Filtering Hop Pellets from Spike Conical to Keg - Tri Clamp Screen Gasket

[cwb445]

Hi All - I have a Spike CF10 and have been looking for solutions to my kegs/QDs clogging during closed transfers. I dump my pellets in lose and prior to kegging, cold crash at 36F for ~48 hours. I usually do 3 hop dumps throughout the cold crash. I then use a carb stone to carbonate in the Conical. Even with the dumps, I still get clogged kegs (or QDs). It has become extremely frustrating come kegging time.

I have been looking into this Inline Wort Strainer but it is big and bulky and there are not many posts on using it.

Then I stumbled upon this Tri Clamp Screen Gasket-- Has anyone used one of these before? I was thinking of putting it at the end of my Butterfly Valve to catch the last little bits of pellet particles before hitting the QD.

Thanks!!

 

[Ntwkdsnr]

Interesting find with the screen gaskets. I've never seen those. I would imagine that they would get clogged up eventually depending on the amount of hop material left after the dumps. I've only had problems with my QD's getting clogged when transferring a NEIPA. I dry hop with bags now and make sure my racking arm is pointing straight up when I start. When I start to see some bubbles flowing, I start to rotate it down little by little. I may buy one of those just to test. They are pricey though.

 

[cctopcat]

I've had a CF10 for quite a while and have been using this chopped off piece of bazooka screen with a SS clamp. I do mostly IPAs and dry hop commando. Never had a problem as long as I cold crash for a few days. Not super elegant but pretty cheap.

 

[stealthfixr]

Similar question: Just bought a CF5 and am curious what best practice there is for dry hopping. I'd like to do pressurized fermentation and be as O2 free as possible. Does anyone else use their conical in this way, and if so, how do you dry hop?

Seems that if I wait until fermentation is over to dry hop, that would be adding O2 to the mix after CO2 is being generated. And, seems hops shouldn't be in the fermenter more than a few days. Just dump in without a bag or anything else, CO2 purge and then remove via the bottom drain 2-3 days later?

 

[cwb445]

I've had a CF10 for quite a while and have been using this chopped off piece of bazooka screen with a SS clamp. I do mostly IPAs and dry hop commando. Never had a problem as long as I cold crash for a few days. Not super elegant but pretty cheap.

View attachment 691506

Thanks for sharing. I was thinking about doing something similar, but got worried if the screen did somehow get clogged, it would be extremely difficult to get to. Glad to hear it's working. If cold crashing and dumping, there's really not a ton of hop matter, but JUST enough to clog those damn QDs! I ended up ordering the Wort Strainer from Brewers Hardware, so I am eager to see how that works (wish it was a little smaller).

 

[user 272106]

Similar question: Just bought a CF5 and am curious what best practice there is for dry hopping. I'd like to do pressurized fermentation and be as O2 free as possible. Does anyone else use their conical in this way, and if so, how do you dry hop?

Seems that if I wait until fermentation is over to dry hop, that would be adding O2 to the mix after CO2 is being generated. And, seems hops shouldn't be in the fermenter more than a few days. Just dump in without a bag or anything else, CO2 purge and then remove via the bottom drain 2-3 days later?

There's a few solutions to eliminating (minimizing) o2 exposure post fermentation. Read through the spike conical thread to see examples here

 

[cctopcat]

Similar question: Just bought a CF5 and am curious what best practice there is for dry hopping. I'd like to do pressurized fermentation and be as O2 free as possible. Does anyone else use their conical in this way, and if so, how do you dry hop?

Seems that if I wait until fermentation is over to dry hop, that would be adding O2 to the mix after CO2 is being generated. And, seems hops shouldn't be in the fermenter more than a few days. Just dump in without a bag or anything else, CO2 purge and then remove via the bottom drain 2-3 days later?

There's a few solutions to eliminating (minimizing) o2 exposure post fermentation. Read through the spike conical thread to see examples here

Absolutely, that is a great thread! Read all of that combined with this one "No oxygen dry hopping" and you'll pretty much know it all.

 

[Rob2010SS]

@cwb445 I have been going back and forth on this too!!! There's so many differing opinions on the inline wort strainer and whether or not it works. I have talked with a few people online that use them and love them. There are quite a few here on HBT that said they clog easily. I'm really interested in your experience with this.

I had the same damn problem with the QD's on the kegs. They would clog and I'd have to take it off and swap it out for another one. I was on the fence with this thing.

If you think of it, please report back with what size inline filter you bought from brewers hardware and if it worked for you.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Yesfan]

My last two batches clogged when I dry hopped commando. I'm going back to a bag on the next batch.

 

[Yesfan]

.........Then I stumbled upon this Tri Clamp Screen Gasket-- Has anyone used one of these before? I was thinking of putting it at the end of my Butterfly Valve to catch the last little bits of pellet particles before hitting the QD.

Thanks!!

When I first started brewing, I used a bazooka tube in the boil kettle. It would clog and I spent time scraping the hop debris with a spoon to allow it to continue draining. I tried my 10" funnel with snap in stainer, and would scrap the strainer with a spoon so it would drain into my carboy. I imagine the TC filter will be no exception.

 

[PseudoSteve]

I recently got a Denrod 1.5" Tri-Clamp Filter Inline Straight Strainer. I can confirm that it does indeed clog, I've attached a picture of the filter after brewing.

That said I'm also looking for advice ...

I brew 10 gallon batches with 26 lbs of grain. I let 8 gallons of water sit in the mash tun for 30 minutes. I then fly sparge using my custom sparge arm (picture attached).

The wort is recirculated between the kettle and the mash tun until it clears up. Finally I rinse with another 6 gallons of 170 degree water until I have my 12 gallons of wort. Because of the recirculation its maybe not the cleanest but its pretty good and I get good efficiency. For hops I'm using 12 oz of pellet hops but I recently added a hop spider which does a good job of containing the hops.

So once I cool the wort I pump it through the Inline Straight Strainer. Initially it comes out at a decent rate but then it slows to a trickle after the first 2-3 gallons but with patience I can get my first 5 gallon fermenter full of clear wort. After that its pretty much done and I pull the next 5 gallon batch without using the inline strainer.

So the strainer initially came with a 100 micron screen but they also sell both a 30 or 60 micron screen. I'm debating giving one of those a try (I'm fine with a bit more trub making it through). Does anyone have any advice on which to try next? Is 30 too coarse? Any other thoughts on how to improve this process? I have the Inline Strainer mounted vertically.

 

[SanPancho]

You cant expect a filter to work if you’re just dumping hop sludge into it. You still need to whirlpool and chill and let it settle.

as for OP, get a screen gasket, put it between your racking arm and valve. During fermentation keep the arm horizontal or pointing down so crap doesn’t fall into it.

 

[PseudoSteve]

I forgot to mention it but yes I do whirlpool as well and I use a side pickup tube. I cool with an immersion chiller and while thats in there I'm pulling from one port and pushing it out the side pickup tube which creates a nice whirlpool. I run the whirlpool for a bit more after pulling out the chiller and then let it settle. However I don't have a stepped bottom in my kettle so some of it still gets pulled in. When I finish pulling the wort out there is definitely a pile towards the center of the kettle however as can be seen on the screen plenty of the trub still makes it out.

How long do you suggest letting it settle for?

 

[Jag75]

Whirlpooling definitely helps . About 6.5 oz of hops in a 5.5 gallon batch . I have the regular filter on the Grainfather plus I added the robobrew false bottom. This sludge was easily an inch thick at the edge and 3 at the middle where the cone is.

 

[PseudoSteve]

Here is my kettle configuration, so the side pickup tub is about 0.5" off the bottom. For the whirlpool I pull from the port above it and then push out the pickup tube. Then when it comes time to filter I switch the lines to the pump such that I'm pulling from the side pickup tube. Perhaps my pickup tube is too low?

 

[SanPancho]

Id say. The thing is, trub isnt what the filters are designed for, they’re more for hops and fruits and whatnot. Trying to filter out crap at that small of particle size isn’t really feasible with mesh screens. You’d need filter pads, DE, etc and high pressure pumps.

 

[PseudoSteve]

Sorry for getting off topic on this thread, I re-read the original message in this thread and realize now it was about filtering hops from the fermenter but at the time I saw that as a discussion about these strainers. However, the damage is already done so might as well continue...

I totally get what you're saying, my theory in purchasing it was that the majority of the trub would stay in the kettle and whatever did make it out would get filtered by the strainer. It sounds like I need to figure out why so much trub is getting pulled in to the pickup tube. Perhaps either I don't let it settle for long enough (~15 minutes) or the downward angle on the pickup tube and the force of the pump is somehow causing the trub to get kicked up and pulled in. One thing I could try is to pull my first 5 gallons from the upper port which would disturb the trub less?

However, this gives me another idea. What if in the last 10 minutes of the boil I started pumping wort through the strainer back into the kettle with the idea being removing a bunch of trub early. I could even take the filter out and give it a rinse if need be. Do you think that would work or is it that while its boiling the trub won't be as thick so it will just pass right through the strainer?

Thank you for all the replies on this.

 

[SanPancho]

wait- i just noticed that your whirlpool totally "less than optimal" as you have it set up there. few things- for purposes of whirlpool you want that tube pointing upwards slightly, say 2oclock. that way the cool wort heads to the top of kettle where it pushes the hotter wort into the whirlpool motion and avoids stratification. secondly, if the pump is shooting the wort back into the bottom of the kettle you are likely creating all sorts of turbulence and not getting a good whirlpool and cone development.

thats the problem with a combo WP arm/pickup tube. the best results from each process are mutually exclusive, unless your tube can be moved/adjusted while in place.

i would advise to drop 10-15 bucks and buy yourself some of these-

your pump pushes the wort up and over the kettle rim via the U barb, and then you attach another piece of tubing form the U barb down into the kettle with the 90 barb on the end to make the tangential port for WP.

unless you can move the pickup tube with wort in the kettle, this is a super simple and easy way to avoid the problem that combo pickup tube/wp arms causes.