Hop spider woes solved! In stainless!

[matt99004]

Try a second hand store. I got mine for 75 cents.

 

[petrostar]

now are you hanging a hop bag on the bottle of that, by way of the handle?

That's a great question. After I built this I went and bought the hose clamp and saw that it is the exact same size as the bottom lip of the funnel. Yes the funnel is tapered and It slips right off which is frustrating. Now I am trying to figure out a way to make the bag stay on. any suggestions?

 

[jpalarchio]

After I built this I went and bought the hose clamp and saw that it is the exact same size as the bottom lip of the funnel. Yes the funnel is tapered and It slips right off which is frustrating. Now I am trying to figure out a way to make the bag stay on. any suggestions?

I would probably just put two or three bolts in the bottom then to stop the clamp from falling off.

 

[Gear101]

That's a great question. After I built this I went and bought the hose clamp and saw that it is the exact same size as the bottom lip of the funnel. Yes the funnel is tapered and It slips right off which is frustrating. Now I am trying to figure out a way to make the bag stay on. any suggestions?

I thought you would just tie the bag right off to the bolts that are all ready there or clamp it with one of those black and sliver binder type of paper clamps?

 

[wyzazz]

That's a great question. After I built this I went and bought the hose clamp and saw that it is the exact same size as the bottom lip of the funnel. Yes the funnel is tapered and It slips right off which is frustrating. Now I am trying to figure out a way to make the bag stay on. any suggestions?

Bolts were already mentioned, maybe some SS or Aluminum rivets? Even scoring the bottom around 1/8" up every 1/2" or so, then bending the bottom of that tapered end up with some pliers might help.

 

[mattyb85]

I was looking into building a hop spider and this is definitely the one im going to build! great work. The only thing i might change is that i will have the hop bad go over the lip at the top and that way there wil be no chance of it sliding off.

 

[Huaco]

I was able to get my (2) hop spiders done this weekend. I made one for me and one for my buddy. They will work with the Keggle that I will be using and his smaller pot that he has. They are completely Stainless Steel. Even the all-thread, nuts and washers.
I found these flanges at a Lowes on clearance for 4 bucks a pop!!! they were marked down from 17 bucks each or something like that.

 

[Toecutter]

Nicely done. I checked my Local Lowes and couldent find any. I think they keep them on the shelf by the Garbage Disposals. If you have a moment to spare, could you check your reciept or packaging for the SKU or part number and post it ?? I would like to call around to a few other locations and locate.

Thanks

 

[Huaco]

I already threw the receipt out. -- Sorry.
I had to source the SS allthread at my local Ace Hardware. BIG BOX did not have it.
All total, each spider cost about 15 bucks.

 

[barhoc11]

Can anyone post a link to the InSinkErator they are using for this? I cannot find this in stainless steel.

 

[user 84304]

This is the one they're using: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CCMZ18/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Huaco]

edited to remove redundant link...

 

[bschot]

For the guys using stainless canning funnels, you could put about 4 or maybe more dots of Gorilla Glue around the bottom edge. You may have to do one side at a time, the glue will run. Let it cure and I think that would keep the bag from slipping off the funnel. According to the Gorilla Glue website, the regular stuff is food safe once cured, apparently you can even microwave it.

 

[davefleck]

How did you guys drill the sink flange? Trying not to hurt myself...

 

[Huaco]

How did you guys drill the sink flange? Trying not to hurt myself...

DO NOT DRILL THIS PIECE WHILE HOLDING IT IN YOUR HAND... Just a safety note...

-Locate holes 120 degrees apart. (I actually used a tri-folded piece of junk mail and the O.D. of the collar just so happened to be exactly 11" and the tri-fold locations were exactly where I needed the holes to be.
-Use a center punch to dent the collar.
-Put the collar in a vice in the axis of the drill on a drill press.
-USE CUTTING OIL
-Drill 1/4" hole using a slow speed and a good amount of pressure.
-De-bur with a file or chuck a stone up in the drill press and use that (that's what I did)

 

[petrostar]

Actually, a piece of rigid wood like a 2x4 placed on top will disperse even pressure. Place a C clamp on it and tighten to your work bench. Holds perfect and drills perfect.

 

[davefleck]

Don't have a drill press. That is my problem

 

[Huaco]

Don't have a drill press. That is my problem

then use the idea above... sandwich it with 2 pieces of lumber and clamp it with a large c-clamp and use a hand drill motor.

 

[petrostar]

then use the idea above... sandwich it with 2 pieces of lumber and clamp it with a large c-clamp and use a hand drill motor.

Yea, its exactly what I did. Took one 2x4 and one sliding lumber vice. The workbench acts as the other flat surface to disperce pressure evenly. Then just used a hand drill. worked flawlessly.

 

[petrostar]

Thanks for the tip on cutting slits on the bottom. Worked perfect!

 

[rustym]

What length as bolts are you guys using for your legged?

 

[rustym]

Sorry! That was supposed to say "keggle"! Darn predictive text'

 

[LowNotes]

Is there any advantage to using a hop-spider over just clipping a paint bag to the side of the brew kettle?

I did my first AG BIAB batch a couple weeks ago, and after mashing, I emptied out the grains in the compost outside, rinsed the bag thoroughly, and then clipped it back on to the side of the pot, and tossed hops into it as required during the boil. After the boil, I just removed the clips, and pulled the bag out. Gave it a nice squeeeze to get the most delicious hop-juice I could, and then proceeded with cooling/pitching.

It was super easy and seemed to work perfectly. I haven't tasted the beer yet, and won't bottle until this Friday, but it definitely kept a wad of hops out of my fermenter. I only had 4oz total from the boil, and the pellets had swelled up to about the size of a softball.

 

[diS]

I am thinking on this one too. So far I used hop bags and I think that there is similar utilization factor between spider and hop hag attached to the kettle side. I"ll keep it simple..

 

[ekjohns]

does squeezing risk bac. contamination? I am assuming everything is cool enough to squeeze without burning your hand (120F)

 

[diS]

I leave bags in wort during chilling and use sanitized strainer and spoon, so far no contamination.

 

[evwoller]

Having your pot open to air leaves a potential for bacterial contamination. One thing to consider is that ideally you are throwing millions and millions of yeast cells into your wort. You are potentially adding a microscopic sample of bacteria, and you ave adding a very much quantifiable amount of yeast.

One thing that comes to mind is that people have been brewing beer since before they even understood how it worked what so ever.

 

[ekjohns]

so what your telling me as long as I don't scratch my butt right before I squeeze my bag I should be fine

 

[evwoller]

Whoa whoa whoa, i thought that was a very important step in the process of getting tasty beer. Now you are just confusing me!

Its like what is going to have the advantage, the huge yeast sample you pitch, or the minute unintended residents that have settled their way into your wort. Thats like having a full set of professional basketball players playing against 2 average joes.

 

[mojito65]

I have all the materials for this build...

Have a question. I have use a 16QT kettle for partial mash/partial boils on my gas stove-top. The 5 gallon bag will hit the bottom of the kettle.

Any concerns with the mesh bag burning/melting due to the heat generated at the bottom of the kettle?