Beer Forum

I am contemplating buying a Bichmann HopRocket but I'm not sure if it will work with my setup. I use Jamil's chiller/recirc method to cool the wort at end of boil. Basically, at 5 min till end of boil I recirc the wort from the kettle, through a pump and back into the kettle to sanitize everything. And then at 0 minutes turn off the flame and turn on the cold water so the wort hits the immersion chiller.

So if I buy the HopRocket, I'd like to recirc the wort through the HopRocket filled with hops. So the wort would be going through the HopRocket for 5 minutes of the boil and another 20 to 25 minutes it takes me to chill the wort to 62-ish.

Is this process going to work? The videos I've seen show it being used with a plate chiller. Will the March pump be able to pump the wort through the HopRocket for 30 minutes?

Thanks in advance...

I have the MoreBeer hopback, and I think the Hop Rocket sounds like a similar thing. I'm not sure it would work because a hopback is supposed to be used after the boil. Even if you could use yours after the boil, I haven't used my hopback in over a year because I didn't really care for the flavor...it wasn't quite a dry hop flavor and it wasn't quite a whirlpool flavor; it was somewhere in between. I found that it made my beers hang on to those hop oils that were more harsh or resiny while I still wasn't hanging onto the hop oils that were citrusy. My guess is that the citrus oils are more volatile. Also, because the beers were already harsh or resiny, I couldn't dry hop with tasty results. Hopbacks are nice filters, but with a good whirlpool even that doesn't matter too much. Anymore, I just whirlpool or let steep for 10-20 minutes after flame out, and dry hop if I want more hop character. My hopback was a waste of money. I'm sure that someone else will love theirs, but I don't use mine.

I have an 815 and the hop rocket and have recired more more than 30 mins. The biggest thing is to make sure you don't over compress the hops at the start or you'll have problems.

I use my hop rocket in a similar fashion, but after flame out. I chill to 160F before recirculating to minimize additional isomerization, then continue chilling. As stated above, careful with turning the flow up too high or the hops will end up like plywood inside the thing. Also, as the wort gets cold, it gets more viscous which makes it harder to push. I also bump up the batch size by a half gallon or so, because you lose a bit of wort in the thing. I usually use 2oz because 3oz was too difficult to work with for me. I use it in addition to flame-out and dry-hopping. Love that thing!

Thanks for all the replies... I'm still thinking about it. That's a lot of dough to spend on something I wouldn't use all the time.

Actually you can use it every brew as a filter also. Instead of hops you use rice hulls in a grain bag and run as normal. The rice hulls will catch trub and break and stop it from going into your fermenter.

Tasty mentioned that a couple years ago - he said he just puts a couple empty hopsacks in his as a filter for non-hopforward beers. I think his example was a dort or helles.

Does Blichmann make a bracket to mount the Hoprocket to the TopTier?