Grainfather pump slow, hop stands and whirlpool w/ hop spider

[pym99]

The pump on my Grainfather is still slow. Even after adding the Grainfather hop spider, the pump filter gets clogged up with trub and hop material and the resulting flow into the fermenter is painfully slow.

I have also begun to experiment with larger additions of hops after flameout in NEIPAs. The last brew I did had so much hops in the hop spider that the wort level in the spider was several inches above the wort outside the spider. I can’t imagine that I am getting sufficient flow through the hops in the spider to efficiently utilize the hops.

I am sure I should take the spider out for the hop stand. However, the few times I’ve brewed without the hop spider or hop bags, the pump has clogged completely. I don’t currently whirlpool (in part due to the hop spider disrupting the flow), but I can’t imagine that whirlpooling will prevent clogs.

Should I use several smaller hop bags?
Insert a BIAB large bag after flameout and then add hops?
Purchase a kettle strainer (like the Anvil one) and try to attach it to the Grainfather somehow?

I’d love to hear your suggestions and what you do to avoid this problem. Thanks!

 

[jschein]

Are you overflowing the mash? Meaning is it going down the mash pipe. Too fine a crush? I use hop bags and I get a good flow

 

[pym99]

Are you overflowing the mash? Meaning is it going down the mash pipe. Too fine a crush? I use hop bags and I get a good flow

I don’t have trouble during the mash, just after flameout transferring to the fermenter. The hop spider definitely helped a lot compared to free-floating hops but it wasn’t working well with the huge addition for the 80 C hopstand. The filter still got clogged up with trub and hop mush and I don’t think the hopstand was very effective given the lack of flow through the spider. Maybe I should just use hop bags instead of the spider.

 

[Jag75]

Open up your valve and take out the ball and spring . It will be telling of what the problem is . My guess is you have grain slowing down the flow.

 

[pym99]

I'll take out the ball and spring next time I brew. It used to clog before I started using hop bags and then the hop spider, and I'd sometimes have to clean it twice during transfer. That doesn't happen any more, but I can imagine that even if it's not fully clogging it could be slowing down the flow.