Pre-Plate Chiller Filter?

I use a homemade hop spider, nylon paint strainer bags, and have been pleased. I think the hop oils/acid make the transfer to the wort with little to no problems. But never add more than two ounces per bag (just keep adding bags) and routinely give the hops a good stir during the boil/whirlpool. The hop debris that does manage to get through now has to run the bazooka gauntlet. Mr. Bazooka is pretty nasty looking at the end of transfer, so it definitely helps. That said, a little bit of hop debris still seems to find its way to the plate chiller. Oh yeah, hop extract for bittering helps minimize the problem.

 

This is what I have been using the past 6 months:

Post Boil:


I have super clear beers and barley need to rinse my yeast cakes anymore. That is all pellets on a Saison, the IPA is even worse. I used to use all the other things, spiders, bags, tacos... never liked any of them. Not gonna do anything else now, this puppy is awesome! And easy to clean too.

 

I'm guessing you use a pump? I tried without a pump a few years ago and couldn't drain more than 1/2 the kettle.

 

@jbakajust1 how much wort gets left behind in the kettle? It doesn't get clogged?

That's a girthy braid bro!

 

I do use a pump and do a WP (that doesn't actually create a trub cone in the middle because of my chiller). Before I had a pump any draining of the kettle had to have a lot of height difference to get a good enough siphon.

 

I leave about 1 gallon behind at the bottom. My pickup tube is a 1/2" SS elbow that points sideways. I got over trying to suck the kettle dry and adjusted my parameters to still get 11-11.5 gallons of wort in the fermentors. The braid is like 14" long, 1.5" across. No clogging at all.

 

Kinda. My elbow is MPT on the outer end, and I have a hex coupling in both ends of the braid, fastened with the worm clamp. The other end has a hex plug. After brewday I dump the hops and trub, give it all a rinse, then remove the braid. I only hand spin, no tools. The braid is easier to clean outside of the kettle, and ensures you get all the stuff underneath it. I remove the plug and run water through it while flexing it and it gets all the stuff rinsed inside and out. On brew day I bang it on the concrete floor a little to get any dried hop bits off and then attach it with a couple spins.

 

I bag bittering addition and use a hop spider with a huge bag for late additions. Hop Rocket works really well, but limits use to additions before sanitizing recirc begins (~20 min). Cleaning hop bags is not my favorite past time, but they do prevent clogged chillers and cavitating pumps.

 

As in Bert Grant? : )

 

This works well for 20 gallons, towards the end I have to scrape it with my wand.

 

http://beerhunter.com/documents/19133-001575.html

 

This won't help but, I've never had a problem with doing a good whirlpool and using irish moss. Always leaves a nice compact cone of protein and hop matter. That and using hop extract for bittering cuts down on hop matter in the BK.

 

I'm embarrassed to say, but in the end I do maximize my brew day by the volume I get to keep.

 

Me too, but at 89% Mash Eff, I can stand to leave a little behind in the kettle.

 

I'd pour that shit through a strainer into a 3 gallon bucket and save it for some starters!