Need suggestions for draining kettle

[HopHead73]

I have a 15gallon Polar Ware flat bottom kettle.
Right now I have the Hopstopper and have gravity feed the kettle into a counter flow chiller to the carboy.
As of right now I'm leaving approximately 1.6gallons behind in the kettle.
I want to make my system as efficient as possible and leaving this much wort behind is not ideal.
I don't plan on getting a pump anytime soon and I'm looking for suggestions on either improving the Hopstopper or moving away from it and trying something like a side pickup tube.
My ball valve has male threads on the inside, so I have a coupler on there so I can attach the male end of the Hopstopper.


Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

 

[LandoLincoln]

It sounds like your dip tube doesn't go very close to the bottom of the pot. You could try a new dip tube that gets closer.

 

[HopHead73]

The dip tube almost touches the bottom of the kettle. Once the wort level gets just below the top of the ball valve it loses siphon. I even monitor the flow per the Hopstopper instructions and stop the flow when bubbles appear because it says the flow into the Hopstopper screen could be slower that the flow out of it.

Has anyone had good success with a side pickup tube?
I've read people suggesting using a SS Scrubby on the end of it.

 

[mattd2]

The dip tube almost touches the bottom of the kettle. Once the wort level gets just below the top of the ball valve it loses siphon. I even monitor the flow per the Hopstopper instructions and stop the flow when bubbles appear because it says the flow into the Hopstopper screen could be slower that the flow out of it.

Has anyone had good success with a side pickup tube?
I've read people suggesting using a SS Scrubby on the end of it.

What do you have connected to the outlet of the ball valve? do you have any tubing, etc. on the outlet that drops below the level of the bottom of your pot?

 

[HopHead73]

I have tubing running from the ball valve to the counter flow chiller that is approximately 12inches below the valve outlet.

 

[Malted_hops]

It sounds like you have a bad connection close to the valve of that is where it breaks the siphon. Check the fitting that the hopstopper attaches to. are you missing a gasket? Trying to use a gasket where you don't need it? Do you tighten it with a wrench or just hand tight? It could be the fitting that connects the valve out to your chiller.

Just throwing some thoughts out.

 

[LandoLincoln]

The dip tube almost touches the bottom of the kettle. Once the wort level gets just below the top of the ball valve it loses siphon. I even monitor the flow per the Hopstopper instructions and stop the flow when bubbles appear because it says the flow into the Hopstopper screen could be slower that the flow out of it.

Has anyone had good success with a side pickup tube?
I've read people suggesting using a SS Scrubby on the end of it.

If you're losing siphon once the level gets just below the top of the ball valve, then you've got a leak somewhere. Test the system with just water and get the leak problem fixed.