Normally, I put a false bottom in my 10 gallon Polarware kettle to keep to the whole hops from clogging the ball valve when I make my APA’s and IPA’s. This time, however, I need to make a bigger batch. I have a 20 gallon Polarware kettle, but no false bottom. I have a 45 degree copper pipe elbow (pointed downward, of course) that’s threaded into the inside of the kettle. Is there a simple, low-tech way to keep the whole hops from clogging the ball valve? Yeah…I could bag everything, but I like the hops to be more “exposed” to the wort.
I prefer free range whole hops as well yet if I were you, I’d just go with hop socks. I’ve used them many times with fantastic results. You could also make an el cheapo “hop spider” by putting a dowel over the boil kettle and suspending a large mesh bag from the dowel by the drawstrings, keeping the opening above the surface of the wort. Either way, I doubt your beer will suffer. Especially if you bump the quantities just a tad.
The hop spider sounds like an excellent idea!
When I use my kettle with the pickup tube and whole hops I put a little section of bazooka screen on the end of the tube and crimp it down. Worked perfectly for whole hops. I cut off the last 3 inches of a spare bazooka I had lying around from a previous project to make it.
Another low tech idea that might work is just taking one of those stainless steel kitchen scrubies and jamming it over the intake.
Something like this:
I haven’t tried it myself since I have a horizontal connector with a bazooka screen, but it just might be crazy enough to work.
These have all been good solutions.
The hop spider looks great. It’ll have its maiden voyage tomorrow.