Dip tube vs. bazooka in HLT/Keggle?

[BadWolfOregon]

I'm getting my first converted keg put together, and it's going to serve double duty as both my HLT and my boil kettle. I've got my valve, thermometer, and (soon) sight glass installed and leak free so now I'm turning my attention inward.

Seeing as it's a keg, I'm going to have a fair amount of space below the valve bulkhead that I cannot drain. Not sure how easy this photo is to interpret, but...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458727571.642986.jpg

I was simply going to install the bazooka screen that I already have, but then I became concerned by the amount of liquid that will be left behind. This will be precious lost wort (although tipping the kettle might help), and has the potential to throw off my mash volumes if I'm trying to judge from the sight glass. A dip tube would solve much of this, but would then lead to a lot more trub being sucked up post boil.

So... Am I being overly concerned about this? Should I just go with the bazooka and tip the keg to get to the last bit?

Should I maybe calibrate the sight glass starting with a water level at the the base of my valve?

Any thoughts? How did YOU address this problem?

 

[kombat]

The best solution? In my opinion, a side pickup tube (like a 90° pickup tube, but it reaches out to the rim of the kettle instead of the center, but still touches the bottom so you get every last drop), combined with a whirlpool port. That will allow you to collect all the hop and trub in a nice cone in the center of the kettle, then collect every last drop of (clear) wort from your kettle.

Second choice would be a dip tube out to the center of the kettle, and containing hops with a hop spider or hop sock. You'll still get the protein break material, but it will be less than if you'd left the hops uncontained, and shouldn't be a problem unless you're using a plate chiller.

 

[dyqik]

I think you are being overly concerned. But not about the wasted wort, about trub in the fermenter. It makes very little difference to the beer, and settles out in the fermenter.

On the other hand, wasted wort is wasted, and a bazooka tube may clog with trub and hop material (I had trouble with this, and even tried a domed false bottom in the kettle. Both got clogged. Now I just use an open dip tube at the side of the kettle), reducing the effectiveness of any whirlpooling or recirculating during the chill.

As kombat says, the best bet is a dip tube at the side of the kettle (could just be an elbow barb and length of silicone hose to start with). You can also add a "trub dam" if you want to keep more trub out of the kettle when draining after whirlpooling. A "whirlpool port" can just be an elbow on the end of your return hose to the kettle, but brewhardware's SpinCycle looks like an interesting option to me.

 

[dmcman73]

Exactly what @kombat said. You have a perfect setup with a cone in the middle to trap all of the sediments and hop material in your brew kettle. I would install a 90° pickup tube where it will bend towards the side wall of the kettle. What you could probably do with the 90° pickup tube is something like this:

For HLT: insert the long side into the bulkhead and there may be enough clearance for the short side to dip down into the cone to get all of the water

For Brew kettle: Insert the short side of 90° dip tube into the bulkhead allowing you to rest the long part on it's side towards the wall of the kettle.

Spike brewing is actually selling their kettles now with an indentation at the bottom and placing a 90° dip tube to sit on the upper lip just for this reason now. They've been testing it for a bit now and they stated that between the combination of the indentation and whirlpooling, they get nice clear wort at the end of a brew session.

 

[BadWolfOregon]

Thanks for the awesome input! I actually ordered the diptube from Anvil since it looked like it will work nicely with what I'm already set up for, and stay nice and close to the edge.

If you don't know what I'm talking about: http://www.anvilbrewing.com/product-p/anv-dip-tube.htm