I just upgraded to a piped in Brewing manifold for my hot liquor tank, mash tun, and kettle……. So no more moving those containers to the utility sink to clean them out. Just wondering what is the best way to get hop solids out before recirculating PBW and then rinsing with water. When doing an IPA, I will have a large hop cone in the kettle. I guess I could just drain it out but wondering if anyone has a good idea of getting it out before I start cleaning/rinsing. I was thinking maybe a shop vac? what do you all do to clean immobile kettles?
There’s usually a drain at the lowest point of the kettle, you just flush it down the drain.
Your kettle may come with a stand pipe. That’s useful to separate the trub/hops left in the boil from the wort.
I actually bought a small wet/dry vac for stuff like this.
Kicking myself for not getting the Spike with the bottom drain.
In any case, it’s important to remove as much solid material as possible before recirculating PBW to prevent clogging or reduced cleaning efficiency. Once the solids are out, you can proceed with your usual PBW recirculation and rinse process.
planet clicker
Try using a soup skimmer (SS mesh) to get the solids out as well as you can and then wipe out any residual matter with a rag before proceeding to PBW or other cleanser.
I clean a 5 bbl immobile kettle out all the time. Just hose it out, connect a drain hose to you post and let it drain into a bucket, or in my case the floor drain. I can’t imagie that would be more inconvenient that hauling around a wet vac. But maybe it is for some folk!
My Spike Solo system doesn’t have a bottom drain, so it’s challenging to get the last of the solids out via the pickup on the side of the kettle.