Filtering dry hop material in racking

[WhiskeySam]

This might be the wrong forum for this, but I’m about to rack over an IPA that’s been dry hopped twice. I’d like to keep the hop debris out of my racking cane.

Previously, I tried putting a hop sock on the cane, but it eventually clogged at the suction point so much that it blocked beer from going through.

Thoughts?

 

[kh54s10]

Do you cold crash the beer? If so you should not be getting enough hop debris to stop the siphon. I have never dry hopped twice but have never had so much hop debris that I thought I needed to filter it even when I haven't cold crashed it. What little that transferred to the bottling bucket mostly settled out during the bottling time. When transferred to a keg, the first couple of glasses pull out all the debris that has settled.

 

[WhiskeySam]

Thanks. I’ll crash and rack high. Que sera sera

 

[bigdawg86]

I just racked a big dry hopped beer and used the Bouncer Mac Daddy filter with the blue #50 filter. I was able to collect all the wort and got zero hop matter.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JWO5RLQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks. I’ll crash and rack high. Que sera sera

Do you use an inverter tippy on the cane?
Start racking/siphoning higher up and lower the cane as the beer level drops, keeping it well above the trub. When you get to the last gallon or so tip the fermentor toward the cane to keep your siphoning well deeper. You can drop that cane to within an inch or 2 from the trub that way, before any sediment starts being sucked up. Because of the 45° angle, very little beer is left behind, just enough to swirl up that cake and harvest to pitch some of it into the next batch.

A hop sack around the end may help a little more, just leave it a bit loose, ballooning a bit around the tippy, so you get a larger filter area.

I've racked not very thoroughly cold crashed NEIPAs, using a special filter I made that goes around the bottom of the racking cane, without using the inverter tippy. The mesh cloth (~100 micron) on the outside was covered in hop matter, yet some fine hop dust got through. After 24 hours of settling/carbonating the first pints were surely a little harsh in the throat, but it all blew out with those first few pints. It was perfect after that.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

i quickly glanced through this thread so i apologize in advance if this question has been asked already. Has anyone ever tried to put a straining bag on the outlet end of the racking hose? My thought is to secure the bag to the outlet that way it catches any hop/trub material inside the bag and there hopefully is no chance of clogging the uptake end. thoughts?

 

[IslandLizard]

i quickly glanced through this thread so i apologize in advance if this question has been asked already. Has anyone ever tried to put a straining bag on the outlet end of the racking hose? My thought is to secure the bag to the outlet that way it catches any hop/trub material inside the bag and there hopefully is no chance of clogging the uptake end. thoughts?

Doing that, you've got to watch out for aeration and resulting oxidation of your beer. Hoppy beers especially cannot sustain any oxygen exposure.

That said, you may be able to tie a fine mesh hop bag around the end of the hose that lies on the bottom of the bottling bucket to catch the bigger pulp bits. It will soon be covered with beer and air exposure is reduced.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

Doing that, you've got to watch out for aeration and resulting oxidation of your beer. Hoppy beers especially cannot sustain any oxygen exposure.

I'm well aware of this. However if you rack with care and keep the outlet under the beer level in the receiving vessel how is there additional O2 pickup? Just trying to follow your reasoning...

 

[IslandLizard]

I'm well aware of this. However if you rack with care and keep the outlet under the beer level in the receiving vessel how is there additional O2 pickup? Just trying to follow your reasoning...

Sorry about that, I added an afterthought to my original post. I was thinking about the splashing a bag would cause if it was higher up.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

Your afterthought was exactly my train of thought...

 

[IslandLizard]

Your afterthought was exactly my train of thought...

We're on the same page.

When you rack straight to a keg, using a (nearly) closed transfer technique to avoid or severely limit any air/oxygen exposure, there's no other way to filter than at the source, the bottom of the cane itself. I think for bottling hoppy IPAs and NEIPAs a revised technique, bypassing the need for racking into an open bottling bucket, would be welcome. Here's a recent thread on an alternative bottling method in the LoDo subforum that sounds very promising.

 

[day_trippr]

wrt racking and leaving hops behind, the cane at the bottom of this pic is how I start: a small square of nylon mesh (cut from a paint strainer bag) with an SS washer within rubber-banded to the end of the cane then soaked in my Star San bucket while I get everything else ready.

The washer keeps the mesh "bag" open and prevents it from being sucked up into the cane...

Cheers!

 

[WhiskeySam]

wrt racking and leaving hops behind, the cane at the bottom of this pic is how I start: a small square of nylon mesh (cut from a paint strainer bag) with an SS washer within rubber-banded to the end of the cane then soaked in my Star San bucket while I get everything else ready.

View attachment 577713

The washer keeps the mesh "bag" open and prevents it from being sucked up into the cane...

Cheers!

The washer is brilliant. Thanks for the engineering tip. I will try this.

 

[pigroaster]

The washer is brilliant. Thanks for the engineering tip. I will try this.

Love the washer concept. I am going to use fine stainless steel mesh and the washer on my next major dry hopped Beer!

 

[flars]

wrt racking and leaving hops behind, the cane at the bottom of this pic is how I start: a small square of nylon mesh (cut from a paint strainer bag) with an SS washer within rubber-banded to the end of the cane then soaked in my Star San bucket while I get everything else ready.

View attachment 577713

The washer keeps the mesh "bag" open and prevents it from being sucked up into the cane...

Cheers!

I use the catch bag on the other end. Weight it down in the bottling bucket with a couple of stirs bars that are caput. Not much hop debris in the catch bag when they are filtered out during the pour from the boil kettle to the fermentor.

 

[IslandLizard]

Not much hop debris in the catch bag when they are filtered out during the pour from the boil kettle to the fermentor.

Until you dry hop...

I think this answers @ApolloSimcoe's question in post #6.
I'd stick a few glass marbles in that bag.

 

[flars]

Until you dry hop...

I think this answers @ApolloSimcoe's question in post #6.
I'd stick a few glass marbles in that bag.

That was a dry hopped IPA. It works.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

I like both ideas and will give each a shot. @IslandLizard- Did you remove the little cap off the bottom of the racking cane before you put the mesh bag and washer on? I can't tell in the photo. Thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

I like both ideas and will give each a shot. @IslandLizard- Did you remove the little cap off the bottom of the racking cane before you put the mesh bag and washer on? I can't tell in the photo. Thanks!

The washer idea came from @day_trippr. From what I can see, there's no inverter tippy being used. I see no reason why you couldn't use one. The washer also helps keeping the mesh bag's shape.

 

[WhiskeySam]

Just following up, I cold crashed around 40 degrees for two days, used the inverter cap with a hop sock with a plastic washer to hold it "open." The setup worked well. Sock had hop material and protein break on it when I was done. Thanks for the tip.