New way to control Pellet Hop gunk!

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So I finally finished my Citra SMaSH and I have to say the dry hop tube worked great for me. I used itin a 6.5 gallon Better Bottle and had Chad make it 1.5" D by 16.5" H from 300 micron which allows it to sit on the inside bump in the bottle and reach just under the stopper. I got it to hold 4.5 ounces of pellets in two additions, and it was very full when I pulled it out. In fact I spent about five minutes rolling the tube in my hands to loosen the hops to get them out. Based on the aroma after uncorking and in the gravity sample, I'd say it worked great.

Here you can see it comes right up to the bottom of the stopper
image-1239396138.jpg


Very easy to reach in and pull it out
image-1034270085.jpg


Drains pretty quickly as you pull it out so it doesn't take too long
image-1798338132.jpg


4.5 oz fills it
image-3748549359.jpg


1.5" diameter
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16.5" high
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for you guys looking at domed false bottoms, one of the suppliers i use has them for a little more money, but they are plumbed for 1/2 not 3/8.

False Bottom

having said that, I want to see if the vendor in this thread, why can't I rememebr his name, can make a full domed FB for both my BK and MT plumbed for 1/2 and sized so i can put a run of tubing around the edge.

His name is Chad..and I am a ******* for not knowing that..lol I wil blame it on the fact that i have worked the night shift for the past 2 months.

Tim
 
For those of you that have interest in the dry hoppers for glass carboys the prototype is done check them out on my facebook page.
Thats where I'll be putting up new ideas and prototypes.

http://www.facebook.com/arbor.fabricating
i have a beta version of the dry-hopper, it's awesome, but this new design is even better. depending on the price i might need to double up and get one of the new models.
 
Chad,

I can't get to your site from work, Army got me locked down....

Going to send you a FB message about domed false bottoms

Tim
 
I got my filter and dry hopper today, they are very nice. The TIG welds are very clean as well as the fabrication, a hell of a deal for the price. I got a 6" x 16" 300 micron with custom keggle hanger. I designed it to fit inside my IC, I will either leave the IC in the entire boil or just pull the filter long enough to drop in the IC at around 5-10 minutes remaining then replace the filter.

Here's some photos. I didn't take one of the dry hopper as he already has good ones on his site. I'm looking forward to using this weekend on a Amarillo/Simcoe pale ale.

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That's what I do with my keggle. I was thinking about using one of these,but I want to be able to cover it during the chill.
 
I've never had an infection. Plus I like to stir up the wort during the chill to avoid hot & cold pockets.

Ditto. I actually used the spider this weekend to stir while I was chilling, added bonus as it is sorta like a whirlpool effect. As long as you are pitching after the chill, you are unlikely to get an infection.
 
Used the filter today for a Lake Walk pale ale, I ended up using 4.5 oz of hops (2.5 @ 60 and 2.0 @ 5). I liked the size, at the start of the boil about 3" of the filter was above the wort. I also like that its a couple inches from the bottom of the IC, I was able to use the hanger as a handle to lift the filter and dip it up and down a bit to free up the hops. I could also lift partially out of the IC and stir up the hops a bit with a large spoon. In the beginning of the boil I was able to see some movement and activity inside the filter, this reduced a bit as time went on as the hops coated the filter. I did put the filter in after the hot break to prevent the break from clogging up the filter.

It did clog up when removing from the kettle after flame out. This comes not from the mesh size (mine is 300) but from the hops creating a mat on the mesh. The last 12oz or so drained pretty slowly but as I moved it around a bit a chunk of the matted hops broke away from the mesh then of course the liquid flowed freely from that spot. I don't think a 400 micron would prevent this as the hops will still mat up on the filter some, it would just let more of the smaller particles into the beer.

I could see this reducing the hop utilization but it appears that enough people are still happy with their utilization using one of these filters. Good enough for me, I'm not ultra picky. With this and my new dip tube from Bargain Fittings I was able to get all the wort from the kettle with no problems.

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For those of you that are interested in the New Dry Hoppers
for the Glass Carboy's They are available on My site now.
Thank you..
 
So I finally finished my Citra SMaSH and I have to say the dry hop tube worked great for me. I used itin a 6.5 gallon Better Bottle and had Chad make it 1.5" D by 16.5" H from 300 micron which allows it to sit on the inside bump in the bottle and reach just under the stopper. I got it to hold 4.5 ounces of pellets in two additions, and it was very full when I pulled it out. In fact I spent about five minutes rolling the tube in my hands to loosen the hops to get them out. Based on the aroma after uncorking and in the gravity sample, I'd say it worked great.

Here you can see it comes right up to the bottom of the stopper
View attachment 108389


Very easy to reach in and pull it out
View attachment 108390


Drains pretty quickly as you pull it out so it doesn't take too long
View attachment 108391


4.5 oz fills it
View attachment 108392


1.5" diameter
View attachment 108395


16.5" high
View attachment 108396

That looks quite nice. How is the bottom sealed?

If you could throw a ring onto the top to stabilize the mesh (or maybe fold it over or something) I'd be highly interested. Custom built?

(also I assume you mean a 6gal BB)
 
bovineblitz said:
That looks quite nice. How is the bottom sealed?

If you could throw a ring onto the top to stabilize the mesh (or maybe fold it over or something) I'd be highly interested. Custom built?

(also I assume you mean a 6gal BB)

Yes - 6 gallon BB. The bottom is recessed slightly in the tube and welded all the way around. Very solid.

image-859642456.jpg

image-2634744372.jpg
 
Just ordered one of the dry hop tubes, looking forward to using it on my next IPA, have one now that I wish I could have used it for

Edit:

Also think this will be good to use as a siphon filter when transfering to bottling bucket/keg
 
I just wanted to add that I have also been very pleased with the hops strainer I recently purchased from Arbor Fabricating (because of this thread, btw).

In case it hasn't already been mentioned (I've read some of this thread, not all 70+ pages of it :D ), this little gadget also does a great job at keeping the trub out of the siphon when racking to the bottling bucket. I dropped the hops strainer into my fermentation bucket, letting it sit on the yeast cake, then plunged the auto siphon all the way to the bottom and pumped away. There was NO cloudiness in the siphon tubing, so it definitely works here, too (so long as my bottles still carb up properly :cross: ).

Here's a view looking down into the fermenter of my prototype black IPA while the siphon is doing its thing:

Hops_Strainer.jpg
 
I just used my new hop basket from Chad on a batch of Amber Ale. Hopped w/ Centennial & Cascade. It work very well! Almost no hop residue, period.
Highly recommend these- mine attracted a lot of interest & queries @ my club brew day!.
 
I have used mine twice and been pretty impressed. My last brew was a pale ale with 3.5 oz of hops so I will see how hop utilization is.
 
Used my 400micron and it did really good. I used a mix of pellet and whole and nothing got through but liquid flowed through the hops just fine. Thanks Chad, great product!!
 
For those of you that are interested in the New Dry Hoppers
for the Glass Carboy's They are available on My site now.
Thank you..

Anyone bought one of these yet? Would like to see some pix of it in action. My concern is that my 5G just starts to curve at 15". I am thinking I need one of these to be 18" total length with stoppers. Want to see if this is true or if I can make do with 15.75" total length.

Thanks!
Stonebrewer
 
Anyone just sit their basket right in the middle of the kettle instead of hooking it off to the side? Wonder if the boil might knock it over?

Mine sits up a little to high off the bottom and I could get more hops and maybe better utilization if I just sat it in the middle.
 
wobdee said:
Anyone just sit their basket right in the middle of the kettle instead of hooking it off to the side? Wonder if the boil might knock it over?

Mine sits up a little to high off the bottom and I could get more hops and maybe better utilization if I just sat it in the middle.

People have and run into a scorching issue with the wort trapped in the stainless ring on the bottom. I had Chad make me a version that used stainless perforated plate for the ring on the bottom but I haven't been able to test it out yet, maybe this Friday on an extract batch.....

Realistically speaking if the ring on the bottom were made of perf and 1" instead of a 1/2" to allow for better wort movement it might work out fine.
 
Anyone bought one of these yet? Would like to see some pix of it in action. My concern is that my 5G just starts to curve at 15". I am thinking I need one of these to be 18" total length with stoppers. Want to see if this is true or if I can make do with 15.75" total length.

Thanks!
Stonebrewer

I just got this in the mail, havent had a chance to use it, but here are my initial thoughts on it.

1. Has a stopper on both ends, not a huge deal but wouldve prefered the bottom to be closed like the prototype was.

2. Its a little short for my glass carboys, this is a little bit bigger of a problem, as it makes retrieval more difficult. However a little string tied to the stoppers and it will be good to go.

3. The stoppers worry me a little cause of the plastic, not sure if they are food grade or not (maybe chad can comment on that)

All in all though these are very minor complaints for a product that is very well made. The tube is very sturdy and the weld on it is very clean. Planning an IPA in a couple weeks so will give it a test run then and report back.

I have to say from the pictures of the other products as well as this one Chad makes a very good product for the price. I have a feeling im going to enjoy this product very much
 
marcb said:
People have and run into a scorching issue with the wort trapped in the stainless ring on the bottom. I had Chad make me a version that used stainless perforated plate for the ring on the bottom but I haven't been able to test it out yet, maybe this Friday on an extract batch.....

Realistically speaking if the ring on the bottom were made of perf and 1" instead of a 1/2" to allow for better wort movement it might work out fine.

Ok, I can see the possibility of scorching. Just tried placing my basket in the middle and brought some water to a boil, the 4x10" basket moved all by itself off to the side but didn't tip over. The boiling bubbles like to get under that mesh and force it to move.

If I could find a different way to mount this to the side and cut those brackets off it would fit inside my little Speidel fermenter for dry hopping as well as boiling.
 
wobdee said:
Ok, I can see the possibility of scorching. Just tried placing my basket in the middle and brought some water to a boil, the 4x10" basket moved all by itself off to the side but didn't tip over. The boiling bubbles like to get under that mesh and force it to move.

If I could find a different way to mount this to the side and cut those brackets off it would fit inside my little Speidel fermenter for dry hopping as well as boiling.

Dude, that is an awesome idea! Take some pics of the basket sitting in the spiedel when you get a chance and post, we can brainstorm a solution....
 
Anyone thought of using the carboy dry hopper as a filter/aerator when transferring from the kettle to the carboy? Seems like it has enough surface area to filter out hot break and any escaped hop particles without clogging especially if you did 400 micron.
 
Anyone thought of using the carboy dry hopper as a filter/aerator when transferring from the kettle to the carboy? Seems like it has enough surface area to filter out hot break and any escaped hop particles without clogging especially if you did 400 micron.

Yep. I think I posted that a while back. I currently use my spider to do that when I have less hoppy beers as I recirculate thru my place chiller, into the spider, and back again. Does a nice job of getting the break material. Only problem is when I do hop heavy beers, it clogs and does not work so well. So my solution is to use one of the dry hoppers...just need Chad to make them a little longer and I am golden.

Cheers!
 
Anyone thought of using the carboy dry hopper as a filter/aerator when transferring from the kettle to the carboy? Seems like it has enough surface area to filter out hot break and any escaped hop particles without clogging especially if you did 400 micron.

I've done this with the larger brew kettle hops filter (ie - the 4x10 size) and it does a good job of filtering out the hot break/hops (300 micron pore size) but you have to really agitate it while pouring and/or vigorously stir after filling it up to keep it from clogging up. Still, it's the only way to use this to filter out hops from whirlpool additions (after all, you can't exactly get a good whirlpool going if this thing is hanging off the inside of the brew kettle).

I would think the carboy size version of this filter would be too small/too readily clogged up to use in the same manner. Also, as I showed in a previous post to this thread, you can use the same 4x10 filter with your (auto)siphon when racking from the fermenter to the bottling bucket - it does a good job of filtering out the hops/flocculated yeast without getting clogged up, like happens when trying to do the same thing with the wort in the brew kettle.
 
I think I'm pretty sold on one of these filters.

Since I BiaB, I was actually considering lining the steam basket of my BK with some 300 or 400 micron stainless mesh instead of using a bag, but am finding myself leaning towards a filter.. not quite sure yet... but seeing the quality of Chad's work and the level of customer service he provides, I have to thank Marc for this thread.
 
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