SS Brewtech Chronical - Completely Clogged

[tkline]

Hi all. Today I racked a wooky jack clone from my SS Brewtech 7 gallon chronical (bme) fermenter and had major clogging issues. I ended up having to rack from the sample port, which took forever (didn't have access to another spare C02 tank). This was my third brew and was by far the worst the fermenter has been clogged. Normally I would just purge the racking arm for a bit until the beer poured out clear - however this time literally nothing worked. I'd like to prevent this moving forward, any ideas would be greatly appreciated:

• I used 3 vials of WLP002 (first time using it), and it flocculated like crazy - which definitely didn't help the clog.
• Fermented for about 10 days, started at 63 and gradually ramped up to 67.5. Hit my target final gravity without any issues. Dry hopped twice for a total of 7 days.
• Attempted to dump trub / yeast / hop pellets when fermentation stopped. Tried using the lower dump valve but literally nothing came out. Tried dumping with the racking arm and got very little out. I figured at this point it was time to cold crash and hopefully all the crud would settle to the bottom.
• Cold crashed for 48 hours at 38 degrees. I was able to get out about a pint and a half of crap out of the racking port, but man o man it was a challenge, and it would get clogged literally almost every time I opened the valve.
• This morning I ended up having to rack to my keg via the sample port - which I wasn't happy about at all (ended up losing about a gallon of beer as a result).

When all was said and done I was blown away by how much spent yeast and hop residue was in the cone of the fermenter. Seemed totally unreal but it was my first time using WLP002. So my questions are:

1) Do you guys with bme chronicals frequently dump trub / spent yeast / hops? If so what does your typical schedule look like?

2) If I ever have a clog like this again, is there something else I can be doing different to either prevent the clog, or force it to come through?

 

[MaryB]

Maybe use a kettle screen to filter some of the trub before the fermenter? And a hop spider or bag to contain the hop debris(this one seems to create most of the trub in my boil kettle, went to a spider, very little debris)...

 

[Bobby_M]

1. Whirlpool the kettle before transfer out.
2. Let trub settle in conical for a few hours,do a dump, then pitch.
3. Dump a small amount of early floc'd yeast at day 5.
4.use co2 always.

 

[chris000]

what is the pressure rating on this one?
I haven't convinced myself to get a conical yet (this one in 14gal is actual one I'd considered). right now I'm still using cornies, which always creates some other minor inconveniences. however, if it they clog, which they always do to some degree, I just jack up the pressure. normally, 8psi for a few seconds does the trick without any blowing back down the tube.
just wondering if it's save to add a spunding apparatus or hook up the CO2 to the top TC of your conical

 

[yourlastchance89]

Pics? Did you dry hop? I typically do one dump as soon as fermentation stops. If I can't get anything out of the dump valve I've put a little co2 pressure on it from the top

 

[tkline]

Pics? Did you dry hop? I typically do one dump as soon as fermentation stops. If I can't get anything out of the dump valve I've put a little co2 pressure on it from the top

Unfortunately didn't take any pics. Was literally up to my elbows in WLP002 Are you using the SS Brewtech Chronical? If so how much pressure are you applying?

 

[pvpeacock]

You need to drop trub from the bottom port earlier to prevent clogging like this. I usually dump trub/yeast beginning on day 3. You can tell form the consistency at that point whether you need to dump more in a day or two or if you can wait longer. I've had a few batches get completely stuck because I didn't dump early enough. When that happened, I sterilized a spare, curved dip tube from a corny keg and jammed it into the bottom ball valve/elbow. The curve helps it get up into the elbow. Voila, out came the trub/yeast. Just have a pitcher standing by to catch everything that comes out.

 

[aimlessbum]

Subbing to this. I RARELY can get out dry hopped beer out of the racking port, even with prolonged cold crash and CO2.

 

[pvpeacock]

Try rotating the racking arm downward after you dump trub/yeast and before you dry hop That way the hops won't fall into the racking arm. Having said that, I routinely dry hop with loose pellets with the racking arm facing up without any problems. In the few times I have had a clogged racking arm, I just blow air up into it and the problem is solved.

 

[yourlastchance89]

I've only done 2 NEIPAS in my chronical so maybe I'm not the best do advice on this. I primarily use mine for lagers and only dump once after primary is finished, however for my NEIPAS I did a dump 2 days post brewday and after primary fermentation. I'd also recommend a hop filter and cryohops for dry hopping if it's a consistent problem

 

[pvpeacock]

As long as you are dumping enough trub/yeast/dry hop out of the bottom to keep the racking arm in the beer and above the trub/yeast/dry hop, you should not have any trouble getting beer to rack from the racking arm/port. However, if you let the trub/yeast/dry hop accumulate on the bottom until it covers the racking arm, you've got a problem. Again, you've got to dump earlier and often depending on the type of beer you are making, the amount of trub that goes into the fermenter and the amount of dry hop.

I second the use of cryohops where possible, but don't think that is necessary to avoid clogging problems as long as you are dumping trub/yeast early and often.

 

[user 40839]

Had this issue myself this morning while racking my dry hopped pale. This is the first time I've used the Chronicals, coming from a Morebeer conical. I always do a day three dump in mid fermentation, when the yeast is still actively kreusening but the trub has had time to settle out.

Was something of a debacle, primary my own fault thanks to a combination of assuming things would be the same, and for not RTFM. Began with the realization dawning that the Chronical - even with leg extensions and casters - isn't tall enough to allow me to simply drain the wort through the racking arm into my cornies - you HAVE to use CO2. Cue scrambling around the garage trying to cobble together a manifold.

First keg got about half way filled before the flow stopped. Gaaah!

Had to resort to using the old auto-siphon to fill the kegs, even then ended up losing close to a gallon of wort. Not overly thrilled.

So one of Jaybird's 3" caps with a gas post is on the way for ease of use in the future, and I think I'll pick up a couple of bazooka screens or something for the racking ports to prevent hops from getting sucked in there and clogging it.