Keggle Dip Tube Help

Can someone please help me out? I recently moved up to a Keggle with a dip tube in an attempt to do 10 gallon batches. First batch I made was a scottish ale went off without a hitch when draining the keggle. Moved onto a pale ale using nothing but whole hops and I was using a copper scrunchy scrubber thing under the tube to try to block the hops. My tube plugged up completely when trying to drain the wort. Wound up having to dump a 10 gallon keg through a strainer.. My biceps still hurt from lifting the thing. There has got to be a way to keep those hops from getting in that dip tube... Anyone have a solution for me that works for you? Thanks!
Scott

hey fellow buckeye! try one of these http://www.suebob.com/brew/equipment.htm#hopfilter
Bobby_m has a thing on that page called a hop filter

this isn't mine but I made a version of it and it is awesome!!

I did my first AG last week. Had a copper scrubby. When I heated the water it had a slight green tint to it. I figured it must have come from the copper scrubby. So I took the scrubby out and put new water in. . I used a five gallon paint strainer for my hops and didn't use any filter on the pickup tube. I figured this is the way I did 5 gallon batches and without the hop bag. Ater a a week--10 days I'll transfer to a secondary. I went through a CFC without a pump or any problem. The next batch, I'm going to try whirlpooling, I have a very short pickup tube.

ohiodad said:

Can someone please help me out? I recently moved up to a Keggle with a dip tube in an attempt to do 10 gallon batches. First batch I made was a scottish ale went off without a hitch when draining the keggle. Moved onto a pale ale using nothing but whole hops and I was using a copper scrunchy scrubber thing under the tube to try to block the hops. My tube plugged up completely when trying to drain the wort. Wound up having to dump a 10 gallon keg through a strainer.. My biceps still hurt from lifting the thing. There has got to be a way to keep those hops from getting in that dip tube... Anyone have a solution for me that works for you? Thanks!
Scott

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I have a keggle, have tried several different hop-stopping methods, and have struggled to find one that really works. I first built a hop taco and that clogged right up with pellet hops. But, on Saturday I finally found a method that works for me. Instead of the dip-tube going straight into the keggle center and 90 degrees down, it turns 90 degrees immediately at the inside of the keggle wall (using an elbow fitting) and goes left (or right) and slightly down. This puts the dip tube termination at the bottom of the keggle wall instead of the bottom center. I know some people use this method (with whirlpooling) and get very little trub into the fermenter... without the use of any filtering device. But I recently had to use hop plugs and found that they don't whirlpool as nice as pellets. They were still coming through my tube. So, I put a stainless steel scrubber thing on the end of the tube (jambed between the end of the tube and the inside wall of the keggle) and got zero trub in the fermenter. I still whirlpool to try to get as much as possible away from the walls of the keggle, but it was nice to finally see clean wort going into the fermenters. The only draw back is that you have to slightly increase your batch size to make up for the dead space, but I get 92% efficiency, so I don't mind.

I meant to add this link to my last post here sorry http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/hophanger.html

it is awesome! it allows you to add hops throughout boil

+1 for the hophanginghopsocksludgesack.

Lil' Sparky said:

+1 for the hophanginghopsocksludgesack.

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I made one of these things too, and they are great! Such a simple design, and yet it made my life so much easier!

I do AG boils and all I end up with in the keggle is hot break. It also makes it easier to rinse off the IC. It really is simple