Not Sure if it is easier than hopbags, but I will definately get better utilization. I got good flow if I stired a little on top of the T.
So, does that not clog up? Every time I’ve tried using braid in the kettle it seems to clog almost instantly. I’d sure like to figure out what I’m doing wrong.
It does clog to an extent. But if you stir at the top of the “T,” there is so much surface area, that you keep good flow.
I saw a friend using a single braid boasting that it won’t clog. We were using the funnel by the end of filling his 2nd carboy.
That is where I got this idea from. 2 inlets seems to work well.
Cool, thanks for the tip! When I can overcome my laziness, I think I’ll give it a try!
I like to keep my Bazooka screen along the side. That way I can whirlpool all the hops and trub into the center which helps keep the screen from clogging. Just brewed 10 gallons of double IPA without a problem.
I have a confession to make…I’m whirlpool dysfunctional! No matter what I try, I can’t get all the trub collected in the center of my kettle.
Commercial brewers whirlpool with hot wort.
There is something about hot liquid and better cone.
you’re using pellets.
use whole hops, problem solved ;D
Actually, I use both and it doesn’t make any difference when I’ve tried a braid.
hmm… - i use a bazooka T with no issues, unless I use all pellets…
+1. I can’t get a cone to save my life. I normally just end up getting ticked off and dump all the crap in the fermentor. ;D
I’ve tried on of those and it does seem to work OK with whole hops until I started using a pump. Then it sucked the hops down onto the screen and clogged.
[quote]I’ve tried on of those and it does seem to work OK with whole hops until I started using a pump. Then it sucked the hops down onto the screen and clogged.
[/quote]
See where technology gets you Denny? 
Man, that was my first thought when it happened!!! But I just switched back to the side pickup and hop bags and everything is cool.
I had the same problems with the braided hose, kept clogging, both in my mash tun and boil kettle. in the mash tun I’ve switched to a copper manifold with slots on the bottom, and the boil kettle I went and bought a $20 stainless splash guard from bed bath bullshit and more (also available on amazon), ripped the handle off, welded on a piece of stainless to plug up the opening where the handle was (though you could probably use food grade silicone to seal it up as well) cut a small hole in the top for my pickup and works like a charm! I also am completely cone incapable, but ah well. beats the $80 false bottom that home brew stores sell, even if they are a bit beefier.
I use a pump too, but only on rare occassion do I have an issue where I need to scrape the screen. 95% of the time, not a problem - I think its the way i have the pump oriented.
Could you describe that, please?
DC:
My BK is on a cart such that the spigot is about 3.5 feet off the ground.
I run a hose from the spigot to the pump. The pump is oriented perpendicular to the ground, with the “in” on the top and the “out” facing the ground. The pump then forces the wort through my therminator, then through 25’ of copper coil sitting in an ice bath before making its way to the fermentor.
What I am wondering is that the 3ft+ drop is more gravity than the pump actually sucking, which is why I don’t have problems with clogging on my bazooka T?
Again, if I use over 50% pellets, I do have problems, but not when using whole hops.
I want to say I used 4 of 7 ounces that were pellet…
So now that we are restocked on whole hops from freshops, I’ll see what happens next time.
First, I gotta bottle. I am 40gallons behind again.
The height is a real difference from my setup. I only have maybe a foot or so from BK outlet to pump inlet. I also have the pump inlet on the bottom and outlet on the top. I suppose if I used a grant I could get it to work, but frankly it’s easier to use hops bags.