My electrical system consists of 3 15.5 gallon sanke kegs that have had the bottoms cut out and actually sits upside down. The reason why I decided to do this was to achieve volumes without leaving things behind. Especially in the mash tun. I have also had a Hop Rocket that I yet to use and I'd like to change that. The *issue* I'm trying to get around is that I'd like to use some wirfloc tablets towards the end of the boil to get a more clear wort. This has never been an issue for me but I'd like to put my equipment to use. I thought about adding a ball valve on the side of the kettle as far down as possible as I can but I don't really want to do that. Now to the question....could I use the hop blocker in such a way to trap the cold break proteins and hops? I've read where some people use rice hulls in the Hop Rocket to use as a filter. I just don't know if there would be any potential issues with me doing that...I haven't used my Hop Rocket at all and like I said, I'd like to change that. I'm trying to refrain from adding a separate valve to drain from the side as opposed from the very bottom and center so that I don't have to adjust my volumes. What are my some of my options here?
I've been using a hop spider in the boil where I throw my hops into to limit the trub that makes it into my therminator. I'd like to get full utilization by not using the bag.
why not just forget about doing anything? I have a bottom drain, I use whirlfloc, I get crystal clear beers, AND I let all that crud go from the kettle to the fermentor I think your worried about something that isnt an issue.............just my 2¢
Thank you for your opinion, I'm not exactly worried about it as mentioned. I was just curious to see if there was something out there that I could use, considering that I have equipment that isn't being used. I'm at about 100 batches that I've made without a pre-filter.
Using wirfloc and adding all of the volume to the fermenter still gets you really clear beer? I'm not arguing with you what-so-ever, so please don't misunderstand me. However, it just seems counterintuitive if I use wirfloc and still add the volume of proteins.
the proteins bind with the irish moss/whirlfloc due to charge differences, here's a really big pic of a beer that I recently tapped (dogs are a bit hazy but the glass was starting to frost up in the hot summer air)
My buddy bought something he called a bazooka. It basically is just a long SS mesh tube welded up with threads on it. It screwed right into our ball valve on the boil kettle with a coupler. It works great for pulling out the break and hops it seems. Sorry I don't have a link.
I have a mesh tube that screws into the inside of my kettle like the bazooka referenced above. It clogs easily with hop debris. I don't bother using it anymore. I find that: whirlfloc, leaving a 1/2 inch of wort in the kettle, passing the wort through a 5 gallon paint strainer on the way to the fermenter, careful racking to a keg, and a week or two with the keg in the keezer produces clear beer. Sometimes I suspect that the last two points make the most difference.
Thank you. I have never been concerned about producing an extremely clear beer, even though I have a few times. I just never thought to use whirlfloc tablets if i am going to end up draining the entire volume in the kettle into the fermenter.
I plan on starting to do closed transfers as soon as the two batches i have are done fermenting. Maybe this will help not stirring and rousing up the yeast by moving the fermenter around.
I find that if you shake the boil pot in a circular motion to "slosh" the liquid around it will rinse off the bazooka and allow the end bit of wort/beer to drain through the bazooka. Just FYI I have a large diameter boil pot though, so maybe that just works due to my situation.
