Boil kettle false bottoms

[Thomas]

Who has one? I recall someone had made a false bottom for their boil kettle using braided SS hose, how did that work out?

[Richard]

I use a more ghetto version of the above (braided hose over the end of a metal racking cane) and it's increased the clarity of the wort by an awful lot.

[Kyle]

I use the combination of the stainless steel hose and a hop sock. Pellet hops tend to clog the SS braid I have in the BK

[Richard]

I refuse to use a hop sock any more - hops need to flow free for the bittering to be extracted properly. The ghetto solution I have removes all the hops, so screw it. Trick is to use a nice long length of hose to spread out the gunk - I originally tried with about a half foot and that didn't work; using two feet the thing has never jammed up even with an IIPA.

Good example of hop bittering comes from the two beers CC and HH brewed. CC threw the bittering in the pot; HH used a hop bag. The difference in bittering is massive - HH's must be half the IBUs if not less.

[Kyle]

cool, I'll try the 5 foot long SS braid I currently have in the mash tun (swapping it with the 2 foot one in the BK which clogs horribly). If I could get away from the hop sock that would be good, for the reasons mentioned, plus they are a PIA to clean.

[JohnQ]

Really looking forward to trying out one of these...

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/hopblocker/hopblocker.html

and then follow it up with one of these...

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/HopRocket/HopRocket.html

JQ

[Kyle]

From the reviews of the hop blocker I've read, they work great in the Blichmann pots, but not well in keggles, just in case anyone is thinking about going that route, as I was.

[Thomas]

I think I will build a combination of SS braid, wrapped inside a mesh hop stopper. Iv read a lot of reviews saying a SS braid alone clogs really easily when using pellet hops. And I'm with Richard on this one, I think you get better utilization of your hops if they are freely flowing in the boiling wort.
Now to find some SS mesh, I think I will be destroying some wire baskets.

[Kyle]

Dean, I was wondering about that. I'll try it with a March pump and post if it still clogs.

[Richard]

I did the Dark Rytes using the braid - no stoppage whatsoever.

[Thomas]

I was thinking a somewhat course SS mesh, enough to block whole leaf hops which would them hopefully stop most of the pellets. But I think ou might be right. I'll go ahead and build the SS braid false bottom and see how it performs before any more additions.

[fakr]

I use a 90 degree SS bend with a 30" or so SS braided line as a strainer.  Works great.  Just like first runnings, I drain about 1L of wort through my ball valve before running it through the CFC.

The kettle I'm using also has a tiered bottom so after whirlpooling all the trub forms in the center and the braided line lays on the outside of the kettle bottom.

[fakr]

and yes, the kettle is dirty in that pic...  :roll: