Hey all, right now I've got a brew kettle with a ball valve and a pickup tube that I bought from the brew store when I was getting started. The pickup tube was maybe half an inch off of the bottom of the pot and they attached a four or so inch mesh tube to the end of it, I'm assuming to filter out hops and trub when draining the brew pot. My problem is that the screen just clogs with trub and hops leaving a bunch of wort in the pot so i think I need to design a better system. Last time I brewed I took off the screen figuring I would get more trub in my fermentor but hoping I'd at least get all the wort. The tube clogged even sooner. I wound up just siphoning off some of the wort (my siphon clogged eventually too) and then pouring the rest through a sanitized strainer. I got a lot of trub in the beer, but I've also got probably a gallon more beer in the fermentor than in previous batches. I'm not worried about the trub or anything, but I'd like to figure out a better way of draining the wort for future batches.
So my question is if folks have any suggestions for improving my system. Hop bags have definitely crossed my mind but I'm concerned about utilization. I am also considering buying a false bottom for my brew kettle to see if that does a better job of filtering the hops from the wort. Anyway, I'm just curious what others think.
thanks,
Austin
So my question is if folks have any suggestions for improving my system. Hop bags have definitely crossed my mind but I'm concerned about utilization. I am also considering buying a false bottom for my brew kettle to see if that does a better job of filtering the hops from the wort. Anyway, I'm just curious what others think.
thanks,
Austin