No more hop bags for Tasty?

[luvs_simcoe]

I think it was the last Sunday show where I heard Tasty say he no longer uses hop bags. Tasty, how do free-ball hops not clog your Therminator? I also use a plate chiller, so I'm intrigued.

Also, thanks for getting my sour tasted a few weeks ago! I never thanked you for that.

[JohnF]

I think it was the last Sunday show where I heard Tasty say he no longer uses hop bags. Tasty, how do free-ball hops not clog your Therminator? I also use a plate chiller, so I'm intrigued.

Also, thanks for getting my sour tasted a few weeks ago! I never thanked you for that.

Not Tasty, but he has a hopback before the plate chiller.

[luvs_simcoe]

Yep. So do I. I'm just concerned with beers with high hop loads. Seems like enough buildup would clog the hopback even.

[TastyMcD]

I think it was the last Sunday show where I heard Tasty say he no longer uses hop bags. Tasty, how do free-ball hops not clog your Therminator? I also use a plate chiller, so I'm intrigued.

Also, thanks for getting my sour tasted a few weeks ago! I never thanked you for that.

When I stopped using hopsacks I also modified the way I sanitize the Therminator. Now I recirc boiling wort before I've added the late addition hops. Usually at 30 minutes before flameout. My kettle shape is such that I get a highly functional whirlpool so the late addition hops are not an issue. On most beers I use a hopback which also keeps any trub from getting into the Therminator.

The sour beer was great. Glad we got to try it.

Tasty

[dunleav1]

Tasty,
My process is the same to sanitize my chiller and hop back.
This weekend I tried something different in my process and it worked pretty well.

I always boil 4 gallons of water in my HLT on the start of brew day, then I pump through MT, kettle, CF chiller, and the hop back if I'm using it.

I then disconnect the chiller and hop back and then cap each disconnect with sanitized tin foil.
I still recirculate @ 10 minutes to sanitize the pump but I don't connect the chiller or hop back yet.
At 0 minutes I kill the burner and start my 20 minute whirlpool.
When I'm done whirlpooling I hook up the sanitized chiller and hop back.
I then turn on my water and turn on the pump.

Less break going through the chiller, I also get to load the hopback with hops when it's cold and not
hot.

[luvs_simcoe]

I use a plate chiller (and now a hoprocket) with a pump. I'm also fairly heavy-handed with the late hops.

I'm not so concerned about sanitizing because I figured out the recirc trick. I figured if switched to freeball I'd just drop the end of the hose in sanitizer after recircing but before adding late hops.

What I'm mostly concerned with is clogging. I boil in a 20 gallon boilermaker and from what I understand the geometry is very different from the MoreBeer kettles (taller/narrower). Also I think the dip tube is pretty different.

Does anyone think this will cause issues with the plate chiller clogging?

[jm]

I use a plate chiller (and now a hoprocket) with a pump. I'm also fairly heavy-handed with the late hops.

I'm not so concerned about sanitizing because I recirculate hot wort through the chiller late in the boil.

What I'm mostly concerned with is clogging. I boil in a 20 gallon boilermaker and from what I understand the geometry is very different from the MoreBeer kettles (taller/narrower).

Does anyone think this will cause issues with the plate chiller clogging?

If you're not opposed to throwing money at it (about $70 if I recall) the Hop Stopper is pretty awesome; works with whole and pellet hops. I've only clogged it once so far but that was with about 2 pounds of hops in a 5 gallon batch. After I cleared the blockage and ran off slower (i.e. sans-pump) it didn't plug up anymore. At "normal" hopping rates I've never noticed the collection being slower than the standard Blichmann dip tube.

When all the wort is collected and I back-flush the Therminator I find very few (if any) solids being flushed out.

[luvs_simcoe]

Ok, so I went halfway on my last brew. I used hop bags for the 60 minutes hops, recirced to sanitize the chiller at 10, then threw in the whirlpool hops freeball. Everything went great. Consider me a convert.