Hop spider clogging issue.

[augiedoggy]

Basket for grains. Drain and remove, add spider for hops. View attachment 314272

Why am I not seeing the basket or spider... just looks like a funnel mounted on the kettle?

 

[FreddyMar3]

Why am I not seeing the basket or spider... just looks like a funnel mounted on the kettle?

I just built the spider, don't have a pic with the muslin bag attached yet but there is a hose clamp on the under side of that funnel. Here is the basket:

 

[pretzelb]

Good luck with it. Every time I've tried recirculating back into the hop spider it's clogged so I recirculate into the boil kettle and don't worry about it.

Not sure how I missed this post. I agree this is a bad idea. You don't contain the hops then pump clear wort into the hop container. At best you blow hop material back into the clean wort. You also don't need to whirlpool if you contain the hops. If you re-circulate for cooling then just go back to the kettle outside the hop container.

 

[augiedoggy]

Not sure how I missed this post. I agree this is a bad idea. You don't contain the hops then pump clear wort into the hop container. At best you blow hop material back into the clean wort. You also don't need to whirlpool if you contain the hops. If you re-circulate for cooling then just go back to the kettle outside the hop container.

I agree with this... Forcing liquid out through the hop spider walls only results in the mesh doing its job and plugging with the fine hop residue as it tries to escape with the wort its suspended in... If one had a fine enough mesh bag that actually contained the hops and tried to open it and pour wort into it they would see the same thing only the holes constantly flexing and moving in the bag sidewall would allow a lot more hops to just escape through it.

I know my hop spider is working correctly and not plugged while boiling because when I stir my boiling wort I can make a wave/ distortion and watch it travel into the hop spider meaning there is free liquid exchange through the mesh. I may go through 50cents more hops per batch to get the same utilization as not using one but thats worth it to me to not have any residue in my plate chiller and very very little trub in my fermenter.

 

[branman]

I have had the same problem with my 6X14 SS spider. It's not hop material that clogs it but the break material that builds up on the outside. Have burned my knuckles several times holding it up to drain for up to 10 minutes before. I'm thinking of scrapping the whole idea and getting the trub/hop filter from brewers hardware.. any thoughts or experiences on this?

 

[FreddyMar3]

I know this thread is a bit dated but I finally got around to finishing my setup and taking some pics. Here is what I'm using on my electric biab setup as a hop spider. It has been working well so far. Just gotta adjust the bad to make sure it gets close to the element but not touching. This shot shows the hop infuser recirculation rod (for lack of a better name) in use.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1455685727.228387.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1455685738.416103.jpg

 

[augiedoggy]

I know this thread is a bit dated but I finally got around to finishing my setup and taking some pics. Here is what I'm using on my electric biab setup as a hop spider. It has been working well so far. Just gotta adjust the bad to make sure it gets close to the element but not touching. This shot shows the hop infuser recirculation rod (for lack of a better name) in use.

View attachment 338108
View attachment 338109

See my experience with this was different, Ive tried this with fine strainer bags and it always results in my hops just getting pulverized by the force of the water and pushed through the bag and into the kettle which kind of defeated the purpose for me since I want to keep this stuff out of my chiller....

Ive recently been using a small stirrer I made in my hop spider to help keep the hops suspended inside of my hop spider but not push them through the screen walls or against it and it seems to work well so far.

 

[pretzelb]

I still think trying to recirculate back into the container is the wrong way to do this. If you insist on getting the most from the hops then maybe filter at the drain like Kal.

 

[kombat]

I've tried several solutions. I had a custom hop screen made for me by Arbor Fabricating (he hangs out around here). It's a 300 micron cylindrical screen that hangs off the inside rim of my kettle. It works fine and contains the hops, but I worried my hop utilization was suffering. So I bought the "Hop Stopper" device that Kal uses - basically a Frisbee-shaped stainless mesh screen encasing a pickup tube. It also worked to block the hops, but I found it got so caked up with hop matter and trub that I wasn't able to collect all my wort.

Finally, I abandoned both of those devices, and installed a whirlpool port on my kettle. This has been working great for me so far. The only disadvantage is that it adds about 20 minutes to my brewing process. After flameout, I run the pump to recirculate the wort for 5 minutes to get a nice whirlpool going, then kill the pump and give it another 15 minutes for everything to settle out in a cone in the center of the kettle. I have a side-pickup tube on my kettle outlet port, so I drain from the outer edge, leaving the hop gunk and trub in the center of the kettle. Once the wort level gets low enough that it starts pulling gunk from the center, I stop draining. This usually ends up leaving 1-2 quarts of wort in my kettle, but I can account for that by simply upping my pre-boil wort volume slightly.

 

[FreddyMar3]

I still think trying to recirculate back into the container is the wrong way to do this. If you insist on getting the most from the hops then maybe filter at the drain like Kal.

I think it depends. The setup I posted above has been working just fine. The boiling wort bubbles up right into the bag and the recirc at the end makes sure it's getting plenty agitated for late boil and post boil additions.