Hop strainer driving me hoppy!

[beardybrewer]

After much debate I purchased the H&G boiler which comes with a hop strainer.


Both times it let through a couple ounces of wort and then clogged up. The first time I thought it was because I was using hop pellets which did sort of disintegrate. But last time it was good ol straight hops and the same thing happened. Am I missing something? Or is it just a crappy filter. Is there something I can do to modify it?

[mysterio]

I've got the same one and had the same trouble. I sorted it out by using a hacksaw to double the amount of slots in it (make sure you rinse afterwards). Make sure the slots are facing downwards. Also, don't set the tap to the full flow when you're running off, set it about half way. This way the force of the wort won't compress the hops as much.

[tubby_shaw]

Even hop bags are of little use with hop pellets
The hops are milled to a very fine powder before being compressed into pellets.
Comercial breweries use a centrifuge to remove the material left after pellet use. I have in the past stirred the "cooled" (don't want any hot side aeration )bitter wort vigorously to create a small vortex. This does deposit most of the trub and hop debris in the middle of the vessel
You can then use whatever method you prefer to transfer into your fermenter and avoid the majority of the gunk

[Andy]

rolled up frying pan splatter guard! From £1 shops

[sparky Paul]

What about putting a hop bag over the hop strainer (like a sock), and perhaps something inside to stop it clinging to the strainer?

Would that help stop it from clogging up?

[beardybrewer]

Huh, that's so obvious I would have never thought of it. I just opened the 1/2" tab full throttle. While I'm sure more slots or a "bazooka" type filter would work better, opening slowly might make a huge difference. How long does it usually take to drain for you?

In the end the last 2 times I've tipped the boiler and used my trusty strainer and screen. Even the screen had trouble with pellets. The pellets are almost glutenous once dissolved.

[mysterio]

My advice was for whole hops btw, i'm not too sure about pellets. You would probably want to do a whirlpool like Tubby suggested.