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So i am about to pull the trigger on this trub filter... as i read more and more through the thread i was holding on to the thought that it could be used in a bk-pump-filter-plate chiller-bk recirc cycle until i got to this last page... Am i right in saying that no one here besides MicroBus has attemped to recirc for a full volume chill? and of course from his post it ended up in a clogged filter. I was really leaning towards this solution until now. I have a keggle with a false bottom and centered dip tube... is there any hope of this filter working with the bk-pump-filter-plate chiller-bk recirc setup?
 
I've tried a couple times to recirculate with the my filter and it ended terribly. I clogged it 3 times. What I have found to work really well for me it start a whirlpool and it wait about 5-10 min and then start cooling and right to fermenter. Start the flow very slow. And finally the best way that I found it to work for me is BK-filter-pump-plate chiller. It doesn't seem to clog as easy when it's pulling the wort instead of pushing, also it seems to filter more trub that way. I really like mine hope it works well for you also.
 
thanks for the reply... a few questions, when you recirculated did you chill during the recirc or did you simply just recirc the hot wort? What filter are you using, the built in or the one of the fine filter socks. I decided to purchase on of these and give it a shot either way. I was thinking about setting up an manifold/splitter where I could recirc the hot wort a time or two with the filter then, by way of the manifold/splitter reroute it to recirc through the plate chiller with the pumper after bother filter and chiller. From your experience do you think that might be a possibility? Like i said i already purchased the filter so i am gonna do some experimenting with it. I have a false bottom in my boil keggle for use of whole/leaf hops and know from experince with that that it does not do much for filtering pellet debris. This should be fun...
 
I have the fine sock I always run with mine. Without it just about everything can get through. You might be able to recirculate by just going from the pump to the pot. But if it wet me I would always go through the filter anytime I'm using the plate chiller. Just to help prevent something clogging the chiller.
Why exactly do you want to recirculate. You can run straight through and chill to temp in probably less time than recirculate to temp. This time of year my water temps are pretty low so I can run straight through and get down to around 65 or so. It does have to run pretty slow but it gets it done.
 
i brewed a batch today (APA 5 gal extract w/ steeping grains) and was testing the recirc times of my plate chiller, i was hoping to use less water reciulating. I guess once you calculate in the factor of cooling down the equipment, the boil kettle and burner stand, a single pass through the plate chiller into the fermenter is much faster and more aqua economic. i was doing single passes in july with more than satisfactory results using ground temp water. i dont know why i was thinking recirc would be faster. It did seem that recirculating created alot more cold break, atleast what i could see, compared to a sinlge pass into the fermenter. I also used pellets and hop socks for this brew (3oz). If i can get this much clarity(no hops in the fermenter) from using the trub filter, with or without the .3 mm screen, and better hop utilization i would be more than pleased. I am brewing again tomorrow, witbier 5 gal extract w/steeping grains 1oz of hops, and going to do a comparison on chill time and visible cold break with todays brew using single pass. I measured my water through the plate chiller by volume using an old ale pail and it took 35 gallons of water to do the recirc chill. I have a feeling the water will be much less in volume and less visable cold break (even thou that doesnt really amount to anything seeing that all the protiens are still in there). I think i am going to love this filter.
 
I am brewing again tomorrow, witbier 5 gal extract w/steeping grains 1oz of hops, and going to do a comparison on chill time and visible cold break with todays brew using single pass. I measured my water through the plate chiller by volume using an old ale pail and it took 35 gallons of water to do the recirc chill. I have a feeling the water will be much less in volume and less visable cold break (even thou that doesnt really amount to anything seeing that all the protiens are still in there). I think i am going to love this filter.

How did this go? Was your chilling time/water use better or the same?
 
i used a bit less water, only about 25 gallons going single pass. I even chilled it a bit lower than i wanted for pitch temp. Which was the reason i wanted to use recirc to dial in on the pitch temp... its all up in the air for me still... and my trub filter is on the way, cant wait to get it
 
So I brewed up a batch of IIIPA this weekend and it had about 10oz of hops and it clogged up big time, my question is what is the proper mounting technique? I have seen brewers with it mounted 2 ways, so I'm wondering if I just had it hooked up wrong since the smaller of the 2 pieces clogged up big time with all the hop sediment almost instantly. Any help is great! Cheers!!
 
Im pretty sure you are supposed to hook up the larger out shell as the input and the insert is actually the output, atleast that's how the demonstration on the web sight was
 
Hey there guys.... I just used the filter this weekend for my first time... After immersion chilling, it was set up like this. BK>Pump>(small clamp end)Filter(big clamp end)>Fermenter. The filter was being held by hand roughly horizontally over a funnel for our first test. It seemed to clog very quickly to where no liquid was coming out even with the ball valve after the pump being wide open. We eventually took the filter off and just flowed into the funnel to finish the fermenter fill. After finishing and taking the filter apart, it had very little hop matter inside but just enough where pretty much every hole had a tiny amount of hop matter in it.

Granted, this was our first use of it, but not our last....

It kinda sounds like more people are putting the filter before the pump, so i think we'll try that next, and perhaps try and have it be vertical as well. It looks like it'll be great... Just gotta get it dialed in...
 
LeftTurnOnly said:
Hey there guys.... I just used the filter this weekend for my first time... After immersion chilling, it was set up like this. BK>Pump>(small clamp end)Filter(big clamp end)>Fermenter. The filter was being held by hand roughly horizontally over a funnel for our first test. It seemed to clog very quickly to where no liquid was coming out even with the ball valve after the pump being wide open. We eventually took the filter off and just flowed into the funnel to finish the fermenter fill. After finishing and taking the filter apart, it had very little hop matter inside but just enough where pretty much every hole had a tiny amount of hop matter in it.

Granted, this was our first use of it, but not our last....

It kinda sounds like more people are putting the filter before the pump, so i think we'll try that next, and perhaps try and have it be vertical as well. It looks like it'll be great... Just gotta get it dialed in...

You need the large end of the canister as the inlet, the small end (the filter) is the outlet. Otherwise you're just filling the filter tube with hop debris and the pressure forces it into the screen and plugs it up. When you hook it up correctly and remove the filter assembly, it will be coated on the outside with hop debris. There will be nearly nothing on the inside of the filter.
 
Hey there Reelale... hmmm i wonder if i messed up my description since really there are 3 clamps. What I was calling the small clamp end would be the main housing, and the big clamp end would be the end with the 2 clamps, where the filter piece inserts at requiring the bigger clamp. So i was going in on the main housing, and out of the filter insert, which i think means i was going in the right end... i think... heh.... though not 100% sure...
 
LeftTurnOnly said:
Hey there Reelale... hmmm i wonder if i messed up my description since really there are 3 clamps. What I was calling the small clamp end would be the main housing, and the big clamp end would be the end with the 2 clamps, where the filter piece inserts at requiring the bigger clamp. So i was going in on the main housing, and out of the filter insert, which i think means i was going in the right end... i think... heh.... though not 100% sure...

I see now. It sounds like you have it correct. I have yet to brew on mine, but I did a test run with 4 oz of pellet hops in 6 gallons of water. Mine is plumbed after the pump. I did notice that running it with the valve wide open would eventually cause flow reduction from clogging. I just slowed the flow down for a bit, or even stopped it momentarily, and it would eventually flow fine. I had a ton of hop debris in the cannister, and the effluent was very, very clear. I hope it works as well with a real wort.
 
Hi all. I just thought I'd share a few tips on using the trub filter.
I've made two batches with it to date and the batch I made today was by far a better process than the first.
The filter performs a lot better with hot wort running through it compared to chilled wort, I'm assuming this is because there is a lot more break in the chilled wort.
I used an IC chiller to get the wort down to 70 degrees celsius, then added aroma hops, whirlpooled and allowed to stand for 90 mins. The wort was still at 60 degrees when I cast out. Doing this had nothing to do with the equipment, it is something I wanted to try for hop aroma, after reading about it here.
I used a very slow flow rate out of the kettle, this also sits well with using a plate chiller. I think this is an important step in using the filter. It took 75 minutes to pass 42 lts into the fermenter. I managed to leave 2.5 lts of hop pellets and hot break in the kettle.
There has been some discussion about where to place the filter in relation to the pump, I placed it between the kettle and pump.
The wort into the kettle was the clearest I have seen, even when I started to get some trub/break going into the filter it managed to hold it in.
And this is one of the best parts, back flushing the PC produced very little sediment. Not even a hint of green.
The contents of the filter looked like more like green slime than what I saw with the last batch, which was mostly chunky looking hops.
Anyway, it has been one of my most satisfying brew days in 22 years. If you have any doubts about buying one of these filters, please persist, I think it is worth the money.
Now I just have to wait a few weeks to sample the beer!
John
:rockin:
 
I really like using this product with the .2 mm screen. Sometimes with larger batches, I found myself needing to disconnect and clean half way through the chilling, especially on 13 gallon batches with 10+ oz of hops. I would rather not whirlpool or rest and basically want to run into the fermenter right after I cut the boil.

I was wondering if it would be better to run 2 of these in parallel each with the .2 mm screen, or would it be better to run these in series, perhaps one without the screen and a second with the .2 mm screen. Thoughts?
 
I bought one but haven't used it yet.

I think running two in series is not going to help your issues because all the debris is going to wind up in the first filter, and the second filter is not going to filter anything because all the particles larger than the filter hole diameter have already been stopped by the first filter.

What you could do is run two .2mm filters in parallel and that should help the clogging. Another idea might be to run two in series, but the first filter with a larger hole diameter or no filter screen at all, then second with a smaller hole diameter of the filter screen.

I suspect that the parallel configuration would provide better flow however might be more complicated to plumb and support.

let us know how it turns out. I usually brew 10 gallon batches so I'm hoping on is fine for my needs.

TD
 
I've ordered a second filter and some fittings to allow them to run in parallel or series. I'm going to run in parallel first and see how it goes.

My next brew day is before I'll get the second trub filter. I'm also going to try and brew a 13 gallon lots-o-hops batch this weekend, but this time I'm going to use the .2mm screen and pull the old hop sock out of retirement.

Basically I'm trying to continually shorten my brew day and am trying to get my all grain session under 3 hours. I'm almost there. My stretch goal is 2.5 hours, but I've already gotten from 6 to 3.25, but we'll see.... I do a lot of prep the day before, but dough-in to cleaned and drying I would love to have under 3 hours.
 
I ordered on Friday AM and it arrived in the mail today. I've hooked up the second filter in parallel, both of them have the .2 mm screen. I am going to try and go as fast as the Therminator can chill. I have a feeling that if I go wide open from the start with the high flow pump I'm probably asking for trouble.

I'm going to need more stainless....

IMG_7501.jpg
 
I ran the dual filter setup today. Two Brewers Hardware trub filters with the 0.2 micron screens. I hit flame out, stirred to get a whirlpool going, put the lid on and waited for 5 minutes while I did something else. I came back and opened the system wide up, 8 minutes later I had just over 5.5 gallons in the fermenter.

I knocked out with 6.5 gallons in the kettle, 5 oz of hops with an old ale partial mash. I measured 5.5 gallons in the fermenter. I back flushed the filters before I remembered to take a picture. That will have to wait for next time. I had the high speed pump going and the 1/2" plumbing wide open to push through all the plumbing the dual filters and pull the last drops of sweet wort from the bottom of the kettle.

When compensating for shrinkage of water, I lost .6 gallons, all in all not too bad.

Cleaning is a whole other deal now. With all of the tri-clover fittings and gaskets, I now have a bucket full of sanitizer for all of the tri-clover parts.
 
I ran the dual filter setup today. Two Brewers Hardware trub filters with the 0.2 micron screens. I hit flame out, stirred to get a whirlpool going, put the lid on and waited for 5 minutes while I did something else. I came back and opened the system wide up, 8 minutes later I had just over 5.5 gallons in the fermenter.

I knocked out with 6.5 gallons in the kettle, 5 oz of hops with an old ale partial mash. I measured 5.5 gallons in the fermenter. I back flushed the filters before I remembered to take a picture. That will have to wait for next time. I had the high speed pump going and the 1/2" plumbing wide open to push through all the plumbing the dual filters and pull the last drops of sweet wort from the bottom of the kettle.

When compensating for shrinkage of water, I lost .6 gallons, all in all not too bad.

Cleaning is a whole other deal now. With all of the tri-clover fittings and gaskets, I now have a bucket full of sanitizer for all of the tri-clover parts.

Got any pics? You ran them in parallel setup?
How clear was the wort and how much trub left in kettle (Flat bottom?)
Sounds like they work FAST with pump! Pump sounds like it was between kettle and filters. Is there any filter or anything on the kettle bulkhead valve or just a dip tube.

Thanks!
TD
 
TD check out my pic a few posts back.

I'm using an electricbrewery.com 20 gallon Blichmann electric kettle, the pump came with the Sabco ChillWizard and I upgraded the pump to high speed.

I'm still working out the kinks, ideally I would have the trub filter above the counterflow chiller and pump through most of the process and then let the filters drain dry.

I think I have the parts in the right sequence, maybe just not at the right elevation.
 
Regarding larger batches. 20gal +

I been using the trub/hop filter for 20+ batches. The average boil size is 30 gallons. I'm using a Duda Diesel 60 plate chiller.

My goal when purchasing the unit was to use it to protect the plate chiller. The challenge is that I need to sanitize the chiller (typically begin the whirlpool 5min before flame out). At the beginning of the whirlpool, there is a fair amount of hop debris in the kettle so I need the filter to prevent clogging yet allow for enough flow volume to create an effective whirlpool.

To date I have had exactly two brew sessions go smoothly with the filter. BK>pump>Filter>HEX>BK ...the only way to get whirlpool volume going. BK>Filter>Pump>HEX>BK is a disaster. The filter starves the pump if put before making the wort difficult to force through the plate chiller.

The key to the two successful batches was to limit the flow/use time of the filter. 3-4min and then bypass completely. By that time the whirpool is really turning and the cone will form on it's own. From there, it's pump through the plate chiller and into the FV. I run the pump at full flow through the chiller. No clogging and the exit point is 59-61F.

I now manually start the whirpool with a ss paddle and wait a few minutes. It's not what I had hoped for when I bought the unit but it helps prevent clogging. IMO - if you can effectively whirlpool, you may not need the filter. It's decent insurance but not a cure-all for large batches.

One trick is to use a bleeder valve. One at the exit point of the plate chiller to vent trapped air. It seems like the filter/plate chiller combo conspires to trap air.


Brew on!
 
Regarding larger batches. 20gal +

I been using the trub/hop filter for 20+ batches. The average boil size is 30 gallons. I'm using a Duda Diesel 60 plate chiller.

My goal when purchasing the unit was to use it to protect the plate chiller. The challenge is that I need to sanitize the chiller (typically begin the whirlpool 5min before flame out). At the beginning of the whirlpool, there is a fair amount of hop debris in the kettle so I need the filter to prevent clogging yet allow for enough flow volume to create an effective whirlpool.

To date I have had exactly two brew sessions go smoothly with the filter. BK>pump>Filter>HEX>BK ...the only way to get whirlpool volume going. BK>Filter>Pump>HEX>BK is a disaster. The filter starves the pump if put before making the wort difficult to force through the plate chiller.

The key to the two successful batches was to limit the flow/use time of the filter. 3-4min and then bypass completely. By that time the whirpool is really turning and the cone will form on it's own. From there, it's pump through the plate chiller and into the FV. I run the pump at full flow through the chiller. No clogging and the exit point is 59-61F.

I now manually start the whirpool with a ss paddle and wait a few minutes. It's not what I had hoped for when I bought the unit but it helps prevent clogging. IMO - if you can effectively whirlpool, you may not need the filter. It's decent insurance but not a cure-all for large batches.

One trick is to use a bleeder valve. One at the exit point of the plate chiller to vent trapped air. It seems like the filter/plate chiller combo conspires to trap air.


Brew on!

I typically sanitize my plate chiller when sparging from the HLT. Then run a little starsan through it right before chilling. I also found whirlpooling with the filter between the BK & the pump impossible but didn't try it after the pump.

I only use the filter pre-chiller.
 
While mashing, I fire up the BK to heat my sparge water. I bring the sparge water to boiling and recirculate at boiling through the plate chiller and trub filters for at least 15 minutes. I then drain the loop and fill the HLT, so far my forced wort tests are coming out clean.
 
While mashing, I fire up the BK to heat my sparge water. I bring the sparge water to boiling and recirculate at boiling through the plate chiller and trub filters for at least 15 minutes. I then drain the loop and fill the HLT, so far my forced wort tests are coming out clean.

Thanks for the tip. Easy solution to sanitizing the Plate Chiller.
 
I have still been following this thread hoping to get more turned on, but it looks like bk>filtered funnel>grant/pump combo>hex>bk for me still. I have found it very easy to get piece of mind from my $80 presto pressure canner sterilizing my Therminator. From the amount of gunk that comes out of that thing though I think I am still sanitizing rather than sterilizing, but I can live with that. Plus I used it for another purpose the other night and cooked 4 gallons of chili and canned it. I love my p-canner!

I have been looking for a set of filter cones that get consecutively smaller weave so I could just stack them on top of each other in my grant and then pull them as they start to clog. Then once they are all out of the grant towards the end of my recirculating chill, I can add even finer sets to get as much as I need to get out of the final beer. I'm thinking for delicate lagers here since I really don't care about fining that much on most every other beer. Anyone know of a product that would fit in a corny I.D. ?

I use this same configuration of chilling for cleaning, only I reverse the direction of the hex so it is getting back flushed. I get my rinse water very clean and I still catch chunks of grist and other in the funnel filter. :(
 
I'd love to order this for my setup, but I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't offer an NPT version. It's crazy to think I'd have to spend $125 + shipping for this, then need to spend another $60 (!) on fittings, that's half the price of the filter.

I'm also considering the HopRocket, which would only cost me $10 for two camlock QD's. I want to use this as a secondary filter to catch grain debris before it hits the Therminator, and I don't think the HopRocket offers fine enough filtration on it's own (without hops or rice hulls or something else in there). So, I may be stuck buying this anyways. I'll be using a stainless hop spider to filter out most of the hop debris in the kettle.
 
Markd27 said:
I'd love to order this for my setup, but I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't offer an NPT version. It's crazy to think I'd have to spend $125 + shipping for this, then need to spend another $60 (!) on fittings, that's half the price of the filter.

If I were going to hazard a guess, there are a few drivers:

1) This is made from stainless tubing. NPT threads are found on thick-wall pipes. Tri-clamps and other sanitary fittings are what's on tubing normally.
2) Triclamp fittings are the normal fitting in commercial food, beverage, and brewing applications. A lot of home brewers use NPT fittings because they're cheap and available, not because they're the "correct" choice. (I use my "correct" in the "correct at my day job where we can go through >1 million pounds of milk in a day" sense - NPT threads are not on anything that makes direct product contact. Steam piping gets NPT up until the final flow regulator, then it goes TC. That's as close as an NPT fitting gets to products)
3) if you're reached the point in brewing where a $125 filter makes sense, then maybe you should be on TCs.
 
I'm thinking about getting one of these. I wonder though could it also be used to:

1.) act as mash tun false bottom in a bottom drain keggle?

2.) If I put a fine hop bag (the kind that keeps pellets in check in the boil) over the filter with a worm clamp, would it act as a small enough filter to make for crystal clear beer after fermentation?
 
Used the Glacier Tanks 1.5" version on a 2bbl System last night as a test before putting it on my system this weekend. All I have to say is, it worked better than expected. It caught stuff that the false bottoms in both the mash and boil kettles had missed as well as the trub. There was no noticeable speed reduction on the pump in drainage, no sticks, or anything. I think the key here is that the BK had a false bottom already, we weren't relying on it as the only filter.

The batch had 13oz of whole hops in it, most of which was caught by the BK screen, but wow... what we pulled out of the filter was... shocking. This is stuff that would pass into the plate chiller and the fermenter. Some was actually grain that had come all the way from the mash.

I think that if you set them up correctly, and don't rely on them as you're ONLY source of filtration in the brewing process, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

IMG_20130417_221448.jpg


IMG_20130417_230107.jpg


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We have 2 of these. I use on AFTER the pump on my Stout MLT before the HERMS. The other one is hooked up to the outlet of the Stout BK.

We do have a false bottom in the MLT and use Hop Socks in the BK.

Mostly grain bits in both after brewing.

On thing we do is precharge all the pumps and filters with hot water and have no air in them. I also have bleeder valves after the outlet valves. (St. Pats mpt with 1/4 in SS valve.)
 
We have 2 of these. I use on AFTER the pump on my Stout MLT before the HERMS. The other one is hooked up to the outlet of the Stout BK.

We do have a false bottom in the MLT and use Hop Socks in the BK.

Mostly grain bits in both after brewing.

On thing we do is precharge all the pumps and filters with hot water and have no air in them. I also have bleeder valves after the outlet valves. (St. Pats mpt with 1/4 in SS valve.)

That's a good call on precharging the line, pumps, and filter. I've been fighting with mine for the last few brew sessions and I never thought of that. I really feel like a reject because I are a Mechanical Engineer. :drunk: I feel like I should know these things. Next brew session I'll be charged with a lot of good ideas! I'm determined to make this thing work! There certainly is some good information in this thread!
 
The bleeder valves also help a lot. Once I get a pump charged, I never mess with the supply side.

Can you maybe post a few pics of your setup? It sound pretty sweet! I'm interested to see how you have the filter plumbed in.
 
I can do that but I will have to set it up. It is something of a rube goldberg machine as I do not want to change hoses once set up and I also pump hot water to top off the fermenter and get out all the wort.
 
Koi need your help. I am building a 25 gal hard plumbed TC set up. I was going to mount the filter horizontal before the pump. Then I was advised vertical before the pump. Can I mount my filter horizontal after the pump?

image-3829387235.jpg
 
On the supply side it needs to be vertical. I have one mounted sideways after the pump of my MLT and have not had many problems, but it does not fill up with grain. I do not vorloft because of the small amount of grain in the filter. I am thinking of mounting it vertical however as that the way it was designed to be used. I use Hop Bags (the throw away kind) in my BK so I do not have that much trub to begin with. I mostly catch a little of the grain that passed through the first filter into my BK. I may not have 100% of hop utilization but it is not an exact science anyway. I think the Hop variation within a crop would more of a factor than the hop bag loss. I also use a Blickmann Hop Rocket just before my plate chiller. If I am not using Leaf Flavor hops,I fill with SS scrubies as a final filter.

I would e mail Brewers Hardware. THey are the one in the know.
 
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