Stainless Hop Spider mesh size

[RichBenn]

I did a bunch of searching and still wonder about what's the right mesh size for me. 300 micron mesh seems to clog with pellets for some meaning poor utilization, but there are also 400, 500, and 800 micron mesh in use.

I do an electric boil, an immersion cooler, recirculate to speed cooling, and use both whole and pellet hops(often a lot). I currently use a suspended hop bag, but am thinking of going to all stainless. Since I don't use a plate chiller, We can assume getting by with something larger than 300, but what's a good size? How big before I'd have problems? Don't want to clog the pump or create other problems.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I've been using a 6.5" diameter x 18" tall SS spider from stainlessbrewing.com with 400 micron mesh and after six brews with it I'm quite pleased. It's a huge improvment over messing with nylon hop bags (which shrink and get tighter with repeated use - but are too pricey to use only once).

I trimmed the length of mine so it just clears the bottom step on my kettle and position it where the boil is "busiest" so wort percolates up through the bottom of the spider and keeps the pellet mush churning all through the boil. So I don't think it actually plugs up while fully immersed in the wort.

But, with a big load of pellets, at the end of the boil it gets pretty darned heavy and once out of the wort that mush does jamb up the mesh and takes a while to drain. I had 7 ounces of pellets in there one brew between boil, FO and WP hops, and it took a good five minutes for all but a ~1/4 cup of wort to dribble back into the kettle.

Not a huge problem as the kettle was still cooling down, but I need to make a contraption to suspend it above the wort in the kettle so I don't have to hold it that long...

Cheers!

 

[dthompson79]

I have a 8"x16" that I use for 10 gallon batches. Works great no clogging with over a pound of hops in it. Drains pretty good too 300 micron from arbor fab. I do clean it with pbw every 2or 3 batches though.

 

[RichBenn]

fwiw, I've been using a 6.5" diameter x 18" tall SS spider from stainlessbrewing.com with 400 micron mesh and after six brews with it I'm quite pleased. It's a huge improvment over messing with nylon hop bags (which shrink and get tighter with repeated use - but are too pricey to use only once).

I trimmed the length of mine so it just clears the bottom step on my kettle and position it where the boil is "busiest" so wort percolates up through the bottom of the spider and keeps the pellet mush churning all through the boil. So I don't think it actually plugs up while fully immersed in the wort.

But, with a big load of pellets, at the end of the boil it gets pretty darned heavy and once out of the wort that mush does jamb up the mesh and takes a while to drain. I had 7 ounces of pellets in there one brew between boil, FO and WP hops, and it took a good five minutes for all but a ~1/4 cup of wort to dribble back into the kettle.

Not a huge problem as the kettle was still cooling down, but I need to make a contraption to suspend it above the wort in the kettle so I don't have to hold it that long...

Cheers!

Thanks! I'm gonna assume that's for a 10 gallon batch, or at least a 15 gallon pot.

 

[RichBenn]

I have a 8"x16" that I use for 10 gallon batches. Works great no clogging with over a pound of hops in it. Drains pretty good too 300 micron from arbor fab. I do clean it with pbw every 2or 3 batches though.

Thanks! I guess going big enough helps a lot!

 

[MidAtlanticBrew]

I have both a 6 x 18" and the 8 x18" from Stainless Brewing. Both are 400 um and I generally use pellets and a whirlpool with no problems clogging my plate chiller. Not unusual for me to have 10 oz plus of hops in the 8 inch before chilling. I start boils with 15 gallon and I have set my hop utilization down to 90% in Beersmith. I love these.

 

[dthompson79]

Thanks! I guess going big enough helps a lot!

Seems like it is recommended the diameter of the hop spider be at least half the dimension of your pot. I could be making that up, but I believe I read that on utahbiodiesel or arbor fabs website.

 

[RichBenn]

Do you all use whirlfloc? Someone was surmising using it made protein clog the mesh.

 

[BigFloppy]

400 micron seems to be the sweet spot (mine also)

 

[augiedoggy]

Thanks! I'm gonna assume that's for a 10 gallon batch, or at least a 15 gallon pot.

I went from the smaller one to the 6.5x 18 myself for 5 and 10 gallon batches and My experiences are that it works better for both for anything more than 1 oz of hops.... the small one seemed to not allow good hop utilization for me. I actually still use both for really big beers or spiced beers sometimes. I do use it in a 15.5gallon kettle.

 

[augiedoggy]

Do you all use whirlfloc? Someone was surmising using it made protein clog the mesh.

I havent seen this myself from the wirlfloc. I use a stirmotor with a stirrer inside of mine which creates a whirlpool inside of my mesh basket and keeps the hops suspended in the middle more or less..

I have learned that if I run my chiller and pour the exiting water into my hop spider the mesh will clog with hop residue relatively fast.

 

[RichBenn]

I havent seen this myself from the wirlfloc. I use a stirmotor with a stirrer inside of mine which creates a whirlpool inside of my mesh basket and keeps the hops suspended in the middle more or less..

I have learned that if I run my chiller and pour the exiting water into my hop spider the mesh will clog with hop residue relatively fast.

Thanks Augiedoggy!

 

[Morrey]

I have two baskets from Arbor Fab. My kettle is a 10G Brinkmann and I am making 5.5G batches in this kettle.

My BIABasket is 400 micron and very effective and drains easily. My hop basket is a 6"x14" basket of 300 micron screen. This smaller mesh screen helps take out the break materials from the hop pellets very effectively.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Mine is about 10" x 24" 30/30 mesh I think. I like how it lets a little through. IMO, and for CFC, the best one is the ID of your kettle and like 12" deep. Mine alters the flow of wort during the boil. I personally would not go smaller for the kettle. Make something that your chiller slips around for hop stands and such.

 

[milldoggy]

I used 28x28 for my hop taco, think my spider is 300. Between the two, nothing gets through. I recommend using both. All hops go into spider, be surprised what the taco still traps.