All Grain and Hops Filtering Equipment

As my boys and I refine our Brew Bench processes we constantly fight the performance of the false bottom when mashing. Even worse is clogs when boiling hop schedules! We tried so many different things attempting to achieve free flowing wort.

So my youngest son (21) came up with this idea. Our wort is much clearer now as a result. When using it as a hops filter we also combined a hop bazooka filter and no longer have hops particles flowing heavily through the plate chiller. Makes cleanout SO much easier. The only con to this is placement of a temp gauge.

We produced a video for it. We tried to upload it to the homebrewtalk site but having trouble so here it is on YouTube:



Here is an image in comparison to the old false bottom that is going up on eBay!

Looks pretty cool.

So do you lift it out after the boil, or just open the valve and allow it to flow through the mesh while it is still in the pot? And you are also running a bazooka screen too? Sounds good, what mesh is the basket and does it handle a full volume 6 to 6.5 gallons for a 5 gallon batch? Or do you have to reduce the boil amount and top up later. Also do you use an immersion or pump it through a plate chiller? I think you mentioned a plate chiller but it wasn't clear how you are doing it so I figgered I would just ask. Thanks for the ideas.

Wheelchair Bob

Bazooka screen and a 1/2 inch line. Problem solved.

So in the mash kettle I drop the filter in, put my grains in, fill with water and bring up to temp and I recirculate. When finished I open the valve on the kettle and using a March 815 pump, all 1/2" lines, I pump it to the boil kettle. Sparge and finish.

While the temp on the boil is coming up I dump and rinse the filter. I don't have to dig out the grain. Simply lift up and dump! My wort is much cleaner because the filter has smaller dia holes than the false bottom but more of them. Drop the filter in the boil kettle. Once boiling begins I follow my hops schedule. When that is finished I open the valve on the kettle and pump through the plate chiller (no immersion) and into the carboy. Again using this filter and the bazooka I have the cleanest wort I have ever had. I only use the bazooka because I already had one and it does help out as a secondary that is more refining. Way less hops finings sitting on the bottom to potentially burn then ever.

Using ONLY the bazooka, the hops would surround the filter and stop fluid moving into the pump. In my experience that filter by itself was a major problem! When this idea came about we had spent over 2 hours moving wort to boil and wort to carboy. That is ridiculous! We were fuming!

This new grain and hops filter has made the entire process so much easier for us. To answer your question Rbeckett, "Yes", we brew 6.5 gallons with this filter. No reduction of anything at all. It sits above the bottom of the kettle at the same height as a false bottom on S.S legs. It is 95% of the radius of the kettle so there is no volume lost. We have also made another for a friend using Keggles and he love it as well! Big filter for that application but just as simple!

Very cool. Looks like a nice way to keep everything contained and clear! Congratulations!

Mouse

Stainless Steel comes to Brew-In-A-Bag. Good idea!

Cheers!

Thought I would follow up with photos of how clear my wort is right after running the boiled wort through the plate chiller and into the primary fermenter using the methods I described in this thread.

Full disclosure: I also use Whirlfloc in the last 10 minutes of boil. Prior to this filter that I built, I did not have this clarity.

I've been wanting something like this since I first bought my Bayou Classic kettle/basket combo. The steaming basket is nice, but I still have to use a bag as the holes in the basket are obviously too big.

Did you make that or buy it? If you bought it, where? I wouldn't mind ditching bags for good.

Yesfan, I fabricate them. I will send you a private message about them soon.

Lee,
Dude that is just wrong. Show us a crystal clear wort like that. Next thing you will be drinkin it and not sharing either. We all see how this is going...I admit I haven't read the whole thread because this image just showed up on my updates this morning and I couldn't help but just jump in. I will definitely be looking at your method and potentially giving it a try. I guess I am getting convinced that a plate chiller is better than my Immersion, but I have a mission for it if I do go to the plate chiller in the future. I'm thinking using the IC to maintain a perfect mash and step temp progression. Hmmmmmm, got my feeble little brain going now. This sucks, now I am spending more money......again.

Wheelchair Bob