Stainless Braided Hose in Boil Kettle?

[MSKBeerfan]

I know a lot of all grain brewers using Igloo coolers are using Braided Stainless Hoses for filters in the bottom of there Mash tanks. Has anyone out there tried this same idea for the boil kettle? I am using an all electric set up with a Hop Stopper and once the top of the stopper is exposed to air my pump looses it's prime and I get two gallons or more of Wort stuck in the bottom of my Blinchmann Kettle... it drives me nuts!

Looking for a solution or ideas...

thanks,

 

[krenshaw]

i believe there is a trick to using the hop stopper, something like slowing the flow drastically when it reaches the top of the stopper..

anyways, i use a SS braid on my pickup tube in my BK in addition to a hop spyder.. i don't think a braid would have enough surface area to block out all of your hops though, that's why i like the combination of both

 

[MSKBeerfan]

Thanks for the feedback and i think I am going to build a Hop Spyder of some sort also...
I use an electric 5500 w heating element for my boil kettle (Acutally fully Electric System) so I am a little concerned about the mesh bag melting...

 

[J8D]

I built a BK for a guy and for draining built a copper manifold square loop of around 20" circumference then covered that with SS braid. The guy says it works fine (I moved after building it and haven't seen it in hop straining action).

 

[krenshaw]

just see if you can make it so it won't touch the element and you should be good to go.. i have my stainless on in my signature that i use and it works nicely because you can adjust how high/low the bag is with the clamp

 

[MSKBeerfan]

Very nice... a sink drain / strainer? good idea...
D you get much floating of the bag in your system or do you just weight it down with washers? Also, do you re-use the bag, or do you just use new each time?

 

[krenshaw]

i actually use about a 6 inch piece of copper tubing i had lying around the first time i used it and have used that ever since to keep it weighed down.. works like a charm.. i use the bags again until they start to look discolored, then i'll replace them

 

[pearlbeer]

I had bad luck with a kettle screen in the BK. Seemed to clog with either pellet or leaf hops. I hate to open the BK once the chill is on. I use a full false bottom in my current BK. If I use a decent amount of leaf hops and let them settle, the whole thing acts as a giant filter bed.

In my experience, the tool to filter in the BK is time. Once you chill, keep the BK covered, pull the chiller and WALK AWAY. Don't touch anything for 15mins, then begin the run off to the fermenter. You will be pleased at the trub pile.