What Size false bottom would I need for a standard AB 1/2 barrel keggle? Do they stay in place during a boil farely well or will I run the risk of it pulling up and clogging my pick up tube? Thanks for the help.
I'd go for a slightly domed one that fits in the natural bowl in the bottom of kegs (10-12"). The domed one should exert a little extra pressure on the perimeter, but the fact it's submerged in ~ 12 gals. of liquid probably makes the difference negligible. I haven't had much luck with false bottoms in boil kettles and currently use a hop spider for everything but the pellet bittering hops.
I'm looking at a 12". I've done bags, spider, 3 different hop tacoes, and now a 1 1/2" SS braid with a welded cap on the end and cannot get my beers to flow. Not sure what is causing it. Doesn't matter if it is pellet, whole, mix. Spider doesn't work for me since I have to pull it out to get my IC in there, and I got out of bags and such since I hated cleaning them. Almost to the point of putting the keggle away and going back to 5 gallon batches in my turkey fryer and using an autosiphon.
I had to google hop tacos. I also saw some delicious food. I'm not sure if you came across this: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/home-made-hop-stopper-hop-taco-etc-98110/ but it looks like one guy put tapers in his taco and it helped. I think if I were in your situation I'd be asking around at the LHBS to see how to get around this problem. I'd also ask to borrow a false bottom for a run before dropping a lot of money on something that's given you this much trouble so far. If the problem continues, I'd brew a 5 gal batch on your turkey fryer and save the hops. I'd add these hops into your larger kettle and experiment with lukewarm water. This way you don't have to perform under pressure.
Quick question for yall... If my IC w/ whirlpool sits directly on the bottom of the kettle, could that be part of the issue? My whirlpool arm is directed pretty much straight on top of my filter which runs alongside the chiller along the edge at the bottom. Would raising the chiller up on some copper "feet" a few inches help the hops and trub cone in the bottom instead of around the outside of the IC on top of the strainer? Maybe even putting thechiller arm pointed to the opposite side?
I think so...mine sits up a bit because the bottom of the whirlpooler serves as the feet/foot. I designed it that way for better cooling, but it seems to help with the clogging issues also.
