What type of screen to use with keggle...

Just was wondering what you guys were using in your keggles for screening out hops and such... Right now I use pellet hops because I am still doing ingredient kits from NB and AHB, I dont know if they will let you upgrade to whole hops...

Just let me know what has worked for you guys in the past and present!

I have a Bazooka T in my Kettle, from norhtern brewer. I am hoping to upgrade it to a false bottom as it doesn't work that well for the pellet hops. works awesome for whole hops though, so that is mainly what I use. it was in there when i bought my Keggle.

Cheers

So a false bottom is recomended for using pellets?

+
where is the best place around for a false bottom for the sanke...?

Any of the bigger supply sites will sell false bottoms made for a sanke kettle. I would just personally prefer a false bottom. The only thing you really have to worry about is your Tubing getting clogged. i use a CFC and it would really suck for it to get clogged I can't imagine that it would be fun to try and clean it out.

False bottoms will not work well with pellet hops, not too many devices will work well with pellet hops. I have tried many and have found the Hop Stopper to work the best for my needs. I use pellet hops almost exclusively and even with 8 ounces of pellets it did not get clogged! It is a bit on the pricey side though.

I love my hopstopper - I use mostly whole leaf hops these days, but I've used both with the hopstopper and it delivers. It's expensive, but worth it.

kinda looks like i could make something like that on my own... seems expensive for what you are getting.

sorry for the bumb.. but does SS braid work well with all type of hops?

I use a ss braid over my ss racking cane, and i've never had a clogging problem.

cool. i think that is what i am going to use in conjunction with my new weldless fitting...

movin' on up!

I have just gone to using hop bags for my keggle, and I don't have any straining device over my pickup tube. Use an immersion chiller in the keggle, then just drain directly into carboys. I tried a few different straining methods, homebuilt hop stopper, metal mesh, and they all seemed to clog up with cold-break and hops.

do you get the same results using a hop bag then if they were just free floating.. ?

I made my own Hop stopper with a SS splash screen. found mine @ bed bath and beyond. ill post pics later .

This is something that all keggle users struggle with. I built myself a hopstopper clone and I'm confident that it's everybit identical only I have even more surface area. It chokes on 100% pellet hops on anything over 5 oz, even less if you try to immersion chill (the cold break is about the same as pellet sludge). It starts getting more forgiving if you use all leaf or a mix of half leaf and pellet.

What I do now is use a large hop bag for bittering and flavor additions, then let the aroma steep free float. I haven't noticed any reduction is bittering since going to the bag, but it could just be my perception.

A false bottom is not going to stop pellet sludge, the holes are too big.
A braid isn't either because the surface area is not great enough.
A bazooka might work ok, but it also doesn't allow you to use a dip tube so you'll leave quite a bit of wort behind.








More discussion:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27239&page=3

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=223796

Bobby_M said:

... A bazooka might work ok, ...

Click to expand...

I tried my bazooka with pellet hops - clogged every time. Works fine with whole hops, so I switched over. I occasionally use pellets in a bag, but mostly whole hops.

Bobby_M said:

... but it also doesn't allow you to use a dip tube so you'll leave quite a bit of wort behind. ...

Click to expand...

I use a dip tube with my bazooka - goes through the T and rests about 1/4 inch above the bottom of the T. Leaves less than a quart of wort behind.

See the pictures in the thread below.

http://hbd.org/discus/messages/20001/19701.html

I made a homemade hopstopper similar to Bobby_M's. It works perfectly with all leaf hops, but as others have mentioned not as well on pellet hops. I usually end up having to pick up the partially full (and hot! I use a plate chiller) kettle and swirl it a few times during the transfer in order to get the flow going again, if I have any significant amount of pellet hops in the batch. So, I to use leaf hops for as much of the amount as possible. Trouble is, some varieties are rarely, if ever, available in leaf.

The only thing that works for me in my converted keg and pellet hops is once I kill the flame I give it a good whirlpool with my spoon, let the wort spin out for a minuit, then pump the wort out into my CFC. I always get a big cone of hops and break material on the bottom of the keg in the end.

I have a Bazooka tree in my boil keggle work very nice. I do make hinged false bottoms for mash tuns but I think they are over kill when boiling

Pedal