Whirlpooling Clogs Filter

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BigFishBrewing

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I have just brewed my 11th batch and while the beer is great I have a question about whirlpooling. I started to whirlpool about 4 batches ago and have run into the same problem each time. I use a keg (keggle) for a boil pot. I have a valve placed at an appropriate level from the bottom. To the valve I have attached a filter (bazooka). Ten minutes from flameout I put the immersion chiller in and some whirfloc. At flame-out I add some late hop additions and start to whirlpool for about 15-20 minutes with a large spoon (a pump is in my future plans).

Here is the problem: The whirlpooling seems to gather all of the protein and hops and associated particulates to settle down to clog the filter. Draining the wort is only possible by scraping the filter with the spoon and it results in particulate material flowing into the carboy.

Any suggestions to improve the technique would be appreciated.
 
The point of the Whirlpool is to eliminate a filter. I use a side pickup and stop as soon as I start to get any hop debris.
20180204_175207.jpeg
 
Right. I'd lose the bazooka and change to a side pickup similar to @brewmasterorr's.
The fundamental instinct to recover every drop from the kettle is generally counter-productive in the long run. A side pickup positioned to leave behind a quart or so of wort along with (hopefully a cone of) hop debris is worth a couple of handfuls of grain to account for the dead loss...

Cheers!
 
Are these beers heavily hopped? You may need something to hold back the hops. If I go over 3oz in the kettle I use a hop spider. I also have a metal tea ball (that I modified) over my rack arm to keep out thick proteins and hops.

Side note, clean your immersion chiller by hand or in a bucket of starsan. Don’t put it in your BK to clean it. That obviously sanitizes it, but all the nasty stuff from the last batch just sits on there.
 
I saw something about the Hop Stopper 2 recently, will have to dig deeper.
As an owner of the original - used once, epic nightmare - I hope this isn't a larger, more expensive repeat...

Cheers!
 
I saw something about the Hop Stopper 2 recently, will have to dig deeper.
As an owner of the original - used once, epic nightmare - I hope this isn't a larger, more expensive repeat...

Cheers!
I have a homemade hop stopper that I used for 6 years with whirlpooling and only had a real prob when I cooled under 120 in the bk. My guess is cold break starts to occur. I have gone up to 16 oz hops in BK. I use 600 micron. It is all about flow control.

Just got a hop stopper 2, can post results.
 
Great replies - very helpful.

brewmasterorr - Nice to see a local boy - I'm in Surrey. I am getting rid of the bazooka asap and getting one of those side pickups asap.
millsbrew - I really like your suggestion for cleaning the chiller. I was finding it very difficult to get a whirlpool going with a large spoon and I am definitely going to do what you suggest.
day trippr - was not aware of a hop stopper either and I will look into that after I try the side pickup

The next thing I want to get is a pump/valves to do the whirlpool.

Thanks guys.
 
Nothing much too add to the other posters. Definitely take the screen off as I don't think you'll be able to avoid it clogging repeatedly. I whirlpooling with my pump and usually leave a gallon behind which works out to about a inch of liquid. I never had much luck getting a good cone doing it by hand although alot of others claim good success so keep that in mind and I do bigger 18g batches typically which may make the manual way less effective. Cheers
 
Great replies - very helpful.

brewmasterorr - Nice to see a local boy - I'm in Surrey. I am getting rid of the bazooka asap and getting one of those side pickups asap.
millsbrew - I really like your suggestion for cleaning the chiller. I was finding it very difficult to get a whirlpool going with a large spoon and I am definitely going to do what you suggest.
day trippr - was not aware of a hop stopper either and I will look into that after I try the side pickup

The next thing I want to get is a pump/valves to do the whirlpool.

Thanks guys.
Ha. The other Vancouver. But not too far.

Cheers.

Jeff
 
I have a homemade hop stopper that I used for 6 years with whirlpooling and only had a real prob when I cooled under 120 in the bk. My guess is cold break starts to occur. I have gone up to 16 oz hops in BK. I use 600 micron. It is all about flow control.

Just got a hop stopper 2, can post results.

Can you comment on the results of the hopstopper2? Also, any idea what the distance from the bottom of your kettle to bottom of your element is? i.e. the clearance?
 
Can you comment on the results of the hopstopper2? Also, any idea what the distance from the bottom of your kettle to bottom of your element is? i.e. the clearance?
Hopstopper2 is worth every penny. Much better then my homemade version. Not a single clogging issue.
 
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