Trouble with Late Addition Hops

[donrasmussen]

My late addition pellet hops are creating a mucky mess.
I immersion chilled the wort to 62 degrees at about an hour after flame out.
Poured off 3 gallons of mostly clear wort leaving 3 1/2 gallons of
mucky wort in the boil kettle.
Do I need to wait 2 hours before draining the wort?
I'm thinking of scrapping late hop additions altogether.
I tried whirlpooling and that just made a bigger mess.
Any ideas?
Thanks
dr

[Kevin58]

I use a hop spider. It won't catch it all but it helps.

Whirlpooling shouldn't make a bigger mess. Are you trying to whirlpool with the IC still in the kettle? Are you letting the wort settle for 15 minutes after stirring? How are you getting the wort out of the kettle... siphon from the top or ball valve with pick-up tube? And is that pick up tube short, picking up wort near the edge of the kettle or long, picking up closer to the middle?

The other thing to consider is to not worry about trub at all. Some suggest dumping the entire contents of the boil kettle, trub and all, into the fermenter. I find that extreme but the argument is that trub getting in the fermenter A) does not affect the clarity of the end beer and B) has benefits in aiding yeast health. So I don't worry if even a good amount of trub makes its way into the fermenter.

Good luck.

[Oginme]

You don't mention if you are using pellets or whole cones.  The whole cones make a much bigger impact on the trub volume.

Either way, I second using a hop spider, basket or bag for the hops, especially if you are adding a boatload (like many of the current IPAs tend to do).  You will lose a bit of efficiency but will have an easier time in dealing with the trub from all those hops.

[donrasmussen]

Thanks all!
I will either use a hop spider or hop bags next time.
I drain off the bottom of my sanke keg (keggle) with
a short pickup tube....the bottom of the kettle has a pretty good sump.
I will also wait longer for things to settle.

I use pellet hops and I did whirlpool with the immersion chiller in the kettle
as I place the chiller in the boil for the last 10 minutes of the boil.

[Kevin58]

Do you use a pump? If so I would suggest adding a whirlpool port to your keggle. It makes whirlpooling easier when using an IC.

[BILLY BREW]

I have run into this before as well.
What I did, which had fairly good result, was to bag the end of my funnel and use a wide mouth carboy. Put the bag in the carboy and pour the contents of the kettle right through the funnel.
I was able to get most of the wort after waiting a while for the bag to drain (keeping the bag above the wort in the carboy) and all the trub was easily disposed of.
Only thing you will need to do is be extra vigilant on sanitation. Mine turned out just fine.