DIY Trub Trapper

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I am wondering if anyone has had experience with DIY version of this in kettle trub dam/filter.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/trub-trapper.html

I am getting good results with ghetto whirlpool at concentrating trub and hop in a neat pile at the bottom of my kettle.

Something like the trub trapper would really help keep it there.

The base of my kettle is crowded with elements so I can't use this product as is.

[Kev888]

I made a simple ring of stainless mesh, which helped noticeably in my particular case. The elements helped to keep it in place, but if that weren't the case perhaps some weight or other means may be needed.

For me, the whirlpool was quite successful and the sediment was gathering in the centre of my kettle, but it then slipped and spread out again as the wort was run off; quite a lot flowing into the kettle outlet, at the edge of the base. The ring of mesh helped keep the sediment from spreading out to the edges and to the outlet, it wasn't perfect but better than without it.

[Fil]

I suspect that a hoop of copper tube with a few notches chopped out of its base slipped inside a sheaf of SS braid as sold on ebay as 'overbraid' to car engine tidy freaks would work a treat.

OR how about filling a tube of SS overbraid with marbles or SS ball bearings, with a heavy enough filler you could simply lay the length of tube between cone and drain point perhaps..

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Kev888 your setup and drain scenario sound identical to mine.

I don't need an impervious trub filter, just something that will contain the trub cone as I drain out from the bottom outlet.

Fil: I like the idea of SS BBs as a skeleton for a mesh tube. I think it would be robust enough for all the dipstick poking that I do.

Also for my purposes, I don't think I need a complete closed loop; a 30cm length laid as a dam near the outlet should get most of the bang for buck.

Good suggestions guys.

[Kev888]

The dam near the drain sounds very similar to what some people refer to as a diverter, the idea being it stops the settled break and trub reaching the outlet or pickup tube, whilst allowing wort to flow over the top (and later around the edges). Some are pretty small whereas others are longer, like your 30cm, sometimes they are solid strips, other times they are perforated.

I tried a long-ish strip of plate and it helped, but quite a lot of matter flowed around the ends when draining the last couple of cm. I'd imagine a perforated diverter that extended to the kettle walls would have been better. However, the ring seems better 'if' there is space in the kettle for one; the larger mesh circumference lets any trapped wort drain out faster. Possibly both together would be optimum?

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Kettle diameter where the mesh dam would go is ~40cm. So what is to be saved by favouring a 30cm dam over a 120cm one ? Not much.

As an aside, I have been looking at ways to boost brewhouse efficiency. I currently write off 5L of wort & trub to kettle losses.

A good trub dam would really let me recover those losses.

[Kev888]

Yeah, wort losses were behind my attempts too. If the sediment cone/mound starts breaking up and drifting towards the inlet you have to stop running off prematurely, or else get the matter in the FV. I'm not excessively worried about cold break, but (for me) getting this hot break and other debris in the FV falls a little way into the 'undesirable' category (and in case someone raises it, that brulosophy trial does very little to persuade me otherwise). So it seems worth taking at least sensible measures to prevent too much of it.

Hops play a part too, including pellets can help build a stiffer cone if free-floating in the boil, but the cone is then bigger and heavier so still somewhat prone to sliding, whilst whole hops are often too voluminous to whirlpool into just the middle of the kettle, and are more of a problem if they get sucked into the pump too. If this or brewhouse efficiency is an issue, say with large hop quantities of either type, then hop sacks/spiders could be worth considering; you may need a few more hops if the bags reduce utilisation, but they can be lifted and squeezed out, recovering more wort and more hoppiness.

Even if the sediment itself is contained, it is pretty loose and soupy. So unless you can allow lots of time for it to drain from the ring I find a little more wort is typically left behind than with good hop filters. This is especially so if (like me) you pump out of the kettle; I've no underback and so the pump doesn't sit so well with an insufficiently slow supply rate.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I went pellets only once I realised how well they made a trub cone. I don't know if many setups that handle mixing pellet & leaf, and I am happy with a pellet only compromise.

I have done all the hop sock stuff in the past, it does work and larger hop bags help with the contact / utilisation issue.

But there is an elegant simplicity to dispensing with all that, and I think I am close to a great solution with the mesh dam options.

Know a good source for the mesh screens?

Amazon has a lot of small A4 ones. Should be able to make something suitable be telescoping them together, unless anyone knows a better source? Any recommendations on mesh size ?

[Kev888]

My mesh was just an off-cut I already had, and happened to be 40# mesh, originally from the mesh company. BUT it may well not be optimum, as it was pretty slow to drain. 40# mesh is commonly used in pellet hop filters (which is why I had it) so probably isn't too far off the mark, but coarser (lower mesh number) would be more free draining 'if' it were enough to still hold the majority of trub back, and that I haven't tried.

Unfortunately purchasing it in sheets may be wasteful without cutting and splicing it together. There are sometimes off-cuts available so could be worth enquiring. Also stainless mesh is sold in strips as insect screen for soffit vents, again usually in long rolls but you may be able to find an off-cut or someone selling by the meter. Or there is Fil's stainless braid hoop idea which sounds both very economical and easy to weigh down.

Not sure if I have any more spare, unfortunately my stuff is in storage and my car's differential has just let go, so I can't get to look at the mo. It will be a while, but if you are still stuck by the time I'm mobile again I can have a look.

[Fil]

fyi to the naked eye the SS? mesh screens found installed in £ shop frying pan splatter guards looks identical to the #30 mesh i bought for a project that resulted in a massive fail..

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

And the rim could be used as part of the scaffold if it has the right dimensions

[Fil]

Perhaps? central placement of a handle-less Frying pan mesh splatter guard itself could provide a solution, providing an easy drain platform upon which the cone could form and sit? an contain the matter bulk??

The mesh may benefit from 2 or 3 x layers or a layer of a finer grade to effect a more narrow drain route to catch the smaller pellet particles?

just an idea??

[Fil]

Perhaps? central placement of a handle-less Frying pan mesh splatter guard itself could provide a solution, providing an easy drain platform upon which the cone could form and sit? an contain the matter bulk??

The mesh may benefit from 2 or 3 x layers or a layer of a finer grade to effect a more narrow drain route to catch the smaller pellet particles?

just an idea??

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

You are talking about a raised mesh platform? If it had walls, and was secured so that it wouldn't move during whirlpool, I think it would work very well. It's basically a variant on a false bottom.

Another option I thought of, was to recirc the post boil wort through a spare BIAB bag. I got the idea when using the pump for cleaning

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Looking to clone the trub trapper as is, and I would need some kind of scaffold to wrap the mesh around it. Was hoping to scavenge everything from frying pan splash guards, but I need something in the region of 42cm diameter, which is proving tricky to source.

The BB option sounds easy to put together, but would probably break after a few uses considering how large it would be.