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At least there was not a fire

Mashing
#1

Well this may be an experimental situation. I’ve done more than a few extract/partial mash recipes. Finally went all in for the full grain experience. Purchased the equipment, gave it a trial on a partial mash recipe and got to yesterday where I had an actual brew day.

Things went along swimmingly until it came to the point of draining my cooled wort to the fermentation bucket. Turns out my Hop Strainer managed to get stuck somehow with the Blichmann pot spout. Turns out some how the filter got tilted ever so slightly enough that the spigot sucked in some whole cone hops. (Experimented with using these for the first time in a boil.) So there was nothing left to do but dip my hands and arms in my mash tun filled with sanitizer solution to clean it and pull the inner spigot out… which then had the valve clog. From there I went to the 1/2 inch siphon… which also ended up clogged. Seemed that little on the back side of this brewing day went right. The only positive I have at this point is that a day later the bucket is merrily fermenting away to release the very dank smell of hops in to the fermentation room. This may be saved yet, however for those of you that have had a bad day can look to this and laugh with me. (Or at me)

#2

What “hop strainer” did you use?

Also, please tell me you dunked your arm in a bucket of Starsan for a bit before reaching into your wort.

#3

Of course it was dumped in a bucket of starsan.

#4

Didn’t mean to insult your intelligence at all. In frustrating moments like that, it’s easy to overlook things. It happens to the best of us.

So, what type of hop strainer are you using?

#5

No offense taken.

It was the blichman hopstrainer designed for their boil kettles. Some how it got kicked askance in the pot just enough to allow some whole leaf hops underneath it to the spout.

#6

[quote=“ObsidianJester”]No offense taken.

It was the blichman hopstrainer designed for their boil kettles. Some how it got kicked askance in the pot just enough to allow some whole leaf hops underneath it to the spout.[/quote]
Have you had good luck using it with whole hops in the past? I believe I had read previously that it is only works effectively for pellet hops, which is one of the reasons I did not seriously consider it.

#7

This was the first time I attempted to use it with whole leaf hops. It would appear due to it having two sets of screen holes you can use either, or both. Still the fault was not in the item itself but my fault for having knocked it so it was no longer flush to the bottom of the pot. The previous time I used it with all pellet hops and it stayed flush to the bottom of the pot it was very effective. However it is designed for pellet hops.

#8

I hope it works for you the next time you give it a go with whole hops. I’ve got a friend who has one collecting dust, because it did not work for him. He uses whole hops exclusively.

#9

I’ve done the full arm dunk into my cooled wort. In my hast, I reached in without star san. Ended up with one of my best brews evers. I may start dunking my arm in every time!

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