Hop filter

[gnutz2]

Any idea what size mesh is on that filter darkonnis?

[darkonnis]

No clue matey, Lard is about somewhere he'll be the man to ask... I'll have a look when I next nip out ot see how fermentations getting on and measure it if he hasn't let you know by then

[greenxpaddy]

I've made my recirculation arms.



Just need to qmax the holes in the lid now and I'm ready.

[Belter]

Greenxpaddy what stops your pump from cavitating? Is it self priming ?

[darkonnis]

He's going to use a syphon to start it I think

[greenxpaddy]

He's going to use a syphon to start it I think

Correct, I have a large mechanics oil syringe that always gets a syphon going.

[jmc]

Greenxpaddy. I hope the new recirculation set up does what you want. Where do you get 6m of ss braid?

[greenxpaddy]

You have to buy loads of long tap connectors and stainless worm clamps and connect them!

Yes I hope it works too. Should be ok I think. The main filter is going to be completely clean for the run off to fv. I am hoping the recirculation filters don't get clogged up before the chill is complete, there is not a large surface area. However they are raised so they should avoid most of the gunk.

[greenxpaddy]

Here it is in operation. Its much quicker chilling than my old set up and bear in mind the counter flow aspect is nullified much by the recirculation. The syphon was a bugger to get going. In fact whilst the wort was boiling to get it going to sanitise the fittings it was nigh on impossible with the boiling action throwing up bubbles. Once the boil had finished it drew through well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZuYBy5UDIE

Video should be ready uploaded by 17.34hrs

[greenxpaddy]

I did think it looked like being a lot quicker. The resistance from the filters in the loop appeared to have slowed things down. The chill was no quicker than before. That said tap water temp is 17 today which is a pain. Once the boiler has got down to 21ish I then started to pump to fv through ongoing counter chill and am getting a pitch temp of 19. Not bad given the ambient is 28! Once finished pitching I am turning my aircon on! pS wort is crystal clear.

[golden brewer]

Hello Greenxpaddy,
I have mucked about with keeping cold break out of my fermenter for awhile now. My situation is abit different for a couple of reasons. I am using only a 50 litre kettle with about 25 litres of wort pre cooling, I mainly use hop pellets, I am in a rural area of Australia where my water supply is from rain water tanks, which during summer can be at about 25 celcius.
I started with an immersion chiller which I used for about 4 years. I have a return line into my kettle so I can recirculate on the kettle and get wort movement around the chiller coils which helped immensley. The problem for me with an IC is that I always had about a 5 degree difference between the water temperature and what I could get my wort temperature down to. Example - cooling water temp 20C, wort temperature would be 25C and the last couple of degrees would take quite awhile to drop.
I then got a Mashmaster Chillout 30 plate chiller. If I run the wort straight from the kettle through the plate chiller, I could get the wort temperature to within a degree of the cooling water temperature. But that meant all the cold break into the fermenter, and like you, I didn't want to change my "house style". I have been assured by many knowledgable brewers that the cold break won't make any difference but I'm not so sure.
As I use pellets about 80% of the time I purchased a hop sock from Crafbrewer (Brisbane, Australia) and made a mesh strainer that sits in the bottom of the kettle. It has taken me about 4 goes to get the mesh strainer right. When I use hop flowers they go straight in the kettle.
Now when cooling my wort, I reirculate from the kettle via the mesh strainer in the bottom of the kettle, through the plate chiller and back into the kettle via a SS pipe about half way up the kettle. When I am at pitching temperature I redirect to the flow to my fermenter. When using pellets I have to use the hop sock or the mesh strainer in the kettle will be covered with hop sludge and flow will slow to a trickle. I have had occasions where the kettle strainer has become very clogged with cold break and hop sludge, usually around the mid 50 degree celcius mark (I think that may be the temperature where cold break is formed, not sure). When this happens, instead of recirculating back into the kettle, I redirect the flow ex the plate chiller into the fermenter. So I end up with pitching temperature wort in the fermenter and the majority of the cold break in the kettle.
It takes longer for me to cool my wort by recirculating through my PC back into the kettle rather than going straight through the PC into the fermenter but I prefer to leave as much of the cold break in the kettle. At the moment my water temperature is about 11 degrees so cooling the kettle is quite quick.
Hope this all makes sense.
Cheers

[Fil]

been following this thread with a lot of interest. in my 23l brewkit i use SS mesh and braid, the braid slipped over the 25mm mesh opening it up an keeping it ridgid. My first brewbible suggested irish moss as the ideal catalyst to clear the beer at flame out, so i went thru a few tubs of that before trying the protofloc tabs.. and thats when the break material really appeared and i had to start letting the hops settle first after the chill n stir.. I dont think my beer is any clearer now im using the protofloc tabs? could the crud filtering issue be solved simply by using irish moss instead? either way i do build up a good few inches of trub n sediment with an ag brew? im assuming thats break material ive broken up due to a good stir over the chilling coil??

[greenxpaddy]

like you, I didn't want to change my "house style"...
Cheers

Yes I am sure if you get a lot of cold break in the fermenter it can be detectable in the beer flavour profile.Your situation is exactly the situation we are facing in the UK heatwave at the moment.

Notes: The stainless braids in the recirculation arms did not get clogged but the flow might have slowed down a bit. I don't ever use pellets but think if you did they would get clogged. The run off was very good and very clear yesterday suggesting the system worked as planned. The cooling time is very poor still. It was stinking hot yesterday. Think I may have to accept at this time of the year cooling is going to use a lot of water!

[greenxpaddy]

been following this thread with a lot of interest. in my 23l brewkit i use SS mesh and braid, the braid slipped over the 25mm mesh opening it up an keeping it ridgid. My first brewbible suggested irish moss as the ideal catalyst to clear the beer at flame out, so i went thru a few tubs of that before trying the protofloc tabs.. and thats when the break material really appeared and i had to start letting the hops settle first after the chill n stir.. I dont think my beer is any clearer now im using the protofloc tabs? could the crud filtering issue be solved simply by using irish moss instead? either way i do build up a good few inches of trub n sediment with an ag brew? im assuming thats break material ive broken up due to a good stir over the chilling coil??

irish moss is protafloc and vice versa I think? If you stir while you cool the cold break will be stirred up. If you don't it will form in cauliflowers.

[Martin G]

Re. Problems with the priming when boiling. If you decide to carry on then you could consider going through the side wall for the two outlets so you can use a bit of gravity??