I hate my stainless hop spider

[swackattack]

Even after soaking in PBW and making sure it was super clean, my 400 micron hop spider insists on clogging and won't drain. I lost almost a gallon to it today.

I dont know, I thinking this plate chiller and all the extra cleaning/etc may not be worth it. Time to go back to IC?

Feeling a little more strongly lately about the keep it simple method.

 

[acidrain]

Same here... give it a KISS.

 

[mattd2]

How much hops are you putting in there?

 

[hopdoc]

Stab a few holes in it with an ice pick or something...

 

[krenshaw]

paint strainer bag from lowes works great for me.. i squeeze it all out while i'm pumping through my plate chiller and haven't had a problem

 

[The_Dog_42]

Pic of your spider may help identify an issue...or just KISS.

 

[kombat]

Hmm... I have the 300 micron one and haven't had any problems clogging. Are you using leaf hops or pellet hops?

 

[Darwin18]

Each test batch was just sampled and it had the same honey-like or caramel flavor as the body of the beer and a sweetness that people classify almost as buttery

That's diacetyl and not likely attributable to a hop spider.

 

[mattd2]

That's diacetyl and not likely attributable to a hop spider.

huh?

 

[Darwin18]

huh?

I'm not sure where the post went, but I was responding to someone within this thread. Perhaps a mod deleted it?

 

[mattd2]

I'm not sure where the post went, but I was responding to someone within this thread. Perhaps a mod deleted it?

Make sense as it came up as a broken link when I just tried to follow it! Maybe the classic replying to the wrong thread trick

 

[t_met]

Original quote Darwin18 replied to: "Each test batch was just sampled and it had the same honey-like or caramel flavor as the body of the beer and a sweetness that people classify almost as buttery"

That's diacetyl and not likely attributable to a hop spider.

This is interesting because I just did a search for hop spider & caramel and found this. I was trying to see if anyone else had this.

I recently brewed an IPA that had a caramely taste. I wasn't sure if it was recipe or due to the hop spider partially trapping the wort at the bottom of the kettle. I have my stainless hop spider just sitting on the bottom of the kettle. In my case, it wasn't a diacetyl flavor, I'm certain of that.

However, the trapped wort at the bottom is just one of two ideas. The 2nd idea is due to recipe. I was aiming for a Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA which has about 6% Munich. I've done this recipe several times, none ever had this off malt taste. However, I recently got my own grain mill. This boosted my efficient quite a bit. I overshot my SG (goal:1.066 actual 1.073). This boost of sugars fermented out, but thinking I had more Munich/CaraPils/Crystal malt characters left in the flavor.

I just decided to make a separate thread here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/any-one-getting-off-flavors-caramel-stainless-hop-siders-411365/