Hop filter/syphon thing

[soupdragon]

Hi all

I'm awaiting delivery of a nice shiny 33l pot. I don't fancy drilling holes in it quite yet so......
Has anyone ever tried using a hop filter attached to a syphon. Filter lying on the bottom of the boiler with an elbow turning it through 90 degrees then a vertical pipe up to the rim of the pot. Finally a hose in the top to syphon the beer out leaving the hops and break behind.....
Would the flow be too great and end up blocking the filter or do you think the whole idea is a waste of time?

Cheers Tom

[Martin G]

Even with a tap fitted to the side you syphon the last bit out, if you didn't you'd have a massive dead space. The last bit has always come out of mine very well, I fitted 22mm pipes and taps to keep the flow up and squeezed the end where it comes out down to a slit of about 3mm. I just wonder about getting it started.

I think you should have a go and test it on water first, since you are not damaging the vessel and any bits you buy are likely to be useful anyway.

Well that is my two pennies!

[soupdragon]

Hi Martin

I've got some lengths of plastic tube that I could try it with. I'll have a play tomorrow on my old pot

Cheers Tom

[GrowlingDogBeer]

I think the important thing is going to be keeping the pipework at the bottom of the pot completely still, you don't want the hop filter moving as this will disturb the hop bed.

Personally I think I'd bite the bullet and put a hole in it for a tap, seems a shame to have a nice new shiny put and not get the most benefit out of it.

If you are not happy drilling it yourself see if any local Home Brewers around who could do it for you.

[soupdragon]

Hi Steve

A friend of mine is a plumber and has hinted that he'd do it at a small cost ( usually involves some of my beer ). I'll see how it behaves with plain water 1st and take it from there.
If I do fit a tap I'll need to get an immersion chiller too, I was planning to cool in the bath.

Cheers Tom

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Why does fitting a tap mean you won't be able to cool in the bath?

[soupdragon]

I'd imagine that the cooling water and bath wouldn't be very good for keeping the tap outlet free of nasties

Cheers Tom

[GrowlingDogBeer]

You could be right there, I hadn't really thought of that

[soupdragon]

In theory I can't see a problem with the filter/syphon setup as long as I let the hops and break settle on top of the filter berore starting to syphon out of the pot. I'm in drinking mode at the moment so the trial in the small pot will have to wait till the morning

Cheers Tom

[soupdragon]

Well the trial with water went rather well, less than a cup full left in the pot My only concern was that I had to use electrical insulation tape to seal where the syphon tube entered the pipe coming up out of the pot as it wasn't an air tight fit. I wonder if the sticky stuff would be an issue if it were to come in contact with the beer?
My pot is down for delivery this evening so I'll be getting Graham's Landlord going in the morning. I probably won't use the syphon thing as this will be my 1st FULL mash in 20 years or so and want to keep the method the same as the partial mash/boils that I've been doing recently. Been getting 75% ish efficiency so I'm hoping to nudge that up a bit with the new pot

Cheers Tom

[fisherman]

I only use a syphon for my mastun and 50 litre stainless boiler. a copper manifold is connected with a T junction to a 15mm copper pipe up the inside wall of the boiler at the top of this is a 15mm to 8mm copper reducing connnection fitted to 8mm pipe. I use a length of pipe they use for beer lines in the pub and is not affected by heat . This is placed into the boiler at 15 mins to F/O.One suck and your off
I never have holes cut in my pots. A poorer version of this method of the mashtun syphon is on the CBA web page.
Best of luck

[soupdragon]

One of the fitters from work is knocking me one up from stainless steel pipe. Easier to sanitise

Cheers Tom

[soupdragon]

Bit of an update..........

Got a mash on as I type and will be trying the plastic version of the filter/syphon thing out later ( fitter at work hasn't done the stainless one yet ). My only concern is, as Runwell-Steve mentioned, keeping the thing still so as not to disturb the hop bed. I'll have a mooch around in my box of brewing bits to see what I can find....

Cheers Tom

[soupdragon]

Well that didn't really go as I'd hoped. The problem was exactly as Runwell-Steve suspected, the thing wouldn't stay still and the hop bed and debris was distrbed quite badly
I should have put a bit more effort into it and tried to find some method of holding it in place. Ended up tipping through my voile as I usually do.
Hey ho, back to the drawing board. Probably do something along the lines of what Dave ( apologies, I forget his username ) uses. It looks like a standard rectangular mash tun filter but has a vertical pipe rather than one going to a tap. He says it works well

Cheers Tom

[Twistedfinger]

Hi Soup Dragon,

I've made one and it works fine. Here's my write up.

Not wanting to drill my copper and fit a tap I have been thinking of making a Sypon/hop strainer. This is what I came up with.

Here's all the parts stripped down. I soldered the bends on one end only and slightly ovaled the other end so they were a push fit when put together. The tube is 15mm and the holes (268 of them) are 3mm.



This is the hopstrainer square put together. I wanted it to be free standing so I opted for a square shape.



And here is the whole thing.



I used it today when brewing a stout and it was great. I put it into the boiler at 15min to go along with the cooling coil. I'd previously sanatised the long arm and tap.I start the syphon with a short piece of sanitised tubing lightly pushed onto the tap. Once syphon is started its easly pulled off and the wort flows into the FV. I used the tap to control the flow. The first 4L were recirculated and it then ran clear until the last couple of litres.

Here it is in action. (outside in the dark :idiot: )



And this is what it left behind..



I suppose I've got to brew a light coloured beer next to see how good it really is