Recently I started using a 15 gallon kettle to make 10 gallon batches. The immediate issue was the need for a system to drain the wort without clogging the drain. First I tried a copper manifold but it clogged immediately. Then I tried a copper scrubby and whirlpooling, it also clogged and because I use immersion chiller it is difficult to whirlpool. My friend was having success just using hop bags and I saw a lot of people also recommending that option but there is just something I love about watching whole hops bubble around in the kettle. And I only use whole hops. After about 4 or 5 brew sessions of frustrating failures to get a full drain without clogging I devised the following kettle screen/filter that has worked flawlessly since. I wanted to share it since I still see a lot of questions on this issue. Below are some pics. My original copper tube with drilled holes. This clogs when used alone. A large SS braid from a flexible hot water heater pipe after I cut and pulled out the inner tube. SS clamps on both ends to attach to my copper pipe. Installed inside my 15 gallon kettle. I rotate the copper inside the ss braid so the holes face down. This allows for more wort to drain. Between hop absorbsion and kettle loss I generally loose about a gallon of wort total. But the actual liquid left in the bottom is very small, only about a 2cups to a quart. It is still sensitive to pellet hops but does great with whole hops only. I have not clogged it completely yet but if I use a lot of hops such as my recent IPA with 7oz of hops it does run a bit slower. My wort comes out pretty clean and my last few beers have cleared up better than before so it seems effective at getting out some of the trub and break materials. You do need elevation of about 2-3 feet to keep a good suction on the system. I just run my cooker on top of cinder blocks. If you have a pump then no worries but I am not there yet. Cheers
I just bought a bazooka tube to fit in my kettle. It looks simiilarr to that, except it uses a stiff mesh screen and alleviates the need to have the copper tubing. It cost me about 6 bucks to buy. I will need to tip my kettle for the last inch of wort, but who cares? Also, try pulling your chiller out, then whirlpooling. Makes it waaaaay easier.
Actually it is easy to clean. I take it out and back flush it. Also it all comes right apart so can scrub it down easily. But even if I don't clean it, it is sitting in boiling wort for over an hour.
I tried whirlpooling a few times. #1 I don't like my cooled wort sitting there for 30 minutes and #2 it never leaves a nice pile in the middle, especially with hole hops. Stuff still got sucked into my drain tube and clogged.
I ran into the same issues while whirlpooling with a chiller in place. I was hesitant to try it after cooling but it works out great. I like to have at least an oz of whole cones in there as a "nucleation point" for the hop pellet and cold break debris.
Oh I always took out the chiller. No way to whirlpool with that thing in there. I do think it would work a bit better on pellets. It was really hard to get 4-6 oz of wet whole hops to collect into a stable cone. Anyway this system works great for me and I don't have to worry about the whirlpool or clogged valves and the pile of hops seem to help filter the trub really well. (I use whirlfloc which drops everything to the bottom quickly) I just chill and drain straight to fermentor easy and fast.
actually sorry to have sounded negative on you there without giving a thumbs up, it's definitely a nice little DIY put-together...the cleaning aspect was actually my second thought, not first. Second is your copper piping dry fitted, not soldered, correct? If dry fitted, extend that copper piece which drops the screen to the bottom of the kettle, so you can get it as close to the kettle wall as possible so that when the pile builds in the center, the drain piping is out of the way. In other words, that bottom picture of yours has the screen as close to the top of the kettle as possible. Hope that makes sense. Also if you're whirlpooling, you shouldn't be leaving your wort cold for 30 mins. Whirlpool hop stands are done with the temperature up near 170-200F for say 30mins. Once the beer is chilled, remove the chiller, swirl the wort one more time and let settle for 5 mins to get the cone and get the wort in the fermenter.
Its all dry fit so very easy to adjust and clean. Also I don't even bother whirlpooling anymore since once the hops settle on top of the filter they act as an additional trub filter. I have been pretty happy with the low amounts of trub including cold break going into my fermenter which helps with chill haze. I usually had issues with chill haze due to cold break until I used this thing.
