. On the inside of my keg (kettle) I have a 3/8 copper tube extending from the ball valve to the bottom-middle of keg. On the end of the copper I put 12 inches of stainless steel mesh and knotted the end. It seems that the hop trub clogs the mesh. Also I am using a counter flow chiller that is made of 3/8 copper instead of 1/2 so my flow rate is not that fast (22 minutes for 5 gallons of water to flow from keg to carboy).

What can do to fix this? Use whole hops so there is less trub? Buy a bazooka? Start boil with 8 gallons? By the time I had run the last gallon through the grain the wort was clear, I got all the color and sugar out of the grain. My OG was 1052 (right on target).

Please help.

Frustrated home brewer slightly missing extract.
 
The hop stopper is good for whole hops but when using pellets (as I found out last night) it will clog also. I had to stir and scrap the hop scum from the hopstopper to get my flow rate back. I still had 2 gal in the kettle and it stopped completely. This is the first time I have had this problem with this gizmo. It may be that I had quite a bit of break material too. I feel your frustration.

Whole hops will work better in terms of not clogging your braid but they will absorb a substantial amount of wort. I say just design your recipes/volumes to account for such losses. That way we won't be trying to find a way to squeeze blood from the this turnip.

One other thing. I also use a pump. If you have a substantial flow rate the hopstopper works like a charm but if your flow rate is slow it can fail also. I almost switch to my pump last night but didn't want to take all the time to clean my lines before doing so. I was already beat..so I just kept scrapping and stirring.
 
I'm a little confused by all this, why not just use muslin bags for the hops (pellet or whole)? They only cost a quarter or so. Or even use the nylon bags.
 
Do you think my 3/8 counter flow chiller is too small to create enough vacuum to pull a siphon through such resistance? Does anyone elso use 3/8 for CF chiller? I like the idea of a hop stopper but I have a heater element running across the bottom of my keg.
 
I can't use muslin bags because of the 4500 watt heating element running across the bottom of my keg. The bag would immediatly burn upon touching the element.
 
barside laundry said:
I can't use muslin bags because of the 4500 watt heating element running across the bottom of my keg. The bag would immediatly burn upon touching the element.

That's interesting. Got a picture, I'm interested in comparisons for electric vs. Propane. How long to boil? Any idea on how much juice you use for a brewing session in dollars? Also, if it would burn up the hop bag wouldn't it burn the hops themselves?

Sorry for so many questions, but I've seen pics of electric elements in kettles before but never had anyone to ask these questions to.
 
I'd go for whole hops. I got mine from http://www.freshops.com, and am very pleased with them.
I've also heard good things about http://www.hopsdirect.com but have not tried them yet.
You will need about 10% more whole leaf hops compared to pellets, and will have to pay postage. Even so, they both come out much cheaper for me than buying pellets in the local HBS.

-a.
 
barside laundry said:
I can't use muslin bags because of the 4500 watt heating element running across the bottom of my keg. The bag would immediatly burn upon touching the element.

Suspend them from a piece of string or fishing line so they can't touch the bottom.

Trying to keep small ID tubing from clogging with hop debris is fruitless. Keeping the hops in bags or nylon stockings works well.
 
Mikey said:
Suspend them from a piece of string or fishing line so they can't touch the bottom.

Trying to keep small ID tubing from clogging with hop debris is fruitless. Keeping the hops in bags or nylon stockings works well.

Took the words right out of my mouth. lol.
 
funny you mention hopsdirect me and two of my friends just ordered 50 lbs of hops from them and it only cost us $22.00 shipping and the prices are a lot better than freshhops.com like $3.10 lbs for cascade pellets , anyway i use a 3/8 wort chiller like you have but i have a pump now , but before i used gravity and it did fine ,just make sure everything is going down hill once it leave the pot. what i use is a stainless steel false bottom in the boilong pot not a screen to get clogged, i did some homework and found 306 3/32 perforated stainless steel enough to make two 15 inch false bottoms for under $25.00 each
 
ajf said:
I'd go for whole hops. I got mine from http://www.freshops.com, and am very pleased with them.
I've also heard good things about http://www.hopsdirect.com but have not tried them yet.
You will need about 10% more whole leaf hops compared to pellets, and will have to pay postage. Even so, they both come out much cheaper for me than buying pellets in the local HBS.

-a.
Thanks for the post! I just ordered 3 pounds of hops from Hops Direct. I'll be busy sealing them in vacuum sealed bags! I was paying $1.50 per oz. for hops. Through Hops Direct the cost is less than half.
 
Mikey said:
Suspend them from a piece of string or fishing line so they can't touch the bottom.

Trying to keep small ID tubing from clogging with hop debris is fruitless. Keeping the hops in bags or nylon stockings works well.


I have my wife pick me up some knee- high nylons for my hops and then i just tie the stocking around a piece of copper wire which is stretched over the top of the kettle. the hops are suspended in the boil without touching anything but wort. The wife sure gave me a funny look when I first asked her to buy them for me though. ;)
 
ablrbrau said:
I have my wife pick me up some knee- high nylons for my hops and then i just tie the stocking around a piece of copper wire which is stretched over the top of the kettle. the hops are suspended in the boil without touching anything but wort. The wife sure gave me a funny look when I first asked her to buy them for me though. ;)
There is a joke in there somewhere but I think I will leave it alone. :ban:
 
This is indeed a common problem with extract and AG brewing. It can be rather frustrating because at that stage in the brewing process you want to start maintaining sanitation.

I don't recommend the use of hop bags for hops since they may restrict the hop utilization in a way that you cannot easily account for in your calculations. But there are many other factors that you don't account for either and many brewers use them with success.

But this doesn't solve the problem of the hot break, which can clog up your drain as well.

Most commercial breweries are actually using whirpooling to separate the particular matter from the wort and so can we. After I chill my wort with an immersion chiller, I create a rotating motion with the spoon and let is rest covered for 20-30min. After that I siphon w/o using any mesh for filtering. Once I get to the bottom of the pot it looks like this:

trub_cone.jpg


This is called a trub-cone and it consists of hot-break, hops and cold break (in case you have an immersion chiller). When I get close to the bottom I also start getting some of the break material into my primary. I'm not overly worried but stop siphoning when I have about 2-3L (~qts) left in the kettle. I can later separate the remaining wort from the break and use it for future starters or as gyle for priming.

BTW, with this set-up I like using hop pellets since they would not clog the siphon in case a few are caught by it.

Now, my set-up doesn't quite match yours. But the whirpool method can also be used for kettles with a spigot and counterflow chilling. All you need is a bazooka-T, that is close to the wall of the kettle and high enough above the bottom so it will not be to close to the trub-cone. Then you start the whirpool with your spoon and let it sit for about 10 min. Now most of your hops and hot-break should be in the center of the kettle and should not interfere with the bazooka-T.

Kai
 
Sudster said:
The hop stopper is good for whole hops but when using pellets (as I found out last night) it will clog also.

Hmmm... how about a false bottom? Will I have a problem with pellets? I have actually not used anything but pellets.... just wondering by your responce if when I finally get the AG set if I should switch to whole hops.....
 
RichBrewer said:
There is a joke in there somewhere but I think I will leave it alone. :ban:

Yup. The GF asks for the biggest size they have in stock, saying they're for me. :D
 
Mikey said:
Yup. The GF asks for the biggest size they have in stock, saying they're for me. :D

You know... I had never thought of it... but you know when your used to married life when you get buy a box of tampoons with a straight face....
 
Kai said:
This is indeed a common problem with extract and AG brewing. It can be rather frustrating because at that stage in the brewing process you want to start maintaining sanitation.

I don't recommend the use of hop bags for hops since they may restrict the hop utilization in a way that you cannot easily account for in your calculations. But there are many other factors that you don't account for either and many brewers use them with success.

But this doesn't solve the problem of the hot break, which can clog up your drain as well.

Most commercial breweries are actually using whirpooling to separate the particular matter from the wort and so can we. After I chill my wort with an immersion chiller, I create a rotating motion with the spoon and let is rest covered for 20-30min. After that I siphon w/o using any mesh for filtering. Once I get to the bottom of the pot it looks like this:



This is called a trub-cone and it consists of hot-break, hops and cold break (in case you have an immersion chiller). When I get close to the bottom I also start getting some of the break material into my primary. I'm not overly worried but stop siphoning when I have about 2-3L (~qts) left in the kettle. I can later separate the remaining wort from the break and use it for future starters or as gyle for priming.

BTW, with this set-up I like using hop pellets since they would not clog the siphon in case a few are caught by it.

Now, my set-up doesn't quite match yours. But the whirpool method can also be used for kettles with a spigot and counterflow chilling. All you need is a bazooka-T, that is close to the wall of the kettle and high enough above the bottom so it will not be to close to the trub-cone. Then you start the whirpool with your spoon and let it sit for about 10 min. Now most of your hops and hot-break should be in the center of the kettle and should not interfere with the bazooka-T.

Kai

Excellent info Kai!

I know who I'm suggesting for a whirlpooling write-up when we get the internal homebrewing FAQs going!

:rockin:
 
Hi i am a new poster here ..... but if you'd like my two cents. here is the way i do it

as suggested earlier use nylon stockings they are cheap and disposable ....i don't even hang them on a wire ...let them bang and float around in your boil (my kettle has two 5000w elements and i have never had a problem)

when i want to add hops at different intervals i just fish them out ,put them in a bowl ,and untie the knot (once it cools a bit ) and add more hops to the nylon bag

-BTW as for hop utilization my IBU's always seem darn close with Promash numbers

as for the false bottom or screen or hop back get rid of it ....let the cold break fall into your primary, I've heard that it contains nutrients for yeast and trust me i have done it both ways and never noticed a difference in the finished product

Keep it simple is my motto

again just my 0.02 but hope it helps
Cheers HB
 
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