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Stainless Steel Perforated Sheet for Blichmann

northhouguy

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Spring, TX
Last weekend I made my second all grain batch using my 10 gal Blichmann Boilermaker.  I boiled the wort and pitched the leaf hops.  Half way through the boil the sight glass clogged up with hops and no longer worked.  After the boil I used my immersion cooler to get to pitching temperature.  When I tried to run off into the fermenter I couldn't even get a trickle out of the outlet valve.  The dip tube was clogged solid with hops.

I ended up pouring the wort through a colander to catch the spent hops.  Not an ideal way to transfer, that's for sure.

Blichmann says not to use their false bottom while boiling because it wiil cause scorched wort.  So, I'm thinking, a piece of stainless steel perforated sheet, same diameter as the false bottom but with 1/8th or 1/4 inch holes.  If I were to do this would I have a scorched wort problem?  Is there someone out there already making this modification for purchase?

I used hop bags my first brew, but would like to be able to just chuck loose hops into the kettle.  I don't want to use Blichmann's hop blocker because it will interfere with my immersion chiller.

Has anyone done a perforated sheet hop strainer?  What are the pros and cons of perforated sheet?  Thanks in advance.
 
I use a bazooka screen mounted on an elbow for the boil.  Use whole hops only  free floating.  Never clogs and the hop bed kind of acts as a filter I think.  Tried to push it twice by bagging some pellets for the first bittering.  It clogged.
 
Hop bags are a necessity for whole hops. Get over it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you had actually read the owners manual that came with your brew pot you might have saved yourself a hassle.!
KernelCrush has an alternative idea that he says works so until you get the necessary hardware use hop bags. I use hop bags in conjunction with my HopBlocker. I do pull my bags out prior to adding a flame out addition. No Problem!
 
Yeah, bag if you like.  It's your beer.

Me, I prefer great grandpa's method.  (He was a master brewer from Germany who immigrated to the US in the 1870's)

Had I known that a Blichmann was so limited in its flexibility I would have purchased a better brew pot or fabbed one up myself.  I'll fab up a screen and see how it works.

I guess you'll just have to get over it.

Just a suggestion, you need to lay off the cracks in your replies.  I had a professor who used to say, “There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.”  My question wasn’t stupid, where does that leave you?



 
The Blichmann website has the owner manual on-line for download if you lost it!
My grandpa always said, "Read the owner's manual first, before you wreck something or hurt yourself"
No crack/ Just fact....Have a Merry brew day! Ho-Ho-Ho!

I don't recall calling you stupid when I reread my post.
I do respect diverse opinions of brewers on this forum who do things different than I do them and I don't resort to name calling.
I also learn from my own mistakes, as well as others.
Personally, I hope you are as successful as the Boston Brewing Company.


 
northhouguy said:
So, I'm thinking, a piece of stainless steel perforated sheet, same diameter as the false bottom but with 1/8th or 1/4 inch holes.  If I were to do this would I have a scorched wort problem?  Is there someone out there already making this modification for purchase?

If you're exclusively using whole hops, then a FB with 1/4" perforations would be perfect. Otherwise, getting smaller perforations would be a good idea.

Morebeer.com sells both their own and Blichmann products. They would be in a good position to either tell you what'd work, or to custom fabricate it for you. I've use the Morebeer false bottoms in various kettles without having any scorching or clogging issues.

In the 1870's, Great Grandpa was seeing a lot of changes to the technology and philosophy of brewing. Probably moreso than at any time in brewing history. That was when Pilsner was really getting popular and microbial contributions to beer where just being discovered. Oh, the stories he could tell!

Best of luck with recreating his recipe! Sounds like a great quest.
 
my great grampy, from Germany used to tell me, " Just water hops and grain and some of the trub from the last batch
my grandpa, from Ohio used to tell  us, "go down to teh brewery, they will give you good yeast._
My father used to tell me, "why use fresh, that pelleted stuff already has the rosin broken down."
I tell my son, "Use bags DUDE, you have to filter less"
My son is telling his kids, "Seen this mash a bag crap, 500 less expensive."

wonder what my granson will be passing along?
 
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