Brew Pots with False Bottoms

Hello,

I am about to invest in a new brewpot (10 or 15 gallon polar ware or blichmann) and my original plan was to get one with a false bottom so that I could throw in some whirlpool whole hops and have a filter bed of whole hops for the wort to pass through on the way to the fermentor. I also currently experience a lot of trouble with hops clogging my spigot at the bottom so this would prevent that as well.

I recently heard from someone though that I would be risking scorching the part of my wort that was below my false bottom during the boil.

Does anyone currently use a boil kettle with a false bottom that could give me any insight? I'd really appreciate it as I do not want to make a $400-$500investment that hurts my beers.

 

Sorry, I should also mention my heat source will be the stovetop, not a propane burner. I use the stovetop + electric heating element to bring to boil then the stovetop to maintain the boil.

 

I can't really say that a false bottom will solve the clogging problem because I don't use one. In my BK the dip tube goes to the edge of the keggle and up off the bottom about 1" or so. I used to just gravity feed into my carboy and use a strainer in the funnel. Towards the end I would have to stop once or twice to empty the strainer and I would leave a bit of wort too. I just recently purchased and used a whirlpool arm on my IC - didn't even get a tablespoon of hop material in the strainer. Plus I cut my cooling time almost by half.
So, something to consider if you are already using an IC.

 

Before spending $400-$500 take a look at our kettles. Same quality stainless with welded couplers for half the price :rockin:

 

I am using an immersion chiller. Do you have a link to this whirlpool arm? I had not considered that option and am not very familiar with how it would work on my set up but I definitely would like to consider all options. Thanks.

 

Great prices!! Might have to direct a couple buddies your way.

If you happen to get some 30+ gallon kettles, i'll more than likely be coming your way also

 

You might also want to take a look at Morebeer.com. Their heavy duty kettles have side walls that are thicker than Blichmann, Polar and Spike (1.2mm) and have a triple core sandwiched base. You can get a 15 gallon pot with couplers and ball valve for $239.

Wall thickness is a very important thing to consider if you want folks to weld anything to the pots. Yes, welding 1mm can be done, but it's hard to find local resources to do it and it's pricey when you CAN find them.

If you're interested in weldless, then it doesn't really matter.

All that said, I currently have a Blichmann boil kettle but I don't use a false bottom during boil. Your best bet is to do a really good whirlpool, wait the 20 minutes afterword and draw from the side then...that's what i do and i've had pretty good success with it.

 

And another note...Morebeer has those pots on sale almost once a month on their deal of the day... can save yourself another 30 or 50 bucks when the sale is on...

 

Thanks for the tip on the morebeer kettles, seems like a good option to keep in mind.

As for the whirlpooling, I agree that is a very good option but my problem is that I brew extremely hoppy beers and even if I whirlpool with whole hops, the bottom of the kettle is full of hops above the out valve so it is not effective. My other option is to get one of those tube kettle screens but I have heard they always clog with pellets. Does anyone have any experience with those?

If it is true that those kettle screens are useless when using pellets hops then I might have to maybe adapt and for beers with lots of whole hops, get a screen and use that and for beers with lots of pellet hops, do the whirlpool.

 

Not sure if its possible, but maybe you can still run a false bottom AND do a whirlpool setup? My initial thought is that the false bottom might disrupt the whirlpool, but I could very well be wrong.

 

The false bottom would essentially make the whirlpool unnecessary because all of my wort would be filtered through the whole hops sitting on the false bottom when being run out of the kettle. This would definitely be my ideal set up but the real question is whether or not using that false bottom in the boil would then scorch my wort. I guess I didn't realize it was that unusual to consider using a false bottom during the boil.

 

I tried using a false bottom in my brew kettle for a while, I could not get it to work with whirlpooling. The best set up I have found so far is a 90º Barb fitting with a flat bottom kettle. this set up does not work well with a keggle. It hugs tight to the kettle wall and picks up far from the trub cone. I set mine up so it is about 3/8" above the floor of the kettle, and when it gets almost empty I can tip the kettle to get most of the wort out.

Give it a good spin with a spoon or a mash paddle first, then wait 5-10min to get the cone to start before trying to open the valve, if you want to use the pump to recirculate the wort in the kettle.

 

I dont see why it would scorch the wort since you will still ahve 5+ gallons of liquid in it. Even with the hops in there, they will still be floating around until you drain, and at the point, the flame is off and you shouldnt have to worry about scorching.

I've been reading Gordon Strong's new book on Advanced Homebrewing and he mentions that he uses a kettle with a false bottom in it since he uses whole hops as well.

 

http://morebeer.com/search/102204/beerwinecoffee/coffeewinebeer/Immersion_Wort_Chiller_-_Standard

They are at the bottom of the page, there are two sizes depending on how big your wort chiller is. The Deal of the Day shows one already attached, if it's still up. Oh, forgot to add that you need a pump to run this setup.
Why are you using whole hops in your boil? Not that there's anything wrong with that but I think you'll get better hop utilization with the pellets and will be able to do a good whirlpool as well. I personally only use whole hops for dry hopping.

 

Thanks, I was wondering how that could work without a pump. I think my decision will basically come down to whether I'd rather invest in a pump and use pellets or go with a false bottom and use whole hops with a plate chiller. Both seem like very viable set ups but I'll just have to think about my ideal process in more detail.

As for the whole hop use, I have just been doing a lot of experimenting with forms and varieties of hops. In my experience, I also get a more soft mouthfeel from the hop flavor of whole hops (not to say it is better, just a different option depending on the beer). I never realized before really thinking about stepping up my setup that I might need to become a more pellet focused or whole hop focused brewer.