Keggle pickup tube clogging from pellets

Hey guys! Doing my first 10 gallon batch and using my new Keggle. This recipe calls for about 10 ounces of hops. All I have are pellet hops and I'm trying to decide if I should use a hop bag or throw them directly into the kettle. My pick up tube is off centered, about 2 inches from the sidewall pointing straight down. Do you think if I create a whirlpool and let everything settle into the middle it will still clog the tube? I do have a hop bag on hand, but have read that using one can reduce flavor of the hops. Any help appreciated!

It's going to be pretty tough for a dip tube to avoid 10 ounces of pellets in a keggle. I'd go with some large paint strainer bags for that much...

Cheers!

Thanks. It's actually 8 ounces, and all I have on hand is a hop bag from Midwest. Accidentally chucked my bittering addition (2oz) in before starting this thread, So I'll only be adding 6 ounces to the bag. Hope this works out. I'll just try to circulate the bag around the kettle as much as possible. Thanks again.

A few years ago I took a sheet of fine mesh stainless screen and cobbled together a permanent strainer for my pickup tube.

It worked so well I've used it ever since. It catches even the fine hop debris from pellets, but has enough surface area that I can gravity drain my kettle almost completely.

processhead said:

A few years ago I took a sheet of fine mesh stainless screen and cobbled together a permanent strainer for my pickup tube.

It worked so well I've used it ever since. It catches even the fine hop debris from pellets, but has enough surface area that I can gravity drain my kettle almost completely.

Click to expand...

Would you mind posting a picture?

Another option is to use a hop spider, or (what I went with) get a filter from Chad at Arbor Fabricating http://arborfab.com/. Either option works very well. I liked the filter because I can just hang it on the edge of my kettle and toss the hop additions into it. When I'm finished brewing, just pull it out and you're done.

I too use a hop spider and have not noticed any hop utilization issues.