Pellet Hops Filtering - Bazooka?

[mprima]

I'm adding a ball valve to my kettle. At present I auto-siphon. Obviously hop residue is the first thing that comes to mind w/ using a ball valve. The bulkhead feed thru has a 1/2 NPT female connection inside the pot. Does a bazooka tube work well? Thoughts, ideas, experiences ... FYI I primarily use pellet hops.

Thx

****

 

[berrywise]

How big is your kettle? I find if you are doing over five gallons and a large hop bill that the bazooka tube can get clogged pretty quick and has you scraping hops off it trying to get the entire kettle to drain.

Do some searches on these forums for "hop spider" or "hop screen" to come up with a few other options.

 

[govner1]

I use a 300 micron SS mesh basket from Arbor Fabricating. It virtually eliminates hop residue.
I chill/whirlpool & have had no pump or ball valve issues. I even use a Hop Rocket on occasion. Again, no issues.

 

[mprima]

Picking up a 15 gal Megapot 1.2 ... Thx govner ... just ordered the 4"x10" 400 micro SS basket from Arbor. I even asked them if they could quote me on a SS brew-in-a-basket to fit this pot ... They should be able to make me one with a grove in the front to pass the ball valve and thermo (which are inline 1 3/4 and 5 1/4 inches from the bottom respectively). Thx again guys ... I'll give this a shot.

 

[augiedoggy]

Picking up a 15 gal Megapot 1.2 ... Thx govner ... just ordered the 4"x10" 400 micro SS basket from Arbor. I even asked them if they could quote me on a SS brew-in-a-basket to fit this pot ... They should be able to make me one with a grove in the front to pass the ball valve and thermo (which are inline 1 3/4 and 5 1/4 inches from the bottom respectively). Thx again guys ... I'll give this a shot.

I ave both the 4x10 and 6x14 and the larger one works better for hop utilization. the small one seems to basically plug up with as little as 2 oz of pellet hops..I had to make brackets for the smaller one to even sit deep enough in my 13 gallons shallow pot for 5 gallon batches... the small one works well for a 5-7 gallon pot though...
the brew basket would be ideal in my opinion.

 

[ram5ey]

Yeah that sounds better. The bazooka screen (in my experience). Will clog from pellets.

 

[augiedoggy]

Yeah that sounds better. The bazooka screen (in my experience). Will clog from pellets.

I use a bazooka screen under a false bottom in my mash tun and I use a finer stainless braided line down the inside length of my bazooka tube... this has completlely prevented any stuck sparges or mashes as I recirculate during mashing but my point is multiple layers of filtering doesnt hurt as long as you go from course to fine and have enough surface area.

I use a 30" long stainless braid in my Boil kettle too in addition to the hop spider which still allows some trub through.

 

[Natdavis777]

I just used my stainless hop spider for the first time today. Flipping awesome View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419706997.063063.jpghighly recommend one

 

[lhommedieu]

OP - I've been using a Ss hop spider in my 10 gallon kettle along with a bazooka braid. No issues with pellet residue. I'm switching to leaf hops and will list my spider for $40 plus s/h in the forum tonight. Pm me if you're interested.

 

[northcal]

Bazooka will clog up with pellets 100% sure on that.

It works great with leaf hops, but more varieties are available as pellets.

Simple solution is to use hop bags, cheap and EZ to use.

 

[northcal]

Forgot to add pic.

 

[mprima]

Thx guys. Noted about the 400 micro vs the 300 micro. I'll order the 300 as well and give them both a try.

 

[IslandLizard]

Thx guys. Noted about the 400 micro vs the 300 micro. I'll order the 300 as well and give them both a try.

For 15 gallons you need at least the 6" wide one, better yet the 8" by whatever depth your kettle is. I'm sure you can change your order.

300 micron holds most of the hop fibers inside, it is the cold break that tends to clog it from what I read. The 400 lets a bit more hops through.

 

[mprima]

For 15 gallons you need at least the 6" wide one, better yet the 8" by whatever depth your kettle is. I'm sure you can change your order.

300 micron holds most of the hop fibers inside, it is the cold break that tends to clog it from what I read. The 400 lets a bit more hops through.

Thx Lizard. "Cold Break" I would plan on removing it before then ... even with aroma hops steeping for 10 mins at flameout ...I'd have to take it out before I put my chiller to the wort ... unless I'm not thinking straight.

 

[augiedoggy]

At that point what does it matter if the screen plugs up? The liquid will still drain. I second that the 300micron is the way to go.

 

[IslandLizard]

Thx Lizard. "Cold Break" I would plan on removing it before then ... even with aroma hops steeping for 10 mins at flameout ...I'd have to take it out before I put my chiller to the wort ... unless I'm not thinking straight.

At that point what does it matter if the screen plugs up? The liquid will still drain. I second that the 300micron is the way to go.

Exactly.

However, the plugging up happens during recirculation using a plate or CF chiller running chilled wort back through the basket. The idea is/was to catch some of the cold break so it doesn't all end up in the fermentor. A second basket or some other filter may come in handy for that. The larger the more it can catch.

With an IC there is no problem, all cold break ends up in the bottom of the kettle and some in fermentor.

If you want to do (extended) hop stands with hops in the basket you need wort flowing through it. That's easy to accomplish with a pump and sticking the return hose into the basket. Or ladle wort into it and moving it around if you have no pump.

 

[augiedoggy]

Exactly.

However, the plugging up happens during recirculation using a plate or CF chiller running chilled wort back through the basket. The idea is/was to catch some of the cold break so it doesn't all end up in the fermentor. A second basket or some other filter may come in handy for that. The larger the more it can catch.

With an IC there is no problem, all cold break ends up in the bottom of the kettle and some in fermentor.

If you want to do (extended) hop stands with hops in the basket you need wort flowing through it. That's easy to accomplish with a pump and sticking the return hose into the basket. Or ladle wort into it and moving it around if you have no pump.

I recently added the ability to both whirlpool and stir to help with this myself although Ive done about 33 brews now without needing it and no issues with my plate chiller... As I mentioned I use a braided stainless hose at the diptube for my boil kettle in addition to my hop spider.

 

[pickles]

I'd like to add one of these baskets to my 25g kettle. Any idea if a 300 mesh, 8"x19" would work?

 

[augiedoggy]

I'd like to add one of these baskets to my 25g kettle. Any idea if a 300 mesh, 8"x19" would work?

how tall is your kettle? as long as its ove 19" tall but not more than say 23" tall I'd say its perfect... you want as much as possible submerged even when brewing 5 gallons batches.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'd like to add one of these baskets to my 25g kettle. Any idea if a 300 mesh, 8"x19" would work?

You also want to keep it off the bottom, either real or false one, by an inch or so, and make sure it fits the space if you have electric elements and/or other stuff in that area.

If you brew mostly 15 to 20 gallon batches, 8x19 may not be large enough if you have a huge hop bill (Pliny).

 

[pickles]

If you brew mostly 15 to 20 gallon batches, 8x19 may not be large enough if you have a huge hop bill (Pliny).

This is along the lines of what I was asking. Even with my heating element as low as it will go in the kettle the smallest batch I can brew is about 7g. I typically brew 15-20 gal batches. The kettle is ~20" tall. I think I'll pick up a 10.5" x 16" and modify the hanger to get it to sit just above the heating element.

 

[pickles]

Double post

 

[IslandLizard]

This is along the lines of what I was asking. Even with my heating element as low as it will go in the kettle the smallest batch I can brew is about 7g. I typically brew 15-20 gal batches. The kettle is ~20" tall. I think I'll pick up a 10.5" x 16" and modify the hanger to get it to sit just above the heating element.

What I meant to say is that for very large hop bills that 8x19 may not be large enough, but for most and less hoppy brews it should suffice. It's quite a volume as well as a decent screen surface.

Please realize, there is no boil taking place inside the basket. The temp inside the basket may be 210 but never 212. Something to do with the mesh, the convection currents can't pass the screen. It's like a container inside the kettle.

So the basket should not take up most of the kettle's volume. Say 50% would be the absolute max. and 25% or smaller is probably much, much better. You really need to boil most of the wort volume to get DMS precursors and other stuff out and enable alpha acid isomerization.

Didn't mean to confuse you.

 

[augiedoggy]

Please realize, there is no boil taking place inside the basket. The temp inside the basket may be 210 but never 212. Something to do with the mesh, the convection currents can't pass the screen. It's like a container inside the kettle.

So the basket should not take up most of the kettle's volume. Say 50% would be the absolute max. and 25% or smaller is probably much, much better. You really need to boil most of the wort volume to get DMS precursors and other stuff out and enable alpha acid isomerization.

Didn't mean to confuse you.

I wasnt aware of this but it makes sense..good to know. Boiling occurs for me at about 210 degrees because of elevation but I think its safe to assume that means the temp will always be less intense in the hop spider regardless...

 

[IslandLizard]

I wasnt aware of this but it makes sense..good to know. Boiling occurs for me at about 210 degrees because of elevation but I think its safe to assume that means the temp will always be less intense in the hop spider regardless...

Exactly. Some brewers have tried with a huge basket that was only slightly smaller than the kettle, and discovered that the boil wildly surged and splashed around the narrow space between the basket and kettle, but the inside never boiled. Also a wider basket has more evaporation and thus more heat loss, hence lower temps inside. The deeper parts of the basket should experience higher temps than the top.