I’ve been looking for a solution that gives me maximum hop utilization without clogging my system. I have a plate chiller for one. I purchased the hop stopper and was disappointed in the results. I brewed a 10 gallon double RIPA and it clogged within seconds of turning my outlet valve.
The outside of the hop stopper was completely caked. I used pellets in this case so perhaps whole hops might have worked?
I wonder if you could use a large fine mesh nylon bag during the boil to maybe "corral’ the majority of the hops, then carefully pull out the bag and hops and see what happens?..Tank :cheers:
This^^^^ I’ve gone to using mesh bags for all my hops with very good results. If I’m using a light hop schedule, I use only one bag. The more hops, the more bags I use. That way I get good hop utilization, and very little hop sediment goes into the wort.
I use a stainless steel braid in the kettle, and my experience is similar to the OP when using pellet hops. But with whole hops it works great, and the whole hops form a filterbed that traps the hotbreak as well.
I’ve been doing a ton of research on this lately. Mostly because I have been planning a double IPA soon. I’m actually brewing tomorrow, and I’ve made the decision to just roll with no filter, no bags, no nothing. I’ll whirlpool and let the gunk settle before I drain my wort. I have a dip tube that goes to the side of my kettle. Whatever happens, happens.
I’ve read so much info out there, it doesn’t seem that there is any one right way to do it. One common thing I have seen is that unless you plan on washing/reusing the yeast, there’s really no point in filtering out everything. I’m kind of all over the place with my styles, so I don’t really mind buying new yeast when the time comes. At this point, if I whirlpool and let it settle and that helps keep some of the gunk out, then I will be happy.
I saw an excellent video about this yesterday
[quote=“Templar”]I’ve been doing a ton of research on this lately. Mostly because I have been planning a double IPA soon. I’m actually brewing tomorrow, and I’ve made the decision to just roll with no filter, no bags, no nothing. I’ll whirlpool and let the gunk settle before I drain my wort. I have a dip tube that goes to the side of my kettle. Whatever happens, happens.
I’ve read so much info out there, it doesn’t seem that there is any one right way to do it. One common thing I have seen is that unless you plan on washing/reusing the yeast, there’s really no point in filtering out everything. I’m kind of all over the place with my styles, so I don’t really mind buying new yeast when the time comes. At this point, if I whirlpool and let it settle and that helps keep some of the gunk out, then I will be happy.[/quote]
That’s pretty much what I do. I don’t worried about getting hops into the fermentor. Never had an issue that I know of because of it.
[quote=“gdtechvw”][quote=“Templar”]I’ve been doing a ton of research on this lately. Mostly because I have been planning a double IPA soon. I’m actually brewing tomorrow, and I’ve made the decision to just roll with no filter, no bags, no nothing. I’ll whirlpool and let the gunk settle before I drain my wort. I have a dip tube that goes to the side of my kettle. Whatever happens, happens.
I’ve read so much info out there, it doesn’t seem that there is any one right way to do it. One common thing I have seen is that unless you plan on washing/reusing the yeast, there’s really no point in filtering out everything. I’m kind of all over the place with my styles, so I don’t really mind buying new yeast when the time comes. At this point, if I whirlpool and let it settle and that helps keep some of the gunk out, then I will be happy.[/quote]
That’s pretty much what I do. I don’t worried about getting hops into the fermentor. Never had an issue that I know of because of it.[/quote]
Hops or trub in the fermentor, no problem. Hops clogging up the plate chiller, that is a problem. And that’s pretty much the only reason I worry about this.
Hops or trub in the fermentor, no problem. Hops clogging up the plate chiller, that is a problem. And that’s pretty much the only reason I worry about this.[/quote]
Yeah I didn’t think of a plate chiller. I use an immersion chiller.
I also use the hop stopper to filter hops before running beer through my plate chiller. I have the same problem–using pellet or whole hops. The siphon is lost when the beer level in the kettle reaches the top of the hop stopper. This has resulted in leaving approximately a gallon of wort in the kettle.
I believe the siphon is not lost due to the hops. It’s lost because the bottom of the mesh screen is significantly clogged with break material, which slows the flow rate to the dip tube. I have found that reducing the flow rate on my pump helps get out a little more wort before losing siphon, but not enough to consider that a real solution.
I found that I get the best hop utilization using the hop stopper compared to other methods I have used (hop spider, stainless basket, etc.). I am still looking for the ideal solution. I have considered the trub filter from Brewers Hardware, but I’ve read a lot of posts about it clogging.
Might as well try the stainless braid, because I use whole hops 90% of the time. It works great for the mash tun.
Like a few others I have started using the muslin bags for the hops additions. So far so good, no issues and just toss the whole bag out after the boil is done.
[quote=“kcbeersnob”]I also use the hop stopper to filter hops before running beer through my plate chiller. I have the same problem–using pellet or whole hops. The siphon is lost when the beer level in the kettle reaches the top of the hop stopper. This has resulted in leaving approximately a gallon of wort in the kettle.
I believe the siphon is not lost due to the hops. It’s lost because the bottom of the mesh screen is significantly clogged with break material, which slows the flow rate to the dip tube. I have found that reducing the flow rate on my pump helps get out a little more wort before losing siphon, but not enough to consider that a real solution.
I found that I get the best hop utilization using the hop stopper compared to other methods I have used (hop spider, stainless basket, etc.). I am still looking for the ideal solution. I have considered the trub filter from Brewers Hardware, but I’ve read a lot of posts about it clogging.
Might as well try the stainless braid, because I use whole hops 90% of the time. It works great for the mash tun.[/quote]
It doesn’t work as well in the kettle, but if you are careful it does work. I put a copper wire inside mine so when I snake it around the edge of the kettle, it stays there. Also, I do a whirlpool before draining to try and get as much of the trub as possible pulled into the center. As much as I can, I use whole hops because they help to create a filter bed to keep the trub from clogging the braid.
Do you have an elbow or bent pipe hooked up to your kettle drain? That is important to minimize the deadspace; point it down into the bottom edge of the kettle.
[quote=“rebuiltcellars”]
Do you have an elbow or bent pipe hooked up to your kettle drain? That is important to minimize the deadspace; point it down into the bottom edge of the kettle.[/quote]
I have a Blichmann kettle with their standard dip tube.
