hop rocket flow rate

[farmer brown]

Has anybody had much experience with a Blichmann HopRocket?
Im setting up a 1 barrel system and have been looking at ways to dry hop and this seems to look pretty good? Im just worried the flow rate is going to be too slow and may take a while to transfer 180 liters of beer?

:hmm:

 

[kev]

I pump through mine. Works fine.

K

 

[farmer brown]

Thanks Kev,
How long does it take per 25 Liter batch?

 

[kev]

Next to no time. 3-5 mins or something similar.

I use a totton pump and on full flow its really fast.

K

 

[farmer brown]

I was going to gravity feed through it so wont be using a pump, is this a bad idea?

 

[kev]

Hmmmm. Depends on the amount of gravity involved. In other words, the size of drop.

Only one way to find out!

K

 

[ollyb]

I guess it would also depend what else is going in line. I'm assuming:

Boiler-> Hop Rocket -> Chiller (plate?) -> fermenter

Gravity might need a hand in that case.

 

[kev]

I put my filter after chiller so hops filter out cold break.

K

 

[charlieabbottuk]

What amount are you adding to the Hop Rocket as we have had some issues with blockages even though we weren't going at full speed and had less than the recommended amount of hops?

 

[DethApostle]

I put my filter after chiller so hops filter out cold break.

K

I didn't think the hopback/hop rocket worked as well on cooled wort? (or was beneficial over just dry hopping after fermentation was complete)?
Do you have good results with your setup (and have you tried it the other way round I guess?)?

DA

 

[charlieabbottuk]

We have now started to use the Hop Rocket upside down so that the wort gets pumper through the top and out the bottom, the opposite to the instructions. This way we can start the flow off slowly and then steadily increase to full speed after about 3 minutes.

We have taken out the inner chamber and just have the smaller diameter filter with the o-ring seal at the bottom.

 

[Fil]

We have now started to use the Hop Rocket upside down so that the wort gets pumper through the top and out the bottom, the opposite to the instructions. This way we can start the flow off slowly and then steadily increase to full speed after about 3 minutes.

We have taken out the inner chamber and just have the smaller diameter filter with the o-ring seal at the bottom.

no #30 mesh ??

 

[charlieabbottuk]

We only use the smallest size mesh and not the 4" cylindrical part.

 

[Baldbrewer]

+1 to hop rocket upside down I also use a homemade disc of #40 mesh .
My rig is : Braumeister - hop rocket - Plate chiller - FV.
All done within 10 mins max , in fact Fridays brew AG#16 Goose Island IPA clone chilled below 18C had to throttle back flow for second half. Still learning
: :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

You could put the hop rocket on a rotating bracket, prime in the normal way then rotate to avoid losses on drain down/reduce 02 retained or absorbed.
I guess in bigger applications any oxygen locked in the hop rocket when used upside down will be quickly mopped up by the yeast, then again a blast with C02 would sort that problem anyway

 

[Fil]

sorry to hijack but Ive just acquired a hop rocket, Cheers Kev :)

i was planning on using as suggested by the instructions without any mesh additions as my tube chiller wont clog..

my chiller isnt the most efficient partly due to my design and partly due to the 30m of hose feeding it from the garden tap, but the little solar pump i used to move the beer thru and up 1.5m into the fv managed 2l/per min on about 1/2 power.. which is an ample rate to chill to pitching temp so im happy with that.

will the hop rocket present a significant restriction on the system if used post pump pre chiller? will i need a more beefy pump?

 

[charlieabbottuk]

We have a more beefy pump and it is that fact that caused ours to block as we were pumping too hard.

Now we have the wort flowing from the top we are able to start off slowly and then ramp up to full speed.

We still have the hop rocket after our plate chillier so the first few cycles are all with no cold water flowing just to make sure the HR is sanitised by the boiling wort. The reason we do this is to stop small particles of hops getting in the chillier.