Keggle / false bottom question

I have a keggle with a downspout that I use as my boil kettle. When I am done brewing and chilling through the spout, I always notice a TON of break material that ends up in my carboy (not good for my plate chiller).

Theres only a tiny amount of space between the downspot and the bottom of the keggle, i'd say 1/2cm or so. I built a hop spider which helps to get rid of a lot of hop material in my wort, but still, there's a lot of other junk that settles out.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to reduce the amount of break that ends up in my final product? I was thinking I could get a false bottom and cut a hole in it that would fit just the head of the downspout through it but if theres an easier way, i wanna hear it!

Could use some sort of strain on the out of the keggle. For the smaller/finer break material, it will likely fall through the false bottom anyway.

i was thinking that but i connect the hose directly to the spout so theres no room for a strainer

Can u adjust the angle of the diptube and then whirlpool it? Thats what i've been doing... putting the diptube at a 45 degree angle, then stir/recirculate to make the hopcone in the center, and with the diptube facing away, it def helps.

do you just stir or do you have side ports where you run a pump? seems like a good idea actually.

I stir, but I don't have a pump right now. I'm prob gonna invest in another port with a recirculation tube for when I finally do get a pump. It'll be much easier/quicker im sure.

Try adding a pickup to the inside of your keggle similar to this then do a whirlpool to collect the trub at the center. I've used this for two years now and very little trub ends up in the carboy. All fittings are available at Home Depot.

jroot said:

Try adding a pickup to the inside of your keggle similar to this then do a whirlpool to collect the trub at the center. I've used this for two years now and very little trub ends up in the carboy. All fittings are available at Home Depot.

Click to expand...

Yup thats what im talking about.

This one specifically is what im looking at. I buy almost all my keggle hardware from Bobby, he makes great stuff and its not overpriced.

http://brewhardware.com/valves/167-whirlpool

Since you are using a plate chiller, the break you are seeing is cold break and develops as the beer is moving through the chiller and cools off. This can't be avoided without some kind of recirculation & whirlpool method and an offset dip tube.

If you are actually clogging your plate chiller, this is likely hop debris and not break. You might try a finer mesh on your hop spider.

While I personally have not had any flavor problems associated with cold break, some homebrewers try to minimize it. Without a significant change to your chilling process, you can always let the fermenter sit for about an hour and let the cold break settle, then rack to another carboy, then add your yeast. But you might want to research the effects of cold break before you spend a lot of time and money trying to minimize it. I think you will find that does not affect the beer negatively in any significant way.