Lauter Helix.

[wide eyed and legless]

My next brew will have a big hop addition so I will see how that goes.
I still have to try another brew with flaked maize and I am also just about out of English bitter so that will be the trial.

 

[Leyther]

This one was a NEIPA had oats and wheat, sparge was slower than usual but no issue.

I need to learn to Whirlpool better maybe need to get a paint stirrer.

Think today was my best brewday with the guten and the helix, very happy just off to watch the storm then goto the GnG for a well earned beer or two.

Cheers

 

[EalingDrop]

Nick, you have to try and keep it to the outer edge of your kettle, get a good whirlpool and open your valve slowly, the only time mine clogged up was with a load of flaked maize in the mix. The last two brews I did on the Guten I opened the valve fully and still barely got any trub or anything going into the cube.

Is it possible that I had opened my tap too full at the start on my BM? It drained about 1 litre and stopped after that. I only had 15g of pellets. Maybe it was the 8% oats (500g) in the grist?

I fitted mine the same way you did WEAL on your BM. I did a whirlpool but I'm not sure how important that step in the process is. Reading the comments it seems like it's not completely necessary.

After siphoning out the wort, the amount of trub left wasn't anymore than usual.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

If you have changed your tap from the original, to a half inch just open half way, the whirlpool is really important I wait for around 1/2 hour for the thermal movement to stop, but just before or as it slows down make the whirlpool and when it stops slowly open the valve and drain the wort. On the BM with original tap I open it full throttle on the Guten with the 1/2 inch valve I open around halfway to drain.

 

[Boxcar]

Is there a particular reason you guys aren't connecting both ends of the spring filter? I'd think performance would be much improved.

And if there's substantial excess, orienting it like on the Helix site:

 

[wide eyed and legless]

If you look at the picture the helix is under the tee piece, so you are only going to drain the wort as high as the tee piece, if there is room to lower the tee piece as in the BM then it can also work as a dip tube and drain more wort. In the Guten their isn't the room to sit the tee piece on the base of the unit so it works better blanked off with the other end running down at an angle from the tee piece or elbow.

 

[clarkie54]

Did another brew yesterday with the helix after my adjustment on the BM. 155g of whirlpool hops. Worked much better this time. Tap half open. Still slower which is to be expected, but far quicker then last time and at a consistent speed throughout. Got 21.5L of clear wort instead of 20L. Will do another couple of brews before adjusting my recipe designs but great signs!

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Did another brew yesterday with the helix after my adjustment on the BM. 155g of whirlpool hops. Worked much better this time. Tap half open. Still slower which is to be expected, but far quicker then last time and at a consistent speed throughout. Got 21.5L of clear wort instead of 20L. Will do another couple of brews before adjusting my recipe designs but great signs!

I don't know if I asked before, but have you got the BM original tap? If so you can open that fully, I know a lot of the BM users changed them but I can't remember who.

 

[clarkie54]

Yeh I replaced mine with a ball valve so only opened it half way. I think it's important especially at the start so it's not sucking the trub into the clearer whirlpool area around the helix. Worked well, thanks Weal.

 

[Moog]

I finally got to try my 1metre helix on Friday, brewed a double batch of firestone walker union jack IPA and it worked a treat.
Up until now I'd used a hop spider and the brews seemed to lack some hop character, so I thought I'd give this a go, and just chuck them all in.
Before with the spider, I'd still end up with a fair amount of hop debris going into the cubes, and then into the fermenter.
When I put the first cube in the fermenter last night, there was NO crap in there, so I'm very pleased with how it worked, the flow coming out the kettle tap was fine, it slowed down to a trickle at the end, as the last bit came out, but it wasn't frustratingly slow or anything, so, hats off to WEAL for some great brewing kit, cheers....

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I did 3 brews last week, 2 of those had a **** load of hops and I am still amazed how well the helix works.
Glad you're happy with it Moog, but didn't you get 2 lengths of helix?

 

[Moog]

yea, I think it was 11/2 or something but I can't recall, it was before our big US holiday, (BIG) US holiday......

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Anyone with the BM who has found the fit to tight behind where the element comes up through the base plate here is a simple solution, a piece of silicone hose, 12mm ID to join the 2 pieces of helix behind the element.

The white one is the heavy duty hose which is a tighter fit but either will do the job.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Thanks for that Tony. Just wonder how the silicone would go being in constant contact with the element, especially during a 90 minute boil.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I will make one up and give it a go, I would have done it today but BM's loaded and ready to go will do it Saturday.

 

[Midnight Brew]

WEAL, sorry for the delayed, I've been drowning in homework. Installed a new BM controller and the helix on Sunday. I'll take some pictures when I get around to using it but it Is an easy fit and I've run it under the outside element. Doesn't even touch the malt pipe! Homegrown session ale at the end of the month

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Thanks for that Tony. Just wonder how the silicone would go being in constant contact with the element, especially during a 90 minute boil.

Tried the heavy duty silicone wedged in tight with a half hour boil, the only effect was it seemed to harden the silicone on the side that was touching the element. Another way around it is where the element comes through the base use a reducer as in pic, Midnight Brew has the 50 litre so his pics will come in handy.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I really like that idea.

It looks like 2 reducers joined together. If so, how are they joined?
Something like this?
Also, are they pressed to fit tightly onto the Lauter Helix, or do they just push in?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Nice tight fit, with a piece of copper tube connecting them.

 

[Midnight Brew]