a WIC without the whirlpool is not a WIC

[kezgin]

i've been having this same problem. even though i'm not a huge fan of the hop bag, it looks like that's the solution i'll be going with

[Lars]

I had this same problem when I brewed this weekend. Only it was pieces of bitter orange peel clogging my pump. I've used the stainless scrubby in the past and may go back to it in the future.

Another option would be to use a grant.

[Nyakavt]

I had the same issue on my WIC but didn't notice it until I used whole hops. Pellet hops get sucked up and through the march pump just fine, but the leaves on the hop flowers clog it up good. You could try messing with a hop stopper or similar device, but it's such a pain if you get a clog with your pickup buried under 6 gallons of nearly boiling wort. The cheapest and easiest solution is the 5 gal paint strainer bag, I hated to do it too but I'm glad I did.

[jamilz]

If you can get a good whirlpool, you shouldn't need a filter. I know it's hard to make that jump, but you should be fine.

+1

Heck, a good whirlpool is just a circular movement of the wort. You don't need some blasting vortex of death. As long as all the liquid is rotating the liquid near the outside of the kettle is going faster than the liquid in the center. It is this fact that lets the break material and hops move to the middle and drop to the bottom.

Go slow, have patience. When you've reached target temp, just turn off the pump and let the rest settle for 20 to 30 minutes. You should be able to carefully draw off clear wort with no strainer or filter.

[Mylo]

I'm with Quin. Go commando. Stainless or copper scrubbies work GREAT for whole hops - but they too will fall victim to the hop pellets (ask me how I know).

I use a wide open dip tube, off at a 90* angle to the side of my kettle. I use all pellet hops with no bag. After cooling with my WIC, I let things settle for 10-15 min before I run off to my fermenters. Recently I added a homemade copper barrel ring (pounded a piece of rigid copper flat, then bent it) to the bottom of my WIC (to make better contact with the bottom of my kettle and hold back some of the hops. I still get a tiny bit of hops through to the fermenter (because the pickup tube only clears away so much right around the opening), but I am not concerned about it.


Mylo

[Hoppy Brewah]

I just added a March pump to my B3 1000 BrewScuplture and brewed up a Double Barrel Ale clone yesterday. The pump worked great while heating and recirculating the mash, but I ran into trouble with the WIC. I had 6 ounces of whole hops in a 12 gallon batch using a bazooka screen. The whirlpool chiller worked slick, but when I shut off the pump at fermentation temp I was unable to get gravity flow through the screen to the fermenters. Should I have pumped the wort to the fermenters? It probably would have clogged after a while anyway. Do I need to put my hops in a bag? I love brewing with whole hops and prefer to let them swim free (plus I am concerned about boiling nylon leaching toxins into my beer). Does a stainless scrubie work better than a bazooka screen? Thanks!

[budrockdiesel]

I still think that: #1 given enough time in the fermenter solids wont matter. #2 It looks like hop particles but it is actually cold brake and proteins that clog filters.
I use a therminator with a home made hop stopper (no recirculation) and I have no clogging issues at all.

[Yeastmeister]

+1