A Crazy Idea For Trub/hop Separation In The Kettle

[Thirsty Boy]

OK, I'll start with why...

I use a converted keg as a boiler and for some reason, whirlpooling does absolutely nothing in my system.

I really really dislike leaving litres of wort behind in an attempt to avoid hot break and hops pellet sludge (I get cold break regardless... plate chiller)

So I have been coming up with whacky ways to not only avoid the goop... but also to drain every last drop out of the kettle. And I think I have one that will sound stupid at first, but the more I think about it, isn't so much.


Set kettle (keg) up with a dip tube running right to the bottom of the vessel, slip a bit of hose braid or similar over the end. Take a shovel full of (obviously well cleaned) medium grained sand and chuck it into the kettle.

Fill kettle with wort and boil as per normal. After flame out, give it a whirpool, which will (hopefully) pile the sand up in a nice flat cone around the diptube, let it settle for 5 mins and then start running off the wort.

The hosebraid will stop the sand from going up the diptube, the sand will act as a depth filter and trap the hops and break material, clear wort will run to the chiller, right down to the bottom of the kettle. Any sand that made it to the fermentor.. would be the first thing that settled to the bottom anyway. The sand is either just washed away when you wash the kettle, or I suppose you could clean it and use it again.

Its more or less the same thing that happens when you use a false bottom and flower hops... but the sand takes the place of both the false bottom and the flowers.. meaning that you can use pellets exclusively. Which is what I do.

This idea actually started out with me thinking that you could use a mesh bag (stockings or BIAB material??) of sand as a false bottom in a mash-tun... and I reckon that might work too

So.. crazy or not??

Thirsty

 

[warrenlw63]

Sounds mighty similar to Pumpy's gravel in the mashtun TB.

Warren -

 

[newguy]

Not so crazy as sand is used in municipal water filtration plants. I'd experiment though just to make sure that you can get a good flow rate. If the flow is satisfactory, throw a few hop pellets in and try again just to see if you can whirlpool the sand and that it does filter out the hop particles from the pellets.

Anyone here do sandblasting for a living? Isn't that sand quite clean? Using it might save a few washing steps.

 

[devo]

or stainless steel ball bearings?!?!

 

[joshuahardie]

I pass the wort over a cloth filter, mainly just a layer of cheap cotton, to clear all the rubbish out of my wort, because i can't seem to get clear runnings very well, even after trying, crash chilling, whirlpooling and irish moss.

don't know if it was a daft thing to do, but in the only time i tried it, it worked very well. a little slow as it clogs and has to be washed, but it still worked.

interesting idea though.

 

[discoloop]

I just tip all the junk into the fermenter. Most of it settles over the course of fermentation. I proabably lose about a litre of beer at most, usually less, in doing this.

When I rack my beers, I make a 'bag' out of sterilised nylon stocking which I tie over the end of the racking tube. That seems to take care of the remaining the bad stuff.

 

[Simon W]

I pass the wort over a cloth filter, mainly just a layer of cheap cotton, to clear all the rubbish out of my wort.....

don't know if it was a daft thing to do.....

Been doing this for some time and it works well, still trying to find the ultimate weave to get good flow and filtering with min blockage.

All cloth gets boiled for 30mins before use, yet to get an infection.

 

[SJW]

I have the same setup, converted keg, and I just have a bit of copper pipe bent 180 deg and pointing down and it only leaves 1 litre behind + who cares about a little trub?

View attachment kettle.doc

 

[pint of lager]

Thirsty boy, I was having problems with whirlpooling.

The problem turned out to be the residual heat trapped in the blocks holding the boiler up. These create thermals in the wort for quite a while after turning off the heat.

Try leaving the boiled wort for 10 minutes, then whirlpooling.

You must have been spending time with pumpy. The sand will probably work. Just like pumpy's gravel mash bottom.

One idea that pops up regularly is that hop cones create a very good filter bed to remove hot break. You just have to work out a false bottom to hold the cones back.

 

[drsmurto]

I love reading about just how MacGyver like brewers are. It never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity you lot are capable of.

Me on the other hand cant tell one end of a hammer form the other so i just save my pennies and bought one of these......

I can tip the kettle and get every last drop out. Plus, its part of the addiction ppl seem to have as brewers, shiny things.

 

[newguy]

One idea that pops up regularly is that hop cones create a very good filter bed to remove hot break. You just have to work out a false bottom to hold the cones back.

You don't need a false bottom. When I first started brewing I'd do my boils in a big pot on an electric stove. The pot didn't have a tap. I fashioned a piece of copper tubing into the shape of a question mark: ? The curved part fit around the inside bottom edge of my pot, and the straight portion of the question mark was bent straight up the side of the pot. The bottom of the curved part had many small holes drilled in it. I'd siphon the wort out through that tube. I used whole cone (flower) hops back then, and didn't whirlpool. The hops would drop out first, and the break would then cover them. My wort would be crystal clear every time.

 

[brettprevans]

Smurto, where did you get your grouse looking peice of equip and does it stop pellets?

OT - talking about using sterile sand....I met a mother who was paranoid about her kid catching germs from the sand they bought for the kids sandpit. so she spend days boiling and steralising the sand only to have the cat come and 'foul' it 1 day later! funny stuff. silly woman... and no it wasnt my missus.

 

[RobW]

I just run the last few litres into a couple of 2 litre PET bottles, put them in the fridge for a couple of hours and pour the clear stuff off the top into the fermenter.

 

[geoffi]

I had an idea of doing something similar by clamping SS braid onto my dip tube.

Alas, then I read that if my aluminium pot came into contact with SS, really nasty things would happen.

Oh well...

I love reading about just how MacGyver like brewers are. It never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity you lot are capable of.

Me on the other hand cant tell one end of a hammer form the other so i just save my pennies and bought one of these......

I can tip the kettle and get every last drop out. Plus, its part of the addiction ppl seem to have as brewers, shiny things.

 

[Lukes]

I love reading about just how MacGyver like brewers are. It never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity you lot are capable of.

Me on the other hand cant tell one end of a hammer form the other so i just save my pennies and bought one of these......

I can tip the kettle and get every last drop out. Plus, its part of the addiction ppl seem to have as brewers, shiny things.

DrSmurto, how does this go with hop flowers and pellets?
Do you have any after photo's?

- Luke

 

[drsmurto]

So far i have only used pellets and plugs (but i have a few packets of flowers waiting impatiently). Hot break and hop trub stay in the kettle. Clear wort goes straight into a plate chiller (one of the reasons i bought this) Havent taken any pics of the trub, not sure why i would except for THAT thread.....

 

[Lukes]

Nice I am getting in on some sort of screen in my new kettle soon.
One more question.
Do you get a whirlpool going at flame out?

- Luke

 

[drsmurto]

Nice I am getting in on some sort of screen in my new kettle soon.
One more question.
Do you get a whirlpool going at flame out?

- Luke

Yep, i whirlpool like crazy at flameout altho i am not sure its needed with this?

 

[braufrau]

Smurto, where did you get your grouse looking peice of equip and does it stop pellets?

Is that a beerbelly / domonsura thingy?

 

[chovain]

Is that a beerbelly / domonsura thingy?

I'm pretty sure it's the kettle hopscreen here