# Ghetto Ssball Hop Screen



## reVoxAHB (11/2/08)

I've had a few people PM asking how to build my little pick-up hop screen.
Here it is, as requested.

Ghetto Pickup Arm/SSBall Hop Screen:





If you have the tools and copper off-cut, it's a $10 D.I.Y.

Tools and parts required:





Tools (as shown from left to right)
Pipe cutter ($7-$10)*
*You could get away with using a hacksaw to cut your copper and filing ends flat; cutter is cleaner.
Flaring Tool ($15-20)
Blade (fine scissors, etc.) to cut circle in screen
Other Tools
Hammer to flare copper ends
Spanner or wrenches to attach ball and arm to valve (finger tight would likely be fine, too)

Parts (as shown from left to right)
Bit of 1/2" copper to desired length depending on your choice of installation *see Final Thoughts
End fitting (thread size to fit your valve $2)
End fitting/coupling (1/2" $4)
2X rubber washers (these come in different widths and are about .25 each, so grab a couple of each- I reckon the one shown and used is 2mm by estimate)
Stainless Steel Tea Ball ($5-6) available here, or Asian supply, Tea stores, etc. 
Plumbers Tape (as desired .50)


Start by marking a hole using the inside of the coupling end, as guide. I pierced the mesh (it's quite strong, which is good!) with a razor blade (mesh inverted and flush with wood), then cut the circle out nicely using SWMBO's nail scissors. You basically want the hole slightly under the 1/2" thread size; it allows you to thread the ball onto the coupling good and tight.






Next, wrap the internal coupling threads with plumber's tape, and roll a rubber washer down. This should be snug. Screw it to the inside of your hop ball so looks like second photo. Roll the next washer down on the outside of the ball - you should now have a washer on the inside and outside of SS mesh (which will allow a nice compressed grab of the mesh when cranked down).






Time to bend yer copper. If you don't have a pipe bender (as I didn't) get creative; use a corny keg, etc. I used the base of my pistil and mortar. Palms on each side and a bit of weight and you're there. Next, get the two end fittings on the copper with threads pointed out, away from each other. Each end into the flaring tool. If you've never used one before, leave 2-3mm of overhang as shown in pic at right. Bang on. 





The ball can now be fitted to one side of your arm. The SS mesh should be snug (no play) between coupling fittings. You may have to play with various rubber washers to achieve desired grab, but as I say, it should be snug with no travel. Alternate side of arm next fitted to valve.

Done.


Additional notes:
Chain from ball was removed as is no longer required.
The retaining pin on the locking clip is piss weak. It has been noted in other threads that this is likely the only non-SS part in the ball, and therefore susceptible to corrosion, etc. 

I clamped the locking pin tight (on both ends) using needle nose pliers, then wedged it onto the ball assembly (shown below). Alternately, you could run a small screw into the hole, omitting the clip (probably better)





In action:










Final Thoughts:
Plenty of superior commercial offerings are available and alternate setups like warren's false bottom filter, which also has it's benefits.

I reckon a repositioning of arm is in order to fully drain the kettle. An S like approach in arm, so that the arm wraps the side of kettle to ball would be better (allowing tipping/gravity to work effectively).

Another variation would be to reverse the couplings attached to ball, allowing you to mount the ball directly to your valve, omitting the pick-up arm. In that way, you could whirlpool, and pull directly from the side with filter.

Simon W had a great suggestion to utilise 1/2 the ball running the arm and ball to the center of keg as shown:




so that it works much like Warren's false bottom setup where flower hops create a bed harbouring break. If using a CUB keg as your kettle, I reckon the fit would be perfect to the little circle dimple in the bottom  

Not sure where this project will land. Built it on a whim for a one-off brew as I'm between gear atm. 

Other Ghetto Projects:
Ghetto Carbon Water Filtration 

Open to suggestions and feedback, as always. 


Have fun, 
reVox


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## Pumpy (11/2/08)

Excellent post Revox a picture is worth a thousand words 

Pumpy


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## eric8 (11/2/08)

reVox said:


> Another variation would be to reverse the couplings attached to ball, allowing you to mount the ball directly to your valve, omitting the pick-up arm. In that way, you could whirlpool, and pull directly from the side with filter.
> 
> Simon W had a great suggestion to utilise 1/2 the ball running the arm and ball to the center of keg as shown:
> 
> ...



Thanks reVox that's a great how to. This will be a good little project to try out. I had wondered if attaching it straight to the valve would be any good, and now that you have mentioned it it could be the go. SimonW's idea is great as well, and I can see that it would fit nicley in a converted keg.

But which one to try :unsure: , guess I will just have to try both  .

Eric


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## Cortez The Killer (12/2/08)

That's a brilliant how-to

Top work

Cheers


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## brettprevans (12/2/08)

A++ ther reVox. inspiring me to go out and do it. surely a post worth airlocking?



reVox said:


> Simon W had a great suggestion to utilise 1/2 the ball running the arm and ball to the center of keg as shown:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



re this approach. I had wondered why a hop sock couldnt be put in front of say an esky outlet and used as a screen? would it be likely to create a stuck sparge becuase its too good at filtering?


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## Julez (21/3/08)

I built one of these "ReVox Ghetto Hop Screens" last week and tried it out today - it worked great and was dead easy to make. Great idea and great post, ReVox!! 

The only thing I didn't like about it, was I had about 4L of wort left in the bottom of my kettle, because my pickup tube was so far from the kettle base, due to the size of the spherical screen. I'm going to see if I can mod it somehow, maybe by just using half the spherical strainer and sit it flush on the base of the kettle. Failing that, is there any reason I can't just use hose braid attached to my pickup, fastened by way of a hose clamp? 

Cheers and once again, great idea! :icon_cheers:


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## Prawned (25/3/08)

Julez said:


> Failing that, is there any reason I can't just use hose braid attached to my pickup, fastened by way of a hose clamp?
> 
> Cheers and once again, great idea! :icon_cheers:




I would also like to know the answer to that, the keg i got in the weekend came with a hose braid already in it.. Want to keep things as cheap as i can to start out.


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## SJW (1/4/08)

How would this thing go with pellets?


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## Steve (1/4/08)

SJW said:


> How would this thing go with pellets?




I reckon it would be fine as people (including me) use them to dry hop in kegs. I dont get hops leaking out into the keg so I image you wouldnt get hops leaking in when its in the bottom of the kettle.
Cheers
Steve


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## warrenlw63 (1/4/08)

No Steve they won't leak in but that becomes part of the problem. They form a coating against the mesh and impede the flow of liquid.

I seriously wouldn't use them for pellets only. Pellets in conjunction with flowers and plugs are OK. The whole hops act as their own filter bed against the pellets then.

Warren -


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## SpillsMostOfIt (1/4/08)

Do you think that might be why I get a better response from my other half when I give her flowers than when I give her pellets?


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## Hutch (1/4/08)

It is possible Steve, with pellets as well. 
You need to use a very long length of hose braid, and make sure it is laid out around the perimeter of the base of your boiler.
Last 2 brews I tried this, using a 1m length of braid, curled around the outside rim. When you whirlpool, the gunk remains in the middle until there's only a few litres left in the boiler. Up unti this point there is no chance of the braid clogging up. The last few litres start to run more slowly, however you can get most of it out without the braid clogging up.

Obviously flowers present less of a problem, however I think this system is still useful for pellets as well. Obviously 1m hose braid was not cheap ($30), though still cheaper than a SS false bottom.

If I remember, I'll take a photo tonight to show what I mean.


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## eric8 (1/4/08)

I made one these hop screens. I have some pics to add as well. It worked rather well, although I had some stuff missing from my p/u tube so it didn't get all the wort out. The next brew it should work a treat, and I will be using pellets and flowers.

Great idea reVox

Eric


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## The7 (2/4/08)

This looks like a good idea.

when I do it I think I will se if I can get a compression fitting to work rather than flare the pipe


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## reVoxAHB (7/4/08)

Alright fellas, knocked out MKII of the Ghetto SS screen: 





In spirit of the thread (and project) you'll require: 





-1 X Elbow w/1/2" male threads on each end. It will come with compression fittings- you'll note I removed one at left, as it's not required and to demo the end(s).
-2 X hexagon 1/2" back nut- these are fairly thin, 3mm approx. 

If building this from scratch, refer to post #1 on how to cut the hole in your screen. 

Installation's straight forward. Run the first backing nut up the elbow thread, screw on the hop screen, follow it with the second backing nut so that a nut secures the screen on each side like:





The fit is good and snug so no tape or washers are required. Just an easy crank down with your wrenches. 

Next, to the arm. Don't be too concerned with the downward angle at this point. Just tighten the fitting on each end keeping the bottom of the screen (the flat part) level with the bottom of your kettle. 

Now find a hard object (head of hammer, flaring tool, etc.) that's roughly the height of the underside of your valve. It just so happened my flaring tool was perfect to my rig, so that I could slip it under the arm as shown. Note the position, where it's closer to the valve than the screen:





Give it a quick bend down with your weight on the elbow, careful not to flatten the ball too much. The flat bottom of the ball should now be good and snug to the kettle. If the screen does collapse too much as you're bending the arm down, not to fear, just pull the arm back into a better position while popping the screen back into place. The screen is quite resilient; you won't hurt it.

I was able to get it good and snug, first go:





Final Thoughts:
Screen was installed to the center of my vessel as I want to encourage the filtration of trub via hop bed, as much as possible (I will not be whirlpooling).





The inlet valve is now 5mm (approx.) from the bottom of my kettle, minimizing wastage as compared to the ball with inefficient bend as before. If you really wanted to push it, you could use the compression fitting in place of the hex nut, in the underside of the ball- I found it was 1, maybe 2mm from the kettle bottom. With heat expansion, I reckon it's just too close. I don't think I'll be leaving much behind now, anyway. 

And what about the other 1/2 of the ball? 

A quick retaining screw (sharp tipped PC screw) and it now resides on the underside of my false bottom in tun:





The ball fits perfectly in the keg bottom indentation. And done at right :icon_cheers: 

I'll be brewing this weekend (flowers and pellets), will post pics. The following weekend I hope to brew a pellet only batch. Again, will post pics and result. 

All the best and thanks to Simon, Warren and the rest who inspired this project. 

reVox


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## sathid (7/4/08)

Just a thought - is it worth (in the MKII model) building it so that the opening in the fitting (inside the screen) is closer to the bottom of the pot? 
Looks like you'd miss out on a bit of wort doing it in the manner shown?


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## browndog (7/4/08)

Love your work there Revox and your post is a ripper. I have a question though, everyone seems to be concerned with hops, how about the break material, does the teaball let it through or does it stay behind in the kettle ?

cheers

Browndog


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## reVoxAHB (8/4/08)

sathid said:


> Just a thought - is it worth (in the MKII model) building it so that the opening in the fitting (inside the screen) is closer to the bottom of the pot?
> Looks like you'd miss out on a bit of wort doing it in the manner shown?



I took this into consideration at the build. By estimate, it's approx. 5mm from the bottom of the kettle and you're right.. I would leave a little wort behind. If I used a compression fitting, instead of the bottom hex nut, it left only 1mm approx. (and as I was saying, with heat expansion I could see it quickly becoming stuck to the bottom of kettle). If it really bothers me, I reckon I could grind the tip of a compression nut flat adjusting the pickup as desired. If you think about the height now, it's probably comparable to the pickup (underside) of a SS false bottom which others use to achieve similar result.



browndog said:


> Love your work there Revox and your post is a ripper. I have a question though, everyone seems to be concerned with hops, how about the break material, does the teaball let it through or does it stay behind in the kettle ?
> cheers
> 
> Browndog



Thanks Browndog 

Basically, the screen (and false bottoms) create a hop bed when draining. The break material sits on top of the hop bed, thereby filtering your wort clear. I'm guessing the fine mesh of the teaball further resists break, etc. My main concern with this rig, not having brewed long term with it, is the screen clogging and the drain becoming stuck. MKI (ball) and all flowers drained without issue. All pellets could prove a pita.

Cheers, 
reVox


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## reVoxAHB (14/4/08)

Well, this:




was the dumbest idea in the world. Failed miserably. Had a stuck sparge in 13 seconds flat... granted my crush was [email protected] gap setting of 1.1mm (fine), but would likely [email protected] any setting. Avoid this mod, folks!

Hey, but the MKII hop screen worked very well. Better than expected:




66g Centennial (pellet)
30g Amarillo (pellet)
25g Cascade (flower)

Runoff was clear and bright - I'm using a plate chiller and had no blockage at all, whatsoever. The amount of trub in the bottom of carboys (after settling) was minimal. The amount of wort left behind in kettle is minimal- 2 to 3L by estimate (whereas the ball at side left 4 - 6L behind.. so it's halved now). In actual fact, I'd hit my target volume in carboys so stopped the runoff (photo above); hard to guesstimate exactly how much the setup will allow you to run off (I should've thought to keep running it to a collection bucket, etc. for testing). 

Overall, I'm very pleased with this mod and approach. I'll have a feeling I'll be using it for sometime  . 

I'll be brewing a pellet only batch next weekend. Will again, post result.

Cheers, 
reVox


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## warrenlw63 (14/4/08)

reVox said:


> Well, this:
> was the dumbest idea in the world. Failed miserably. Had a stuck sparge in 13 seconds flat... granted my crush was [email protected] gap setting of 1.1mm (fine), but would likely [email protected] any setting. Avoid this mod, folks!



reVox... My guess is that a lot of the fines and flour can migrate through and under the false bottom as you mash in. Would have basically put a layer of mud around that secondary teaball screen you inserted underneath.

I've found with S/S false bottoms that you'll always need some degree of recirculation to set up the grain bed. When I used the 12 inch in my mash tun it took around 8-10 litres to achieve clarity. With the 9 inch I only need around half the amount.

Sure hope it wasn't the crush... The Craphaus gives no money back guarantees. :lol: 

Warren -


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## reVoxAHB (14/4/08)

warrenlw63 said:


> reVox... My guess is that a lot of the fines and flour can migrate through and under the false bottom as you mash in. Would have basically put a layer of mud around that secondary teaball screen you inserted underneath.
> 
> I've found with S/S false bottoms that you'll always need some degree of recirculation to set up the grain bed. When I used the 12 inch in my mash tun it took around 8-10 litres to achieve clarity. With the 9 inch I only need around half the amount.



Yep, you're spot on Warren. 

We brew and learn :excl: 



warrenlw63 said:


> Sure hope it wasn't the crush... The Craphaus gives no money back guarantees. :lol:
> 
> Warren -



Hehe! You mean the Craphaus crush that gave me a 5% gain in efficiency?  
I'll gladly take that, anyday.. no refund required  

Cheers, 
reVox


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## reg (14/4/08)

I look forward to seeing the result of an all pellet brew.
Just starting out and looking to get best efficiency from others experiences.

Oh great info and instructions on building


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## Inge (17/4/08)

To bring up this old chestnut one more time...

After a blocked pickup tube ruining the end of a perfectly good brew session two nights ago, I decided to scrap whirlpooling and go for a false bottom. Then, I saw this thread. ReVox, you good thing, this teaball hop screen is excellent! 

I found that due to the concave shape of the bottom of a keg kettle, the hops tend to congregate in the middle settling to form a thicker layer. I was worried that the thickness of this layer may impede flow if I used a MK II in my system, so I slightly altered Simon W's / your design.







It uses a whole ball to maximise flow, but the pickup tube is situated low (a short length of copper tubing coming out of a brass compression fitting). The screen is held in place with a brass nut butted against the compression fitting on the thread of the elbow.

I gave it a whirl earlier and found that pellets tend to clump to the top half while the bottom half remains clear, flow was excellent from full to empty. All that was left in the kettle afterwards was that which had been soaked up by the plugs. Pretty happy with the result, and at a fraction of the price of a false bottom why wouldn't you be.

Cheers again ReVox.

How did it go with all pellets?


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## eric8 (17/4/08)

Inge said:


> To bring up this old chestnut one more time...
> 
> After a blocked pickup tube ruining the end of a perfectly good brew session two nights ago, I decided to scrap whirlpooling and go for a false bottom. Then, I saw this thread. ReVox, you good thing, this teaball hop screen is excellent!
> 
> ...



Inge,

I think this is what I will be trying next time, My brew last night finished at about 11:45pm. I did have problems with draining and there was a fair bit left in the kettle.

I think having an extra piece of tube will be very helpful as well. I used pellets and flowers, but i did whirlpool and used a half tab of whirlfloc, so this may have been my problems with the flow.

Eric


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## reVoxAHB (18/4/08)

Hey Inge, glad to hear your mod worked for ya specific to your kettle. Interesting to read the pellets clumped to the top of your ball while the bottom remained clear. The fluid dynamics are clearly pullling top down, causing that clumping and filter bed of sorts. Nice one B) 



Inge said:


> How did it go with all pellets?



My all-pellet brew is postponed until next weekend. It's a wit, too with 40% raw rolled wheat, spices, flour in the kettle.. If this one doesn't stick, clog-up or otherwise, I think we have a winner. 

I was potting around my brew room last night and noticed a bit of condensation on the walls of my kettle where the hop ball is installed (it hasn't been used in 6 days, and was cleaned and dried thoroughly after brewing - _but not disassembled_).. it told me there's gotta be gunk somewhere.. 

Pulled the arm out to found a good deal of pellet gunk around the underside backing nut, not to mention a fair bit on the ring where the ball meets the kettle.. quite a few tannins in that ball area, as well. A quick removal of the backing nut, good scrub and into the iodophor. 





Point is, you want to remove the MKII for quick cleaning after each use - I do the same with my hard plumbed false-bottom in tun, only takes a second. 

Cheers, 
reVox


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## Inge (19/4/08)

Just put on a batch of APA, using chinook pellets, cascade plugs and northern brewer pellets. (40g pellets in total, 45g plugs). I used whirlfloc too.

Flow was a little lower this time, but still managed to get 19L out of the kettle, leaving 2.5L behind. What was left was so concentrated with break material and pellet gunk, it wouldn't filter through the screen. Also, I got a stuck sparge and in the process of clearing it ended up with some grain debris going into the kettle, which contributed to the gunking up. So, all in all, could be much worse :lol: 

Either way, I'm interested to see how much of an effect break material has on flow rate. My next batch will be an Oktoberfest, which will use Hersbrucker plugs only, used with whirlfloc. Then I'm going to do a hefeweizen, which will use hersbrucker plugs with no whirlfloc.

What we do in the name of science... :beerbang:


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## reVoxAHB (12/5/08)

Finally got around to an all-pellet brew over the weekend - 23L wit - 26g E.K.G 18g Saaz.

Very pleased to report the screen performed well, and did not clog or stop flow  .

Drained boiler:




This is the normal amount of liquid I leave behind in this vessel.

What I found interesting was after dumping the remaining wort (off the top of kettle) a nice ball of pellet gunk remained- a filter bed which adhered to the ball and bottom of boiler. This was clearly formed (and compacted) at draining:





Wort was pumped thru my ChillOut plate chiller to fermenter. Plate chiller was back-fushed immediately after use and NO hop debris was present.

Cheers, 
reVox


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## reVoxAHB (25/5/08)

Another all pellet-brew 100g hallertauer here:








Screen is fine, no clogging or issues otherwise. 

reVox


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## browndog (26/5/08)

That is pretty amazing Revox, how long did the kettle take to drain?

cheers

Browndog


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## troydo (26/5/08)

WOW! i used a similar setup to the original, just a ball attached to the tap out, and all 3 times ive used it it has blocked after only a few liters...


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## Kleiny (27/5/08)

i have seiously got to make one of these ive had nothing but trouble with my previous screen setup to the point of no flow thanks guys for all the tips


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## reVoxAHB (27/5/08)

browndog said:


> That is pretty amazing Revox, how long did the kettle take to drain?
> 
> cheers
> 
> Browndog



20 minutes, give or take. I'm using a pump tho with valve on output partially closed to restrict flow thru my plate chiller. I reckon if I just opened the valve dumping to cube or ferm, it would drop in mins, or at regular gravity flow rates as I'm not getting any restriction  .

Cheers, 
reVox


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## Inge (27/5/08)

I think the pump makes the difference when using all pellets, especially when you get down to the last couple of litres and there isn't enough pressure to force the wort through the hop gunk. If draining with gravity alone, I'd be inclined to include more plugs or flowers than pellets in order to maximise flow.


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## browndog (27/5/08)

I think Inge most likely has something there Revox. With the pump, even throttled, you are still sucking it through.

cheers

Browndog


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## troydo (28/5/08)

hmmm


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## Sully (11/11/08)

Sorry to revive an old post.

I was wondering now that 6 months has passed if anyone is currently using this nifty contraption and what are their thoughts.

Just doing some research for my transition into AG and exploring alot of different avenues.Out of most of the solutions I have seen and read up on, this one has really appealed to me, simple, elegant and looks professional.

Cheers

Sully


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## troydo (11/11/08)

well i removed mine but im not using a pump and i think thats the key..


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## Sully (12/11/08)

ok, I maybe way off base here but just a thought...

if this was somehow fashioned like the image below, feeding from the bottom, would that be effective without the need for a pump? bearing in mind that I am starting from scratch with a fresh keg no holes. I will need more than likely need a stand for underneath it, but not an issue as I am going electric.

apolgies if i plagerised anyones images, forgive me, but its all in the name of brewing.

and dont take notice of what fittings are represented also. thats a detail for later.

cheers

sully


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## troydo (12/11/08)

the problem i had was the hops and break created a screen that the wort trickled through... so i think your placement would be worse than a side mounted one, like i had..... maybe a false bottom would work.. not sure have not tried it...


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## reVoxAHB (13/11/08)

Sully said:


> I was wondering now that 6 months has passed if anyone is currently using this nifty contraption and what are their thoughts.
> 
> Just doing some research for my transition into AG and exploring alot of different avenues. Out of most of the solutions I have seen and read up on, this one has really appealed to me, simple, elegant and looks professional.


Thanks mate  

A dozen batches on, give or take, and I continue to use a hard plumbed 1/2 hop screen ala:




It works exceedingly well in my setup, _with pump_ which I do think is required for all pellet batches. I've just never tested the rig without a pump, but I'd err on the side of it clogging or flow-rate becoming restricted to a trickle. As mentioned previously, my runnings hit a plate chiller where again, a pump is required imo.



Sully said:


> if this was somehow fashioned like the image below, feeding from the bottom, would that be effective without the need for a pump? bearing in mind that I am starting from scratch with a fresh keg no holes. I will need more than likely need a stand for underneath it, but not an issue as I am going electric.


Really, the core principle of the 1/2 ball design or false bottom in the kettle is the formation of a hop filter bed. As you pull your runnings, the filter not only blocks hop debris, etc. it also creates an external organic filter layer keeping subsequent layers of hop, trub, etc. at bay (in the kettle and not your beer)!

Like this: pic was snapped after dumping kettle, hop filter bed adhered to 1/2 ball





Enter your design:




When I think of flow rates, I picture wort taking the path of least resistance and (in this case I'd speculate) it will be the underside of your ball. I would imagine a filter bed will establish itself around the ball, but will it do so uniformly? Will the underside of the ball build an effective bed, if at all? Bear in mind, I could have this backward.. you won't know until you try.

It's pretty hard to speculate, and I guess that's the fun of a project like this. It's cheap and relatively straight forward to implement or mod. Drilling the underside of your keg, doesn't necessarily mean you're committed to this one method - you can convert to 1/2 ball, install a false bottom, run a pickup tube to the outside edge for whirlpool technique. Lots of options. 

If you do go the full ball mod, post pics and follow-up as might benefit those w/o pump  .

Have fun,

reVox


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## MartinS (13/11/08)

Considering these two designs, I'd expect them both to work almost identically, assuming there is a hose attached to the outlet with its other end beneath the bottom of your keg, and the starting level of the wort is above the top of the outlet.

On your design (right), it's obvious that it'll keep draining until the level gets down to the top of your brass piece, regardless of those assumptions.

On the other design (left), as soon as you open the tap, the wort will push itself up the copper pipe, and out the outlet. As long as the hose on the outlet runs lower than the bottom of the keg, you'll get a syphon, which will keep sucking wort out until the level drops below the bottom of the short copper segment.

Yours has the advantage that you can run wort directly out of the outlet if you want (without a hose), and you can start the flow with less liquid in there (might be good for cleaning), but I see no difference in how much wort you'll get out in an actual brew.

Edit: fix images


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