DIY Hopback using a KK Beer Filter Housing

[mtb]

So I've been researching hopbacks lately, hoping to get some extra kick out of my hops and generally dicking about with extra equipment. Got interested in DIY Hopback projects and thought I might try knocking one together with a Keg King Beer Filter I bought a while back but never used (finings are much less of a pain in the ***).

Anyway, thoughts/opinions/warnings are welcome. In place of the filter cartridge is a hop bazooka connected to a silicone tube which fits snugly inside the pipe usually reserved by the filter cartridge. The only way for the wort to exit the filter housing is via the bazooka. The good folk at Keg King advised me that no higher than 65C is ideal, I plan on using it at temps no higher than 60C so should be okay in that regard. I will be using hop flowers only as pellets will either get through the bazooka or clog it up.

 

[Benn]

Ratings are always 1/3 on the conservative side, I'd take it up to 90deg and see how she goes.

 

[Benn]

Seriously though, it looks good. That purge button may come in handy as wort flows in you may be able to purge gas out if need be.

 

[mtb]

Thanks mate. Yeah in my tests I noted that I can control the level of wort within the filter. If I don't use it at all, it'll fill up halfway (about 10mm above the bazooka) and after that point the wort exits via the bazooka. If I purge some of that pressure I can fill it more (to accommodate more hop flowers)

 

[klangers]

The temperature limit is inversely proportional to the pressure you'll apply to it.

I have that exact unit (use it for its original purpose though) and I sterilise it with 90+ degree water, pumped through. If you keep to pump pressure I have no doubt it'll be fine.

 

[mtb]

Fantastic, thanks klangers. I was hoping someone would pipe up and tell me they were using it for temps that high. Since the price is relatively low, I might try recirculating boiling wort through it in the last 5min of the boil, this will make sanitising much easier. If I bugger the unit I'll just buy another. Although I do wonder what it'd leach into my wort.. maybe a test batch of water would be more ideal?

 

[klangers]

I wouldn't worry about leaching - I don't filter much anymore but when I did, it was fine with hot water sanitising. It's polycarbonate, not PET or HDPE.

 

[mtb]

Sweet, thanks mate. Got a double batch on the boil now, it's getting 100g of Topaz flowers through the new whatchamajigger.

 

[Dave70]

Nice setup.
But isn't that little old cage a bit on sensible side though?

 

[mtb]

Oh what! Someone beat me to it..

The bazooka (cage) was placed so as to move the egress point of the wort to the bottom of the filter. Without it, what's stopping the wort from flowing directly from the intake to the outlet?