Cheapo Hop Strainer

[vacant]

I've been pleased with the hop strainer I made from a 20mm x 70mm piece of stainless steel vivarium mesh (around £2.50 from ebay) and a hose pipe attachment. The hose pipe attachment screws into the back of the "waddington and duval" water butt tap (£1.50) I use on my H&G "10 gallon" boiler.

The rectangle of mesh is just bent around a pipe, sealed at one end by crimping and turning with pliers, then "screwed" into the hose pipe connector. I suppose I could add a couple of cable ties but that is just cosmetic.

Procedure is a damn good "whirlpool" stir after the immersion chiller has been removed, then leave 30 minutes to settle, I only need to waste the first 200 or 300ml before the wort comes out clear into the FV. This is without any protafoc or similar. I have very little dead space so haven't needed to put a tube bend on the filter to get it nearer the base, I just tilt the boiler slightly.

Pours fast, hasn't got blocked up yet.

hopstrainer.jpg

[floydmeddler]

Brilliant. Hassle free, cheap and effective. Will have to give this a go.

[Deebee]

Looks good.

Here we just put the hops into tubegauze( you know the elasticated support bandages you buy on a roll)

Knot one end really tight, put the weighed out hops into it, leave good space for the hops to float around then knot the other end.

It means you have to be more active in the start and squeeze the bag as you would a tea bag, but this way when you remove the bag, the hops come too and there is no wastage before clear Wort into the FV.

Just my 2p worth'

[floydmeddler]

Looks good.

Here we just put the hops into tubegauze( you know the elasticated support bandages you buy on a roll)

Knot one end really tight, put the weighed out hops into it, leave good space for the hops to float around then knot the other end.

It means you have to be more active in the start and squeeze the bag as you would a tea bag, but this way when you remove the bag, the hops come too and there is no wastage before clear Wort into the FV.

Just my 2p worth'

Sounds good. However, isn't the hop bed that forms at the bottom of the boiler important as it acts as a filter for the cold break etc.?

[wetdog]

this looks like a good plan, I think I'll have a go at this, and for what it costs, if it doesn't suit then no big loss.
Anyone know where I can get a few stainless steel jubilie clips from? the sites I've looked at you need to buy at least 10.

[Billy Hunt]

Anyone know where I can get a few stainless steel jubilie clips from?

B and Q.

[SiHoltye]

This is a knitted tube of stainless steel wire mesh. The tube measures approximately 25mm in diameter and is available per metre @ £2.99.

The Mesh Company

I've not used it but it looks interesting.

[Mauri]

I use that and it works just fine!

[Capped]

I use that and it works just fine!

Hope so,I've just sent off for a metre! So what's the deal - stuff it with segments of copper tube and attach it to the boiler tap with a T piece?

[wetdog]

I use that and it works just fine!

Hope so,I've just sent off for a metre! So what's the deal - stuff it with segments of copper tube and attach it to the boiler tap with a T piece?

me too.
Yes it looks like that's the way to go, Capped. I have a hop&Grape 10 gallon boiler and it looks like a metre will be plenty to fit in the recess circumference at the bottom

[Mauri]

I went for a very low tech solution here. I just folded the bottom like vacant did with his mesh. On the tap side I simply used a jubilee clip and a piece of plastic tubing that fits inside the tap.

[floydmeddler]

I used my cheapo hop strainer (original from top of this post) and it worked amazingly well! Bought this item on Ebay and turned it into a neat cylinder with pliers. Looks very neat and did the trick admirably. Cheers for the idea Vacant!

[vacant]

Looks very neat and did the trick admirably

Hmmm, now I'm feeling I should tidy mine up

[floydmeddler]

Here's the link to the Ebay item:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0436011622

[vacant]

Confirmed, that's the same buyer I got my vivarium mesh from.