Building a hopback Part II

[WishboneBrewery]

Nice bit of work there, different to mine, yours will probably work better!!
I need to pick the right beer to test mine on, I'll probably do a simple all Cascade IPA and Uber-dry-Hop!
I was thinking of a Pump on a timer switch so it comes on once an hour for a few minutes.

[pantsmachine]

Thanks for that, any pictures of your build? Its always good to see someone elses approach to an idea!

I have an 11 gallon batch lagerring at the moment. I plan on bottling the first half as normal and then running the second half through HopThang. I'll see what's nice and bracing in the hopfridge and try it out. Think i'll also throw in some fresh Lemon zest as well. There are more opportunities with this device than only hops! I really enjoyed putting this wee thing together and look forward to running it for real when i get back home.

I may have a convert to the dark side. One of the team out here REALLY liked the idea of making our own equipment and ending up with beer. He drinks Guiness hates pisswater Lagers as he describes them and is NOT enjoying his drinking out their in NZ since he left the UK. He's also offered to look into getting a load of hops sent over from NZ for me. Any idea what the best ones are?

[WishboneBrewery]

Anything these guys produce http://www.nzhops.co.nz/

Get your mate to look up 'Epic' http://epicbeer.com/beer/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_Ne ... ct_Brewers
I'm sure there is more than Speights & Steinlager!

[pantsmachine]

Cheers! He's going to go look when he gets back. I've asked him to look out for Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka, Motueka & Pacific Gem. All things being equal he'll get something sorted out, he's going to go straight to the farms. 5kg bail of one of them if he can't get me a kilo of each. I'll let you know if i get a result, some for sale and all that.

[pantsmachine]

Progress, finally!

http://bennachiebrewery.blogspot.com/20 ... t-run.html

[leedsbrew]

great work matey! bet you can't wait to taste the results!

[pantsmachine]

You are dead right! Eagerly anticipating a brew day next week. Culturing a phial of WL Burton 23 at the moment in preperation for the day.

[pantsmachine]

Well, that's the first run ongoing with HopThang. I have entered the 21st century and uploaded my first video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnUe7HJsMgw

[WishboneBrewery]

thats bloody fantastic I feel I might need more holes in mine before I test-run it, I'll have the whole canister chock full of hops! I might get another FV bucket I can savage with a couple of holes.
I'm annoyed at my brewing program being so full until after march. Though I'll be doing a big-ass Pellet dry hop in the FV for a Black IPA I'm going to brew.

[pantsmachine]

Glad you like it! Lesson one for me is to Mind and keep pipe bore and fitting size large. Mine is 5 mm at the moment and its very easy to reduce flow with hop debris. I am ok with that for the moment but not long term.

I am utterly and completely chuffed with this bit of kit.

Cannot see movement of the fluid as it is running clean



I can see the yeast caught in the hops, can you?



I reduced the amount of hops in the cansiter as i had them rammed in and the pump circuitry cut in as its load sensing saw a blockage. I'll run it for a few more hours tonight then change the hops out tomorrow for fresh. Good fun!

Which malt are you using to darken your Black IPA?

[WishboneBrewery]

Lots of yeast.

I've used Carafa Special III and Cara Aroma, my next Black IPA I shall use only 2% Carafa and the rest of the colour up-to about 90-100 EBC will be from the Cara Aroma.

[pantsmachine]

Ah, i tried a Black IPA but used Roast Barley, it smoothed out after a while, I'm sure the Cara influenced will be accessible faster. Good luck with the brew!

[Highlander]

Pantsmachine,

Have you used this as a hopback yet? I'm interested to see how the plastic stands up to temp. There is the option of the blue plastic which I guess is HDPE, but i really like the clear!!
I'm thinking about making a similar one, though I want a bit more filtering so i'm planning a 30 mesh between 2 SS drilled sheets and running it axially to get a bigger surface area.
I'm planning to run the control line down to the bottom, crimp the filter mesh at the top with a hose clip and fit some cut silicone tube to the bottom of the mesh so it seals on the base.

Highlander

[pantsmachine]

Hi Highlander, sorry about the late reply. Real life taking over! It works very well and i have used it for hop infusion and also with star anise and dried lemons. The only thing i will be changing is hose size. I will be stepping up to 1/2" as the current hose blocks too easily as it is guaranteed that some hop debris will get through. Also suggest that you watch how tightly you pack the hops in as looser is better. Truly it rocks as a bit of brewing kit and the Steampunk IPA i made using Hoptang is tremendous and rammed full of flavour. Just finished bottling a 4 gallon side test batch of the Steampunk which i brett'd. It ended up at the stupidly low FG of 1.006 which put it at 7.3%. This is currently carbing but the trial jar sample was tremendous!

[Highlander]

Thanks PM
Sounds like i'm going to need to give it a go now.

This is what i'm thinking for my design. Hopefully should catch all the hop debris.
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