Hops filtering post chill...

Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Established Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2019
Messages
1,511
Reaction score
4,861
Points
113
Location
Wisconsin
OK, so I just add hops to the kettle, chill with an immersion chiller then filter the hops out with a sanitized paint strainer bag in the fermenter as I'm draining the kettle.

What I would like to do is come up with a handy, reusable solution. I have a stainless steel milk strainer that fits on top of my fermenters. The problem is, the filter pads it uses would be pretty useless for hops residue(would plug before you even got a good start), however, I could retrofit it with a 2 stage honey stainer(stainless steel) that has 600 and 200 micron straining surfaces.

Would this be an effective solution? Would really like to be able to reuse my strainer indefinitely and just scrub/sanitize between brews.
 
It would depend on the type of fermenter you have. You could use a hop basket (see below) and drain through it into the fermenter. I drain into a cool kettle from my electric cooker that has a biab bag. After chilling I remove the bag and drain into a carboy.

13234d1a-7e97-4b36-ae0d-098725144371_1.680f0183ca568eb34190b4e73d79ab66.jpeg
 
That seems a little fine but without trying you never know. A large biab bag over the fermentor could work to you and wash that and itll be reusable for next time.
 
I use the bag in the kettle while boiling and then just pull the bag out when I'm done. A nylon hop sock does the job fine.
 
OK, so I just add hops to the kettle, chill with an immersion chiller then filter the hops out with a sanitized paint strainer bag in the fermenter as I'm draining the kettle.

What I would like to do is come up with a handy, reusable solution. I have a stainless steel milk strainer that fits on top of my fermenters. The problem is, the filter pads it uses would be pretty useless for hops residue(would plug before you even got a good start), however, I could retrofit it with a 2 stage honey stainer(stainless steel) that has 600 and 200 micron straining surfaces.

Would this be an effective solution? Would really like to be able to reuse my strainer indefinitely and just scrub/sanitize between brews.
Or just dump it all into the fermenter.
 
I'm going to try to fit a bazooka screen to the dip tube I'm thinking that will help(and I have a couple laying around). As long as that works, I can probably drain the kettle through some grade 90 cheesecloth and get it nice and clean.
 
I just use a Stainless hop spider.
 
Plugged the hell out of the bazooka tube eh?
 
My last brew I used paint strainer bags for the hop additions. More to reduce the mess in the kettle than anything else. The other reason is that when I pump from kettle to fermenters, I have 2 fermenters, one always gets a healthier does of the residue. I just tied them off at the top of the kettle. Pumping to fermenters was smoother too. Cleanup on the kettle was a little easier too.
 
Yup. MAY have left quite a bit more in the kettle than usual too...

Yeah my method is either put it in a sack in the boil if there is going to be a lot of hops, or just toss them in and to hell with it if there isn't a lot. I made a spiced ale with chunks of apple once and did exactly the same thing as you.
 
Yeah my method is either put it in a sack in the boil if there is going to be a lot of hops, or just toss them in and to hell with it if there isn't a lot. I made a spiced ale with chunks of apple once and did exactly the same thing as you.

On the plus side, nailed my OG and it smells pretty good...even if it is about 3 quarts short.
 
My last brew I used paint strainer bags for the hop additions. More to reduce the mess in the kettle than anything else. The other reason is that when I pump from kettle to fermenters, I have 2 fermenters, one always gets a healthier does of the residue. I just tied them off at the top of the kettle. Pumping to fermenters was smoother too. Cleanup on the kettle was a little easier too.
Would be interesting to know if you can taste a difference one from another there craig?
 

Back
Top