Beer Forum

Jamil, (and others using this type of chiller), what are you using as an outlet from the kettle? I built one of these last week and tried it out on three successive 10 gallon batches with all whole hops and failed 2 out of 3 times. The outlet clogged each time and the pump could not recirculate any more. This same setup has drained many batches before, but never with this much hops and never with a pump.

The first kettle is a Polarware 60qt with a copper dip tube bent around to the edge of the kettle with a SS braid clamped on the end. The beer was a little hop heavy (14oz I think). Before we had done too much recirculating, the tube between the kettle and pump collapsed from the suction and no amount of stirring or whirlpooling would let it flow again.

2nd kettle was a converted keg with a dip tube reaching to the middle with a SS scrubbie on the end. Hop load was maybe 6 oz. I suspect clogging here was mostly due to the dip tube being in the middle.

3rd kettle was another converted keg with a shorter dip tube and scrubbie. Hop load was about 5oz. This one worked pretty well all the way through chilling and even for running off to the fermenters.

So from all this I'm trying to figure out mostly which adjustments might fix the polarware that I'm going to try and use again this weekend. Pellets rather than whole hops? Scrubbie rather than the tighter weave of the SS braid? Slotted manifold rather than braid? What works for you guys?

From your explanation it seems that the ss braid is your problem. I think that with all the hops involved and the pump your braid just plugged up. You could clear the blockage by either disconnecting the pump and a shooting a small blast of CO2 into the kettle or reversing the pump and push some wort back into the clogged diptube setup to clear things out. I suggest losing the braid altogether and see if that works for you.

Cheers,
HH

I don't use any sort of screen on the kettle and I don't use whole hops.