False Bottom in Boil Kettle? Or something else?

[jawilson20]

I have done quiet a few searches, but am not finding a definitive opinion.

I am in process of building a Brutus 10 clone and plan to recirc my wort through a plate chiller. I will be using a keggle for my boil. The norcalbrewing solutions false bottom is what I plan to use for my MT, but I don't know if another will be good enough for the boil kettle. I see myself using pellet hops primarily and therein lies the problem. From my reading, there isn't a good method to filter these guys out.

Other Brutus 10 users, how do you to chill your wort and not end up with lots of hop residue in your fermenter?

I am coming from an extract process where i siphon off the wort from the top of my kettle currently. I can't really imagine having all the gunk from the boil in my fermenter. Should I get used to living with more residue when draining from the bottom of the keggle.

 

[johnsonbrad1]

I'm looking at building a Brutus too, currently working out my tweaks. I don't have an answer for your question, but I'm curious what others will have to say. It seems to me that the hot/cold break is going to be the bulk of the gunk that is left over, so as long as the false bottom can filter that out I think that would minimize a lot of the crap getting into the fermenter.

 

[Catt22]

I use a FB in my BK. This pic shows what it catches of the hops and break material. This was with 100% pellet hops, but I don't recall the quantity. I'm running a direct fired RIMS and use a hybrid CFC pumping in a loop back to the kettle for cooling:

 

[jawilson20]

That looks like a decent amount captured. Are you pleased with the performance?

 

[Catt22]

That looks like a decent amount captured. Are you pleased with the performance?

Yes, completely! I like that the hops help filter out the break material. Very little debris makes it to the fermenter.

 

[TheZer]

I tried using a false bottom in my BK, and it worked, but not great. Granted, I made my false bottom from the keggle cut-out.

I have a pump, and this works much better....

I wrap a 5 gallon paint strainer around my copper line immersion chiller, then toss the whole lot into the BK at 10 minutes left, and redirect the recirculated wort through the center of the chiller. The paint strainer catches everything, and the pump and lines are now sanitized.

You could strain while recirculating for a few minutes, then hook up to your plate chiller.

 

[jawilson20]

Anyone use the norcalbrewing solutions FB in their BK?

 

[samc]

I think Catt is just blessed. I've never had success with pellets and FB's. Pellets go in bags only for me and for that matter since I've been using a plate chiller I bag them as well as enough of them were getting past the FB to clog the chiller. I used a norcal FB in my first set-up and a Morebeer FB in the second build as it was a lot cheaper for the size I needed.

 

[Catt22]

I can't help it if I'm lucky. That's just the way it is.

 

[jawilson20]

Thanks for all the tips.

What are thoughts on using a CFC vs a Plate Chiller is the setup? That could get me around any clogging issues and pass everything onto the fermenter.

Conversly what about using whole hops? Is that commonly done? All the kits I have bought thus far include pellet hops.

 

[Hex]

I wrap a 5 gallon paint strainer around my copper line immersion chiller, then toss the whole lot into the BK at 10 minutes left, and redirect the recirculated wort through the center of the chiller. The paint strainer catches everything, and the pump and lines are now sanitized.

Smart.

 

[Catt22]

Thanks for all the tips.

What are thoughts on using a CFC vs a Plate Chiller is the setup? That could get me around any clogging issues and pass everything onto the fermenter.

Conversly what about using whole hops? Is that commonly done? All the kits I have bought thus far include pellet hops.

I have no problem using whole, pellets or a combination of both with my FB. I'm using a large bore hybrid CFC. It easily passes anything that might get past the FB. I don't have any experience with a plate chiller, but I have heard that the internal passages are very tight and prone to trapping debris and that's the main reason I don't have one.

 

[Hex]

Someone crafty could design one of these for use inline between the BK and pump, and recirculate the boil back into the kettle before chillin'. (swimming pool technology)

 

[RonRock]

I made a full false bottom out of perforated stainless for my boil keggle. I did several full boils with water during testing and seemed OK. Then when I started brewing I kept having boil over issues. Could not control the boil for nothing. It seemed like the FB was trapping the air bubbles from the boil. Did a couple brews with it and just could not stop the boil over, it was like it would be OK then just burp up and belch out a mess. I removed the FB and made a pick up tube that will pick up near the outside edge of the Keggle.

Then I got side tracked and it got too hot outside to brew, so not sure if I am on the right track or not. Just thought I'd throw my thoughts out there to see what others think.

Either way something to think about.

 

[TheZer]

Smart.

Got the idea on this forum.

@Ronrock. What size diameter are the perforations? I think 3/32" is the what most use.

 

[kvess]

I use a FB in my BK. This pic shows what it catches of the hops and break material. This was with 100% pellet hops, but I don't recall the quantity. I'm running a direct fired RIMS and use a hybrid CFC pumping in a loop back to the kettle for cooling:

Are you using this on a keg conversion kettle? How did you make yours?

 

[Jaybird]

Well I'm going to chime in here a bit.
We have a boatload of people using a 15" reverse hinged FB with a level 3 filter/stand (including myself) in a converted keg as a boil kettle.
I just brewed a 10 gallon batch with I think 12oz of pellet hops directly in the kettle. The level 3 works KILLER! You do need to clear it first (just a quick recirculation will do) before you drain so you can get all the hops out of the filter that get in there during the boil. But once clear the filter itself works like a champ. We shot a video of the process and what you can expect to see when using it. We are editing the video now and should have it on the website sometime this week.
I do have a little video posted here http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/Home_Page/How_To/How_To.html as to what the filter/stands are and what they are for.

Cheers
Jay

 

[Schumed]

I use a FB in my BK. This pic shows what it catches of the hops and break material. This was with 100% pellet hops, but I don't recall the quantity. I'm running a direct fired RIMS and use a hybrid CFC pumping in a loop back to the kettle for cooling:

Do you not use a hop bag or hop spider?

Seems to me you don't really need a false bottom if you are using an alternative method to keep hops from clogging the system. I personally use a hop spider and its very effective. I also use a filter when I keg my beer.