Keeping hops from gumming up valves and disconnects

[jeffjm]

I've been having problems getting good flow from my flat-bottomed kettle into my pump and out the recirculating arm when I try to do a whirlpool. Whenever I've had substantial late hop additions, I've found that my disconnects are pretty well gummed up with hop sludge. Yesterday I couldn't even drain the kettle from the outlet valve because it, too, was clogged with hops.

I am currently not doing anything to keep hop debris out of my pump and hoses, and I need to start. A search of this forum and others has given me a list of things to try:

• False Bottom
• Stainless steel scrubby
• Bazooka screen
• Punch out the plastic crosses in the disconnects
• Hop blocker
• Hop bags

Other than the hop bags, none of them seem to be 100% successful, especially with pellet hops, which I use in almost all of my beers. What does everyone use to keep the wort flowing unimpeded? And if I were to go to hop bags, how much should I expect utilization to decrease?

 

[rockytoptim]

I use a nylon 200 micron filter bag from Duda Diesel. Works great and I haven't noticed any drop in hop utilization. I use the 32" long bag but they have a shorter 16" version.

Duda Diesel Filter Bag

 

[larrynoz]

I have been dealing with the same issues for a couple weeks with my flat bottomed penrose kettle. I have it set up to whirlpool with a side diptube but it still gets clogged.

I've also tried a bazooka screen with no luck. I ended up getting a 15" hop stopper false bottom from Jaybird (http://norcalbrewingsolutions.com/). I use a mix of whole leaf and pellets or whole leaf only so this seemed like the best solution.

It just arrived the other day so I haven't got a chance to test it out yet unfortunately but when I do I'll report back.

Good luck!

 

[jeffjm]

Since I'm kind of cheap, I wound up buying a 10x23 fine mesh bag at the LHBS. Much cheaper than a false bottom. I figure I'll increase my IBU's by about 10% to compensate. If I have problems with this bag, I'll try the Duda Diesel bag and then the FB.

I'm not sure when the next brew day is going to be. Certainly no earlier than the weekend of the fourth, so it will be a while before I use it and evaluate the results.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[lowpotential]

For those using the Duda Diesel bags, where are you putting them? Inside the boil kettle attached to pickup? I would be worried about melting at the bottom of the kettle.

Maybe before entering the fermenter?

Just wondering if I am missing something unusal.

My best success is with a paint strainer bag in a bottling bucket. I then drain again to the 6.5 gallon carboy.

 

[frod1963]

I use the paint strainer bags from HD with pretty good results. The opening of the bag just stretches over top of my 10 gallon boilermaker and keeps it off the bottom of the kettle. I just a did Pliney clone this weekend with 12 ish ounces of pellet hops in the boil and had very little hop trub in the bottom after a 10 minute whirlpool. Hope this helps.