Constant blockage

[Dordoor]

Hello folks,

I am still new to brewing few (5 exactly) successful brew under my belt.

There is a question that I need to ask from you experienced brewers.

I am using a brewzilla gen 4 and I keg my beer. All the 5 brew blocked my spigot and pump, after boiling and chilling transfering was an issue. Well, the second time this happened I did something that was a little counterproductive I guess. I blow into the recirculating arm that unblocked the bottom part hence I was able to transfer the wort to the fermenter. I use a hop basket for hopping also when I transfer the wort I use the same hop basket to filter again. Still loads of small hop particles goes through this sieve. Beers turn out good with the silly method of blowing into the wort

Yesterday I tried making a hops water. All good but blocked the brewzilla again, blew in and transferred. The small hops particles now blocked the keg's tube nothing comes out of the keg. Ordered a floating dip tube but I would rather eliminate this issue with a more accurate filtering. If this is only me facing this every single time than I do something wrong.

How do I fix this? Or this is just part of the game. Not really looking to transfer twice...

Thank you for any advice

 

[The Baron]

What micron is the basket? also how is the grist crush is that fine and floury as it may be not helping.
If the hop basket is not fine enough it will let hop debris through, I would try using the veg bags from the supermarket for a change(30p ish) and see if that improves things

 

[Dordoor]

What micron is the basket? also how is the grist crush is that fine and floury as it may be not helping.
If the hop basket is not fine enough it will let hop debris through, I would try using the veg bags from the supermarket for a change(30p ish) and see if that improves things

Can't fine the exact micron count on the hop basket but this is the one

https://brewkegtap.co.uk/products/hop-spider-large?_pos=1&_sid=523eb8897&_ss=r
It seems pretty tight - not sure if there's any finer than this.

 

[The Baron]

Looks about 300microns which is pretty standard, that should generally stop most hop debris.
Are you sure it is hop debris and not mash debris from a fine crush. What grain are you using and where did you get it from also do you use a lot of wheat/oats in any of your recipes

 

[Dordoor]

Looks about 300microns which is pretty standard, that should generally stop most hop debris.
Are you sure it is hop debris and not mash debris from a fine crush. What grain are you using and where did you get it from also do you use a lot of wheat/oats in any of your recipes

Only purchased from the malt miller, crunched grains. Yesterday hop water "brew" sort of proved that hops get through the hop basket as well. Interesting really.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I've had a brew recently where I used T90 pellets. The hop matter went through the hop spider and was present throughout the wort. It settled to the bottom of the kettle. Other brews have had the hop matter contained within the spider (I think either 300 or or 400 micron).

I just assumed that particular patch of pellets got ground into finer particles than others.

 

[The Baron]

You will always get some of the finest hop dust get through but I would not have thought enough to block the pump. As Agent has said sometimes you get a fine grind on hops that seem to get through no matter what

 

[hoppyscotty]

Grain crush is too fine. These systems can't cope with too fine crush as the face bottom is not that affective so the fine flour and finer husks and hop matter gets by the false bottom and into everything blocking it. I don't have any issues with my Brewzilla 3.1 but the grain crush is not particularly fine.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I agree with @hoppyscotty re the fine particles. Probably why I see on the US brewzilla 4 thread a lot of people using a grain bag. Seems very counterproductive really when the gen 3 works well.

I do also think that the false bottom offers false hope and acts a bit like a trap, hinders the circulation of particles during the boil. I stopped using the false bottom on the 3 when I had it and started using a trubtrapper and have carried on using similar in my guten 70. No hop spider, no false bottom.

 

[Dordoor]

Grain crush is too fine. These systems can't cope with too fine crush as the face bottom is not that affective so the fine flour and finer husks and hop matter gets by the false bottom and into everything blocking it. I don't have any issues with my Brewzilla 3.1 but the grain crush is not particularly fine.

how about the hop water, there is no grain in that still the hop get through the hop basket blocked the pump and the out post on keg...

 

[Dordoor]

I agree with @hoppyscotty re the fine particles. Probably why I see on the US brewzilla 4 thread a lot of people using a grain bag. Seems very counterproductive really when the gen 3 works well.

I do also think that the false bottom offers false hope and acts a bit like a trap, hinders the circulation of particles during the boil. I stopped using the false bottom on the 3 when I had it and started using a trubtrapper and have carried on using similar in my guten 70. No hop spider, no false bottom.

Thanks, I'll look into this trub trapper thing. Haven't heard from this

 

[gyurmaember]

How long did you whirlpool? How long did you wait afterwards? DH has a great video about whirlpooling, from his pre-crapland era, worth to watch it.

 

[Siscokid85]

Only purchased from the malt miller, crunched grains. Yesterday hop water "brew" sort of proved that hops get through the hop basket as well. Interesting really.

Do you use the standard crush or the "Fine Crush" that malt miller offer? They seem to be the only ones that offer "Fine Crush" I have never used the fine crush option, but heard a few issues from it as a result. Not sure what the fine crush is meant for in terms of system / method.

past that I am out of ideas, but the Brewzilla users might be more help.

 

[hoppyscotty]

How long did you whirlpool? How long did you wait afterwards? DH has a great video about whirlpooling, from his pre-crapland era, worth to watch it.

I actually find with my Brewzilla that the whirlpool arm is effective in arranging the hops into a nice cone. But as I transfer to the fermenter and the wort level moves down the sides of the hop cone then you can see a layer of hops that are suspended in the wort slipping down the side of the cone and sucked down the side of the I’ll-fitting and unsealed false bottom. Ok is massively reduced amount of hops so the false bottom has some affect, but can be enough to block a pump if it’s a large hop addition, and certainly enough to block a plate chiller.

Just thought as I write this that I’ve never tried slowing down the transfer rate as the wort level reaches the top of the hop cone. Something worth trying.

With my larger 3 vessel system I have a similar problem and have got a large mesh basket which I’m using and a very large hop spider. Only used once but seems to work fine and no blockages in the plate chiller.