Hopcat fiasco :(

[Cheyne_brewer]

My wife bought me an expensive Dark Rock Hazy Daze neipa kit for my 60th last week. Fired the Hopcat up , got to strike heat (71C) and added the grains.
This is where the fun started. Almost immediately the pump slowed to a meagre dribble and temperature control went south - set temp 66C, indicated temp 66C ,thermometer in mash - 71C and rising. I had to resort to adding cold water and jugging liquor from the tap. Due to trying to rescue the brew the mash time went to around 75 mins rather than the 45 mins in the recipe.

Next issue - the sparge - ending up with nearly 40 litres of wort due to the temperature juggling with added water. This resulted in a 2 hour boil at full power - the boil is never very enthusiastic and I resorted to vigorous stirring to increase the evaporation rate. I finally got the volume down to around 27 litres and an SG of 1058 - about right for the stated 5.8% abv if it ferments down to 1014. Given the seesaw temp control issues I have no idea of the ratio of non-fermentibles.
This morning I had the base off the Hopcat and checked the pcb connections and pump. All connections are ok and powering back up all worked fine including the pump with a VWP solution. I did a calibration run using a digital thermometer calibrated against an old-school 12" glass thermometer and now have the Hopcat calibrated to within 0.2C of the pre-calibrated digital thermometer.
I have tried to contact Hopcat twice with no response (issues with grain escaping the malt pipe & clogging the pump) as it is quite a long way out of round) and this weeked I messaged James Isgoed Williams as well, I await a response.

 

[HarryFlatters]

The filter included for the pump inlet is comically undersized. I bought a helix from AliExpress and haven't looked back, no more clogging.

Hope you get yours sorted.

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

The filter included for the pump inlet is comically undersized. I bought a helix from AliExpress and haven't looked back, no more clogging.

Hope you get yours sorted.

do you have a pic or a reference please - AliExpress search didn't throw up anything obvious.

 

[foxy]

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

View attachment 34032 View attachment 34033

So is that like a very long bazooka?

 

[soupdragon]

How do they cope with a shed load of pellets? Oh and are they a pain to clean after use?

Cheers. Tom

 

[foxy]

So is that like a very long bazooka?

I believe Brew 2 Bottle may be stocking them, they are a stainless steel extension spring, I have seen similar used in the oil industry but far larger.

How do they cope with a shed load of pellets? Oh and are they a pain to clean after use?

Cheers. Tom

Easily, but they work best as 'no chill' owing to the lower viscosity of the wort, as the wort cools the viscosity rises, some people transfer about mid 30's C with no problem.
Real easy to clean.

 

[HarryFlatters]

I've used mine with hot and chilled wort, no difference. Not sure about lots of hops as I use a spider and I don't make particularly hoppy beer.

Anyways, here's what I bought https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400...8108#187_668#2717#7559#83__668#3374#15176#166

 

[Wynne]

@foxy are you using two helix in your kettle? Is 1 not sufficient?

 

[SteveH]

Could you connect two T pieces to one of these helix coils, so that it's possible to filter both the pump inlet and tap outlet on a RoboBrew?

With a false bottom I don't find the trub from the tap too much of an issue, but the pump does tend to block with any amount of loose hops so I'm wondering if one filter could deal with both.

 

[foxy]

@foxy are you using two helix in your kettle? Is 1 not sufficient?

I have used more than two before and found that 2 is enough, just connected with a capillary fitting.

Overkill