Confusion About Addons to a Brew Kettle

[eugles]

Hey folks, first time poster here, but long time scavenger of great advice.
I am in the process of doing a little bit of an upgrade to my brew kettle and related equipment. I currently own a 10 gallon brew kettle i bought from Amazon last year and decided to buy a weldless whirlpool arm from BrewHardware (the SpinCycle). I also bought a cheapo little pump from Amazon for 20 bucks to get a whirlpool going. Drilled hole in kettle, bought some silicon tubing, fittings, and got it installed.

I haven't brewed on this yet, but just some tests with water and stuff like pieces of grain looks really great...nice cone of matter forming in the middle of the kettle. Now here are a few questions...

- Won't this cheapo pump (or any other pump) potentially get clogged with hop matter / break material? I'm using an immersion chiller so I'm not concerned with clogging a plate chiller or something like that.

- My kettle just has a basic ball valve with nothing fancy on the inside. I started reading about things you can put on the inside of the valve...dip tubes or pickup tubes. I can't seem to figure out what their general purpose is? Is it to be able to draw wort from below the valve itself to reduce the amount wort loss or is it to draw clear wort from the edge of the kettle to put into your fermenter? Both? Don't these things get clogged too?

- I've seen I guess what are called bazooka screens. These seem useful for preventing trub from draining into the fermenter, but don't seem to help with drawing more wort I think?

- Is it it just a matter of not being able to do both....getting clear wort and getting the most of it?

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Dog House Brew]

Diptubes that run to the side of the kettle work great. You whirlpool to put the trub in the center of your kettle. The diptube runs right in the “corner” and drains all you can get, and drains clear wort. I have had no need for a screen of any type. Since going this route, I’ve never had any type of clog in my pumps or diptube.

 

[cegan09]

I have one of those cheap tan pumps. They're fine with hop/break material. My whirlpool does a decent job putting material in the center, but I still end up pumping a bunch of material into the fermenter. It chugs though that material like a champ.

they aren't ok with trying to pass grains through, so if you're recirculating the mash make sure you have a screen somewhere. Either a good false bottom, bazooka screen, whatever makes sense in your setup. Sounds like you're only using it for post boil whirlpool though, so not really a big risk.

 

[eugles]

I have one of those cheap tan pumps. They're fine with hop/break material. My whirlpool does a decent job putting material in the center, but I still end up pumping a bunch of material into the fermenter. It chugs though that material like a champ.

they aren't ok with trying to pass grains through, so if you're recirculating the mash make sure you have a screen somewhere. Either a good false bottom, bazooka screen, whatever makes sense in your setup. Sounds like you're only using it for post boil whirlpool though, so not really a big risk.

Thats really helpful to know thanks mucho!

 

[eugles]

Diptubes that run to the side of the kettle work great. You whirlpool to put the trub in the center of your kettle. The diptube runs right in the “corner” and drains all you can get, and drains clear wort. I have had no need for a screen of any type. Since going this route, I’ve never had any type of clog in my pumps or diptube.

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[augiedoggy]

according to a few people in the cheap wort pump thread they have had these seize by recirculating them for long periods of time at temps as little at 170... I have been using these pumps for 5 years now and havent had an issue short of one pump I seized by running it at boiling temps for a long time with pbw...I dont generally whirlpool though. I do run hot wort with one through my plate chiller starting about a minute before flameout. I dont know if the trub does or doesn't contribute to partial clogging or seizing but I do use a dip tube with a 6" piece of stainless braided line to stop solids from getting pulled in and Ive got probably close to 80 brew sessions on my pumps now. I use three of them and leave them permanently plumbed into my hard lines coming from my kettles and through my rims and sparge manifold. the nice thing is you can push liquid backwards through them when they are off just fine which I do when filling the MT for dough in.

 

[Aaron Beers]

Won't this cheapo pump (or any other pump) potentially get clogged with hop matter / break material?

I started reading about things you can put on the inside of the valve...dip tubes or pickup tubes. I can't seem to figure out what their general purpose is?

I had a lot of trouble the first few times I attempted whirlpooling. I would get hop material stuck in the tubing/pump and the whirlpool would be a no go at that point. Eventually, I decided on straining out the hops before whirlpooling, and hence started using mesh bags and then hop spiders. I've never had any problem with cold break clogging anything as that stuff isn't firm like hops.

Regarding the dip/pickup tubes, the port on the boil kettle at the bottom that you use to draw out the wort is generally not at the absolute bottom of the kettle. A dip/pickup tube can suck wort from below the level of your liquid out hole in the kettle.

A rotatable racking arm that can be manipulated by loosening a TC connection and turning it, will allow you to choose the depth at which you draw wort in case you want to customize it for each brew or change it on the fly.

 

[jekeane]

Turning off your pump before adding pellet hops and letting them bloom and break apart for a minute is a good idea.