Settling Break Material in Kettle

[dogismycopilot]

I've been using the copper "Chore Boy" scrubbers as a filter, when I run off from the kettle. They catch a lot of break material. I give them a good rinse with water, being careful not to squeeze, then soak them in Iodophor for a little while before using. My kettle has a ball valve, so I hold it in place with the stainless spoon (which is held in place by the kettle lid.) I imagine you could do the same thing by attaching to the end of the autosiphon or racking cane.

[spiderwrangler]

Although it's on the opposite end of the process, I've had issues with beers that received lots of dry hops that didn't settle out and I had to come up with a way to get them out before going into bottles (yes, kegging or chilling the whole volume would make it easier, but I don't have those luxuries atm). One batch I tried putting a sanitized bag over the pickup on my racking cane and that didn't work at all. The last time I used a fine mesh bag on the tubing end of my racking set up, tied on with butcher's twine and weighted down. When I racked over into the bottling bucket, I ended up catching about a cup and a half of hop bits that would have otherwise ended up in my bottles.

[kivakid]

All great suggestions. I think I'll incorporate 2 or 3 or them!

Casey B.