False Bottom in Brewkettle

So, I've been having a conversation with Evan! and a few other brewers regarding fitting a false bottom in my brew kettle; by suspending the hop mass above the bottom of the kettle, it would ostensibly eek out a few more ounces of precious wort away from those little sponges.

I'd have to measure my kettle diameter to be sure of the diameter, but I'd estimate it to be roughly 20" so I'll likely need to have one fabricated, probably with feet to set it into the kettle just above the bulkhead.

Anything I'm missing? The wheels are turning.

i have used a false bottom in my boil kettle before. my experience was that it worked AMAZINGLY for whole hops, but was utterly useless with pellets.

Suggestion

Measure and remeasure and than cut a piece of cardboard that diameter and check the fit. Some keggles are not a perfect circle. The cardboard can be the false supplier's template.

Feet what I have done for brewers is use 1/4 - 20 stainless bolts as the feet and silver solder the nuts to false bottom, I use three 120 degrees a part. Install a pick up tube, I use 1/2 ridged copper with a union so its easy to remove and remove the false bottom.

Hope this helps

Dominus Vobiscum

Swagman

Berserker_Brew said:

i have used a false bottom in my boil kettle before. my experience was that it worked AMAZINGLY for whole hops, but was utterly useless with pellets.

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I've had fair success with pellet hops with a FB. It probably depends on your hole size though.

Lil' Sparky said:

I've had fair success with pellet hops with a FB. It probably depends on your hole size though.

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very true. i was using the MoreBeer Megapot with their False Bottom. not good for pellets at all.

I use a sabco bottom which is useless against pellet hops. I tried fitting a aluminum window screen over the FB but, it was just a pain to clean and get installed properly. So, recent beers have usually been planned with at least one leaf hop charge for trub filtering and the pellets still get sock filtered.

I'm using the NB false bottom in my keggle and it holds back most of the pellet hop debris. I'd say maybe 75% using all pellets. When using a combination of pellets and whole hops it does even better than that. The hop debris that passes through the FB doesn't cause any problems downstream so I don't worry about it at all.

Yeah, I use whole hops almost exclusively in the kettle except on beers that use such a small amount of hops that I'm not concerned about clogging my March pump or CFC on recirc.

I am thinking about just extending the valve to the bottom of the brew kettle and using those stainless steel scrubbers. Had a friend who did that and it worked great for him.

SporkD2 said:

I am thinking about just extending the valve to the bottom of the brew kettle and using those stainless steel scrubbers. Had a friend who did that and it worked great for him.

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I did this for a while prior to my current setup. Had a Shirron then and wanted to keep as much trub as possible out of it. The combo worked great on light hopped beers and low trub grist. Then once I got a massive break on a highly hopped beer and a plugged scrubby. It was a nightmare.

Now, with a therminator I am playing with a dual trap set-up. Mother of all hop bag for the pellets and a strainer lined grant for the hot break.

Sure is a lot to clean.

GilaMinumBeer said:

I did this for a while prior to my current setup. Had a Shirron then and wanted to keep as much trub as possible out of it. The combo worked great on light hopped beers and low trub grist. Then once I got a massive break on a highly hopped beer and a plugged scrubby. It was a nightmare.

Now, with a therminator I am playing with a dual trap set-up. Mother of all hop bag for the pellets and a strainer lined grant for the hot break.

Sure is a lot to clean.

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I concur on the result with the SS scrubbies. I brewed a stout last weekend with a massive break and plugged the heck out of the scrubby with trub alone. I used a hop bag so no hops to filter. I am using a shirron in my new brew build and wanted to get out as much break as possible. Thankfully I was able to use my IC as a backup once it was plugged.

I would be interested in learning more about your strainer build. I am debating building a hopstopper or something similar. My next brew is going to be with a 12" kettle screen/bazooka in the kettle and a hop bag. I think it will work fine for my oktoberfest, but I think it would plug if I brewed that stout again.

I just find that using a hop bag for my whole hops really cuts down on the utilization

HarkinBanks said:

I concur on the result with the SS scrubbies. I brewed a stout last weekend with a massive break and plugged the heck out of the scrubby with trub alone. I used a hop bag so no hops to filter. I am using a shirron in my new brew build and wanted to get out as much break as possible. Thankfully I was able to use my IC as a backup once it was plugged.

I would be interested in learning more about your strainer build. I am debating building a hopstopper or something similar. My next brew is going to be with a 12" kettle screen/bazooka in the kettle and a hop bag. I think it will work fine for my oktoberfest, but I think it would plug if I brewed that stout again.

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First run wasn't pretty. Too many hops and a leak in the main seal. Easy enough to fix.

subscribed

SporkD2 said:

I just find that using a hop bag for my whole hops really cuts down on the utilization

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This is what sent me down the path to using a FB in my kettle.

I had used the big hop bag; got poor utilization.

Built a hopstopper; worked well, but it was a PITA to clean.

Used a bazooka tee; worked pretty well for whole hops, but it wouldn't drain the kettle all the way.

Now, here I am currently with a FB. Haven't gotten the chance to use it, but with the proper diptube (mine will be 1/2" SS) I think you'll get great flow all the way down to the last drop. Still, it will probably be a PITA to clean, but at least it will be a simple "scoop, dump, and hose" operation with a folding FB. I may also add a large ~40 qt screen-lined "stock pot basket" in the future for quicker cleanup.

The compromise is that you have to use whole hops. I prefer them anyway, because they are usually much more aromatic and have higher AA% per ounce. You just have to adjust for absorption, that's all

Got myself a B3 hopback and fittings for tri-clamp connections. The fittings alone cost me more than the hopback. The plan is to load the HB with Rice Hulls and use that as a pre-filter for pellets and break. Should work well.

First run was a bit troublesome in that rice hulls, ummm, float. And I found that as the wort was run into the grant the rice hulls would float and spread. Once all was said and done the runnings had bored a hole through the rice hulls thus negating the purpose.

All is not lost tho'. I still have 54.75 pounds of rice hulls left to try again.

Next run, I plan to fabricate a secondary false bottom out of some sheet aluminum to use as a hold down screening. That is, I'll load the hopback with the rice hulls and lay a secondary screen over the filter bed to keep them from floating and to keep the runnings from boring a hole into the filter bed.

Should work well. (heard that before?)

I have a false bottom on my kettle and it works really well. It is only about 9" in diameter, Jaybird cut me a good deal on it. I have a bottom drain on the kettle to get every last drop out of it (and it's easier to clean). I did end up installing a screw with a wing-nut on it near the middle of the kettle so I can screw down the false bottom good and hard against the keg so nothing gets around it. I did a huge Simcoe - MO SMASH the other day and it held everything back (leaf hops). I just use my shop-vac for cleanup.

i've got a 15" hinged false bottom from jaybird. i used it for 2 brews (extract w/ specialty grains) this past weekend, and it kept alot of the junk out. I only had 20 ounces left in the keggle, whereas the prior 2 brewing sessions, using a scrubby i had to siphon the wort out as the siphon tube kept plugging

GilaMinumBeer said:

All is not lost tho'. I still have 54.75 pounds of rice hulls left to try again.

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What did you buy a bail of rice hulls ?

springer said:

What did you buy a bail of rice hulls ?

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Yup. 55 pound sack for $45.

I figure I'll need another sack in about 96.2 years.