What to expect with a hopback?

[Jakeintoledo]

When boiling wort, I get really irritated that I have to leave a gallon or gallon and-a-half in the kettle due to not wanting to get trub into the carboy. So I hauled it over to Bed Bath and Beyond and found a stainless, gasketed small container, and a coarse strainer in a dome shape, and set about drilling holes in the container to stick (and have welded by a fabricator friend) two stainless tubes into this container, and into which I was able to load two ounces of leaf hops.

My fabricator buddy told me that using epoxy would be equally safe to do, and after a week's curing, epoxy is as impermeable to food as stainless is (not sure about that but whatevs).

Question for the group--how much of a difference in beer flavor might be attributed to using a hopback? has anyone done the same recipe with and without a hopback? I'm expecting / hoping for huge aroma. I used the hopback when the wort was about 110, so we'll see....

for what it's worth, I don't know what actual hpobacks go for, but this cost me $9 @ Bed Bath and Beyond, and I had the stainless tubing laying around (but I suppose a couple of brass or small stainless bulkheads would have worked swell too)

 

[eastoak]

a blichmann hop rocket costs $124 or so. i'd be interested to see a $9 hop back in action.

 

[day_trippr]

Hopback or no hopback, whirlpool or no whirlpool, I'd rather dump the whole kettle in a fermenter - trub and all - than leave a gallon or more in the kettle.

Trub won't hurt anything...

Cheers!

 

[discokid2k]

I just made a hop back and have wondered the same thing about its effective use. Mine cost maybe $20 to make and I plan on a trial run for my next brew. I dont worry about trub though...irish moss and a longer primary ferment period do well to clear your beer.
I am thinking a hop back makes sense since I smell so much hop aroma throughout the boil. So keeping everything closed so that aroma can not escape seems reasonable.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]
I am thinking a hop back makes sense since I smell so much hop aroma throughout the boil. So keeping everything closed so that aroma can not escape seems reasonable.

But the massive amounts of CO2 bubbling through the young wort during primary will scrub a lot of aroma out of the brew. That's why we dry-hop after primary...

Cheers!

 

[Jakeintoledo]

Hopback or no hopback, whirlpool or no whirlpool, I'd rather dump the whole kettle in a fermenter - trub and all - than leave a gallon or more in the kettle.

Trub won't hurt anything...

Cheers!

Really? Always thought it would for some reason. Verrrrrrrrry interesting.

 

[Denny]

What can you expect from a hopback? Based on my experience, disappointment.

 

[BeastBrewer]

I have heard nothing but dissapointments from hopbacks

 

[discokid2k]

What can you expect from a hopback? Based on my experience, disappointment.

WEll I just brewed last night with the new home made hopback, wort chiller, and brew kettle valve. In short, dissappointment from the hopback. The chiller and valve from the kettle-best thing I have ever made.

Why did the hopback let me down:
1) got clogged...a lot.
2)clogs caused flow issues.
3)filtration was crap.
4)a hassle.

Overall, maybe the beer aroma will be ok? who knows....the kettle valve worked great but the hopback kept getting clogged and it made my wort chiller water heat up faster since wort wasnt moving as quickly. This also would cause close calls with the hopback and overflows, slowing me down even further. So "if" it works flavor wise I am going to design a better filter of sorts and possibly add a pump instead of just relying on gravity. (I have never been impressed with a dry hop brew I made-I know great results can be produced though)

The clogging would allow large chunks of hop to get into my primary. Not a big deal since I have plenty of time to let it sit and clear but I am anal so cant say it doesnt bother me. Overall, not too impressed with the trial run but it wasnt a total loss. I made beer, a wort chiller, installed a homemade valve into my kettle, and possibly wasted $20 to learn a valuable lesson...

 

[ArcLight]

Why use a hopback/hop rocket instead of a nylon bag with a draw string - one big enough so as not to compress the hops when they expand?

 

[discokid2k]

Why use a hopback/hop rocket instead of a nylon bag with a draw string - one big enough so as not to compress the hops when they expand?

I am wondering the same thing after last night.....

 

[Jakeintoledo]

WEll I just brewed last night with the new home made hopback, wort chiller, and brew kettle valve. In short, dissappointment from the hopback. The chiller and valve from the kettle-best thing I have ever made.

Why did the hopback let me down:
1) got clogged...a lot.
2)clogs caused flow issues.
3)filtration was crap.
4)a hassle.

Overall, maybe the beer aroma will be ok? who knows....the kettle valve worked great but the hopback kept getting clogged and it made my wort chiller water heat up faster since wort wasnt moving as quickly. This also would cause close calls with the hopback and overflows, slowing me down even further. So "if" it works flavor wise I am going to design a better filter of sorts and possibly add a pump instead of just relying on gravity. (I have never been impressed with a dry hop brew I made-I know great results can be produced though)

The clogging would allow large chunks of hop to get into my primary. Not a big deal since I have plenty of time to let it sit and clear but I am anal so cant say it doesnt bother me. Overall, not too impressed with the trial run but it wasnt a total loss. I made beer, a wort chiller, installed a homemade valve into my kettle, and possibly wasted $20 to learn a valuable lesson...

The hopback I made has a bell-shaped screen on the bottom, so an adequate amount of dead space can develop to help siphon liquid through. I also cam seal it, so the two foot column of fluid coming out of the bottom can act to draw a vacuum on the dead space, increasing the flow.

That said, my primary reason for a hop back was for greater wort recovery and minimal trub collection (I've heard trub can have adverse effects on fermenting beer). Hop aroma was a distant second.

 

[discokid2k]

Jake:

That's my next trick for the next brew. A different type of screen or muslin bag. I am testing the flow again with water because I think my wort chiller had a slight link that also slowed the flow. The hop back was clogged for sure so I think it just needs a tweak. I'm not worried about true as much since I added in a 2nd filter after the chiller. I am just looking for a more aromatic hop scent than I have been achieving.

 

[Mishraile]

I use Nylon bags and Muslin bags and it keeps almost all hops containted. My nylon bags don't seal tight though so about 20% of the hops in those bags come out. I could tie it tight but will never get the string untied after that to clean it, so I don't. I have started using the super cheap muslin bags and cleaning them when easy and tossing them when not. Trub in the fermenter wont hurt, but keeping it contained makes cleanup easier.

 

[Glynn]

iv always relied on a kitchen spider skimmer to remove my hop