New way to control Pellet Hop gunk!

Just picked mine up today and it is nice and solid!

Thanks and good luck Chad!

 

I used mine this past weekend, and had a meager hop bill for a porter.. Only 2 oz roughly in there, but it worked pretty well.

I got the 300 micron, and thought it kept most of all the pellet gunk out, but some still makes it out. I haven't tried the beer, but it's something I've made before so I now how it should taste. Was slightly worried about hop utilization, as I get a very nice rolling boil, but inside the basket, you don't really get that, it's muted at best compared to the rest of the boil.

I'm sure it's all fine, as I would stir the pot, and stir inside the "hop can". But it had me wondering enough to check.

I'll be brewing a pale/ipa this weekend I think, and haven't decided on hop bill yet, but it'll be leaf and pellet and will be a fair bit. I'll take pictures of it and show it during boil and after.

 

Got one a couple of weeks back and found this thread today. Very happy with it and I was thinking of having one made with a lid for dry hopping in my fermenter.
Thanks Chad

 

Any one have any reports for large amounts of pellet hops? 12 oz. or so?

 

I'll post back this weekend. I won't be using 12 oz, but I'll have something like 9-10oz, in a combo of leaf and pellet this weekend for a planned brew.

I'll post some pictures, and whatnot.. I'll also taste my Chocolate Oat Porter I did to break in the filter and see if I got the right level of hop utilization, or if it changed it a bit since the boil doesn't really get wild in there.

 

Looking forward to your report, FC!

 

I used 8 ounces in a 10 gallon batch yesterday, all pellets. I put the 15 minute hop addition straight into the boil kettle as I added my Irish moss into the same cup with the pellets. Didn't know if the Irish moss would work being contained. Next time I will keep it separate.

When it came time to add the IC, I just put on a glove, lifted the hop basket, drained it some, placed it in a clean bucket, added the chiller, then reinstalled the hop basket. Easy.



Here it is draining after the boil while chilling.


6 ounces of pellets


another view


dumped in the bucket


Since I added the 15 minute addition directly to the boil, I cleaned, sanitized and added the hop basket to the fermentation bucket for the first gallon or so. It did a good job catching that first bit of hot/cold break and hop debris.


The wort is pretty clear.


This is the 2nd 5 gallons, right at the end. I wanted to use the small one I had made for the keg just to see the volume it could hold. It filled up pretty quick but did the job well I think.


What was left after draining which didn't take too long actually.


I will be curious to see how this will look next time when I dump zero hops into the boil.


I have a short video (2) downloading to YouTube right now of the boil and the basket in action. I will post those as soon as I get them up.

 

Here's the first short video.

 

Awesome! Thanks for posting. Is this the 400 or the 300 micron basket?

 

300.

Here's the last one.

 

Quite a strong boil. What size BK and elements do you use?

 

Kettle is 17.5" tall x 16" across.

Element is 5500w. Turned it down to 70% right after this last vid, will try 65% next time.

 

Yambor-

You have the same thinking I did when I used mine. I get a strong boil going via propane burner, much like your electro set up. I had a bit more movement in the screen than you did, but it was subdued enough to make me wonder if I was getting everything from the hops.

 

Read post#123.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/55...-too-long-heat-369250/index4.html#post4620009

 

Ordered a smaller 400 micron for my 10G BK, arrived over the weekend. Looking forward to using it. Nicely made, should do the trick.

 

I may have missed this, but why not forgo the other screen during the boil and just use this one at the end? Free float your hops for the entire boil -> chill with an IC -> whirlpool and let things settle -> run the wort into the keg through this screen.

Alternatively, you could do the bittering hops as usual with this smaller screen, then dump them out and clean the screen just before adding your flameout additions. I guess you'd get more utilization that way because the screen would not be full of spent hop sludge.

 

That seems easy enough if you ferment in a bucket. I use a glass carboy and haven't figured a work around when I am making an IPA.

 

It strikes me as a fancy way to do the old "strainer over a funnel" a la old school Papazian....

 

I'm using the 300 micron in a 5gal pot. Partial boil,late addition extract. Using the hop filter vs hop bag I get a lot better hop utilization bar none. Add the fact I use a funnel with a screen I have 0 to little trub.

This has been one of the best home brew items I've bought.

 

If you are referring to using the small one that fits in the kegs, it would clog way too soon.

The big one would be fine for buckets, but not kegs obviously.

Good to see ya back!

 

I do this as well.. I'll put the strainer in a funnel and the funnel in the carboy. No real issues there. Aerates it all in one too.

 

There ya go. Then the big screen could be used to fill small opening primaries such as corny kegs and carboys.

 

Multitasking. I like it!

 

Hi folks,

I am thinking this can also be used for mead making with bigger in diameter of course. With bigger size, lid and weight, it can be used to hold fruit and will sink to to the bottom of the fermenter. Any thought?

Allan

 

I need to get one of these!!! Fishing out and cleaning hop bags has always been my least favorite part of cleaning up after a brew day.

 

Ok got mine about two weeks ago, supprised at how fast it was. Got to try it this weekend. Did an imperial IPA. 7oz of hops l8r saw water moving through it throughout the boil and it didn't hold back water when moving wort to fermentor.
Call is zero hops in the boil kettle. It had some gunk in the bottom but none of it green
I'll call this a win!!!
BTW: did the 300 micron..

 

Just got mine in the mail. Very quick on the ship and looks nice. Can't wait to try it.

 

How was the hop utilization brewing the IPA? Just as good or better than grain bags?

 

Mine have been just as good if not better.

 

Looked like probably better as I saw the wort and hops moving though-out the whole boil. When I used a hops bag I never saw the hops moving in it. Will post back when if finishes fermentation and carbonation.

 

just ordered mine, will report back once i get to use it... not sure when that'll be, might be a few weeks.

 

I'm straight worried that my hop utilization will drop with this.

I've gotten 3 brews under my belt with it. In the middle of the 3rd with it so far, and I've found that it clogs a bit, and slows down the flow once you really start adding hops, and going deeper into the boil

I've got a couple of ounces.. probably... 4 or 5oz all pellets in mine right now, and when I pull it out, it's slow as HELL to drain. Infact when I drop it back in the pot, it floats a bit, before it slowly sinks because the screen is clogged. I do however, see hop sludge in the kettle when I'm done, and when I stir in the screen I can see some of it coming out through the screen a bit..

I have the 300 micron mesh..


Jury is still out, IMO. If the beers taste fine, and hoppy, then I'll roll with it.. Otherwise... ehhh.
Gonna see how the beers turn out, but man..

 

My thoughts EXACTLY! Same experience last weekend.

I think 400 mesh would be a better choice.

 

I"m wondering if the 400 would clog less.... but then.. if it did even half as bad as the 300 does, then I would see the 400 being worse.

I'm tempted to just go to tossing all my hops in the boil again if they are pellets, and keep the leaf in here only.

 

You make no sense.

 

I'm starting to think along the same lines, I had 12oz of pellets in here for a batch last week and it drained pretty slow. I need to get off my butt and ship back my 200 so I can test out the 400 and see how it does.

 

What? I understand perfectly well.. You just need more homebrew.

 

No, what makes no sense is how this thing clogs up so damn bad, even CLEANING it out, it holds water in it after I've dumped the hops.



This is all the hops I used.. Roughly.. 4 ounces, maybe 5oz.



This is the strainer.. with the hops dumped, and I've taken my hose with a HP tip and sprayed water back through the strainer from the outside. No real large clumps of hops in there, all dumped. It's so clogged, it's holding water long enough I can drop the hose, and pull out my phone to take a picture.



Here's a side view of said hop dam. I stopped spraying a section from the outside. Notice to the left, the water INSIDE of the screen.

If I can't get the wort out of it, how on earth would one assume that it's boiling your hops and running it through all of the wort in the pot. This screen is essentially once it gets clogged up, it's own mini kettle in a kettle.

I'm hoping I got some hop flavor in my beer, I would think I got some, but to what extent. I still had hop particulate in the kettle when I whirlpooled and drained it, much less than in the past, but still had some none the less.

 

He's probably somewhat offended in his find that now people realize they aren't the cats ass.

 

I've had lots of beer made using this and my hop utilization has been fine, certainly better than it has ever been in bags. Cleaning it is also a snap.... Maybe you ended up with 200 micro instead of 300?? After reading posts of people that use the 400 including Tom from Adventures in Homebrewing I'm definitely thinking that the 400 offers better circulation and draining but am unsure at how much trub will be left behind since I haven't used one.....