Blichmann Hop Rocket as a Filter

[disasterbrew]

I use rice hulls in a mesh bag in my hop rocket. I thoroughly rinse them, then let them sit in 200 degree water until its time to chill. I haven't noticed any off flavors in my beers since doing this, including a Kolsch and a Bo Pils.

[Buttwidget]

That's great info, thanks everyone.

I made the mistake of not referencing the link inside the thread that Spider shared.

I also made the mistake of thinking something I read on a different forum was here. On the other forum someone said that they extracted a bunch of tannins and made an ascerbic tannic tea when they heated and soaked rice hulls, which is why I thought they were a bad choice. Reading Tasty and you guys' process makes me feel a lot better about the concept. I think I'm going all in on this.

The thought is to use the hop rocket as a filter, a therminator with cold tap water and then flow that into a second therminator with recirc'd ice water to get the wort fully chilled to pitching temps. I wanted to make sure that I had a proven filter solution before I invested all that cash.

My ground water here in SoCal is so freaking warm that I think I need something besides a prechiller on a therminator to get to pitching temps. I'll start with the prechiller on a single therminator to see what my results are before buying the second therminator...

~widget

[spiderwrangler]

Is recircing the ice water going to heat it? Are you going to be pulling from an icebath?

[Buttwidget]

The first Therminator would be using ground water from a garden hose to chill the wort. By Blichmann's chart I should get to about 80. The second Therminator would be recirced ice water that should take it to pitchable temps.

That's the theory anyway.

~widget

[gwk453]

To hit the ale fermenting temps, I use a immersion chiller in ice water, inline with the incoming water to the plate chiller during summer months.(The cooler the water the quicker you can push your wort through) If I brew a lager temp beer in the summer, I do one pass through the plate chiller with the wort going into my sanitized HLT. Then for the final chill to 45 degrees, I recirc the plate chiller water through a immersion chiller in a large cooler filled with water and frozen gallon ziplock bags. Since I need my March pump to push the wort, I stick a cheap 110 volt submersible fountain pump from Harbor Freight (68395) 264 gal/hr.(This pump is more than adequate to move water through a plate chiller ~$15) into the ice water and recirc to the plate chiller and back to the cooler. The pump comes with a huge selection of fittings to connect to. I use snaplocks on everything! A lot cheaper than a second plate chiller! The pump is zero maintainance.
Next time I brew, I will flush a few gallons of HLT water through my HopRocket after letting the rice hulls steep for 30 minutes, I am sure it will make some improvement. Damn, just another chore to do on brew day.


Gary

[alan_marks]

Here's a random thought I had while reading this thread again:

What is really needed is a neutral filter medium to block the random gorp before it clogs the small passages of a plate type heat exchanger... answer - aquarium filter floss! This is a spun nylon fluff that should be a safe and effective mass to catch the big stuff. It has to be safe 'cuz it has been used to filter crap from fish for decades without killing the lil buggers! I'd pack the hop rocket pretty heavy with it cuz it compacts when wet.

my 2 cents,

[spiderwrangler]

How does that nylon stuff handle heat? Will you have to chill your stuff down significantly first?

[gwk453]

Here's a random thought I had while reading this thread again:

What is really needed is a neutral filter medium to block the random gorp before it clogs the small passages of a plate type heat exchanger... answer - aquarium filter floss! This is a spun nylon fluff that should be a safe and effective mass to catch the big stuff. It has to be safe 'cuz it has been used to filter crap from fish for decades without killing the lil buggers! I'd pack the hop rocket pretty heavy with it cuz it compacts when wet.

my 2 cents,

Alan,
That is a great 2 cents....100% polyester fiber (fish filter medium) from a web search says the melting point of the fiber is 260 degrees C or 500 degrees F .....Sanitization would be a breeze with StarSan........ I will try it too!
Thanks
Gary