This has probably been over-discussed, but Dan and I were talking about this at the last meeting a bit. I'm trying to figure out a way to let pellet hops swim free during the boil and avoid clogging my CFC afterward.
Currently, I'm using a hop spider, and while that works well, I'm concerned about hop utilization. After a while, the bag gets clogged with hops, and hot break. I don't think there's much circulation around the hops after that.
I'm using a keggle, a pump, and a CFC. My pick-up tube runs down into the center of the keggle, so a whirlpool won't be much good to me. All the hops and break material will end up right at the pick-up tube.
I've tried a stainless braid, and not had much luck. Because the keggle is concave, I lost over a gallon of wort, and as soon as any part of the braid was exposed to air, I lost syphon.
I have two possible solutions to this, and I'm wondering what you all thought:
1. I could let the hops swim free, and then recirculate the wort into the hop spider without going through the CFC near the end of the boil to capture the hops. Then, I'd have to recirculate through the CFC to sanitize it, so this option would add a few minutes to the brew day. Not a huge problem.
2. I could continue the boil while I drain the kettle to hopefully keep the hops in suspension. This may prevent a clog, but will result in all the hops making it into the fermentor. This also isn't a really big problem for me.
Anybody have any other ideas about this?