Boil Vigor with Stainless Mesh Brew Filter

[benfarhner]

I have a custom stainless mesh brew filter from Arbor Fab, and it's a fantastic product. Very sturdy, large capacity, works great for pellet and whole leaf hops as well as other herbs and spices that I use.

However, I've noticed that I don't get good boil vigor inside the filter. There's a visible difference in the appearance of the wort during boil, and significantly less movement inside the filter. I'm concerned that I'm getting a lot less utilization that I should be. It's a 400 micron mesh, and I'm wondering if that's too fine and if it should be coarser. I've experimented with different heating element settings (from 60%-100%) and see the same thing.

A video of the boil vigor difference can be seen here (boil element running at 75%): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9QeZlbL_tEFeDZ6cjNQMldwQXc/view?usp=sharing

The trade-off with that, of course, would be more particulates in the wort itself after boiling, although I'm not sure that'd be an issue for me. I have an eHERMS, and I pump through a counterflow chiller, so I do need to prevent anything large enough to clog the pump going through, but I don't need to get it as clear as I would for a plate chiller.

I'm considering getting a false bottom for my boil kettle and using that instead of the filter. I typically use whole leaf hops, pellets occasionally, and I frequently brew with additional herbs and spices like spruce tips, sweet orange peel, yarrow, etc. A false bottom probably would work well enough to keep all the big pieces out of the pump. I've consider putting a finer mesh over the false bottom too for additional filtering, though I'm worried that may affect overall boil vigor like I'm currently seeing in the filter.

I like the idea of throwing everything straight into the boil kettle, but I need to be able to filter it out effectively at the end. I've considered and tried whirlpooling, but the heating element in my boil kettle seems to prevent that from working effectively, even when using a paint stirrer attached to a drill to get a really good whirlpool going.

Has anyone else run into this issue? Any insight into the problem and how I could solve it? Thanks in advance!

 

[helterscelter]

I've noticed the exact same behavior with my ss hop spider. So far I've just rdwhahb. But I'm interested in finding out the answer.

Personally I've even noticed a slow absorption rate when adding hops. I usually pick up and shake the filter some to aid in getting everything wet and sinking quicker.

 

[benfarhner]

I've noticed the exact same behavior with my ss hop spider. So far I've just rdwhahb. But I'm interested in finding out the answer.

Personally I've even noticed a slow absorption rate when adding hops. I usually pick up and shake the filter some to aid in getting everything wet and sinking quicker.

Yeah, I've noticed that too. I give the hops a good punch down and stir when I add them to the filter. I'd rather just have the vigorous boil take care of that, though.

 

[balto charlie]

What did you do? I think 300 mesh is OK for pellets.
I use a large mesh screen that I encase around my diptube. I stitched it together with very thin SS wire. This works perfect when using dry hops and a small amount of pellets. I can't use large amount of pellets or everything gets clogged. The whole hops acts nicely as a filter bed which is good. I think what I will do (mainly due to the fact that many hops are only in pellet form) is use my current filter and add my whole hops to the kettle freely then add any pellets to a suspended basket like yours.