Kettle screen for filtering?

[photogscott]

So I see this thing called a "kettle screen" on the Austin Homebrew site. It's for convertng a kettle into a mash tun. But then it says to use it to filter trub.

I'd like something like this to cut down on the pellet hops into the fermenter and possibly to guard against clogging a future plate chiller. So cheap but does it work?

 

[cl330b]

I personally like them. The advantages are that a lot of the hop debris does not make it into the fermenter. The disadvantage is it can be a pain to get it completely clean. I always find particles caked into the screen. I usually bake the screen with my plate chiller after brewday. I have done a lot of experimenting with different lengths of the screen size. Take it from me, the larger the surface area, in this case length, the better off you will be. One time I used just small portion of the screen and the debris build up in the little holes in the screen ALL became clogged. I couldn't drain the kettle! It was a true nightmare! I couldn't use the plate chiller so my wife had to run to the store for bags of ice. I have learned my lesson. All in all, I think the screens are worth the money.

 

[photogscott]

I have done a lot of experimenting with different lengths of the screen size. Take it from me, the larger the surface area, in this case length, the better off you will be. .

Are we talking about the same thing? They offer 2 screens. 3/8 in and 1/2 in. Both are the same length.

 

[carltjones]

I've seen the screens as I've pick up the weldless valve. Not sure if the ability to filter hops and cleaning it is a big deal as we've been using a mesh bag to filter and contain the hops.

 

[photogscott]

we've been using a mesh bag to filter and contain the hops.

Looking for a simple way to filter free floating hops. I prefer my hops commando in the BK for supposed better utilization

 

[cl330b]

Are we talking about the same thing? They offer 2 screens. 3/8 in and 1/2 in. Both are the same length.

Yes we are. The diameters are 3/8" and 1/2". I have messed around with the lengths, meaning keeping the same diameter but shortening the length of the screen. The right is the 3/8" screen, the left is the 1/2" screen. What I was referring to is, I attempted to use a length shorter than the one on the left and ran into troubles. I have shortened the standard length to fit into my brew kettle. As I mentioned earlier, the larger the total surface area of the screen, the less likely you are to have hop debris fill every little hole in the screen.





To answer your original question, yes, they work very well.