Hop strainer questions

[DaveyT]

Hello
I'm trying to fit a hop strainer to a Burco boiler and I've got a couple of issues.
The first concerns the pipe leading into the boiler. The ball valve on the outside is 15mm which is stepped up to 22mm to go into the side of the boiler. The hole into the boiler is 22mm or 7/8". Should I keep the hop strainer at 22mm or fit it so that it draws wort into a 15mm pipe?
My second problem is the strainer itself. I have a frying pan splatter guard and I'm wondering whether to roll it up into a tube or flatten it out into a sort of envelope. I think the envelope would be easier to crimp shut. The idea would be to leave part of the sheet jutting out so that I can fold it around the tube leading out of the boiler.
I'll try and get some photos together to make this a bit easier to follow.

Thanks in advance
David

[Fil]

for the filter itself, unless the filter is the same size or larger than the boiler have you considered getting a 2nd and keeping the rim intact which would enalbe you to lay the bare mesh on top and easily seal the edge with a length of split beerline. the bead of the rim anchors the beerline and keeps the mesh sandwiched tight in place. fwiw our local £shop had?has 2 sizes in a pack the smaller being 6-7" iirc..

for the plumbing 15mm tube should be fine for my mango barrel boiler with a mesh tube filter i used a drilled thru 15mm compression tank connector enabling me to push the internal plumbing once soldered up with end feed bend n T to create an internal side of the drain siphon out and seal with the compression end of the tank connector.

[DaveyT]

Excellent. Unfortunately, I have a Burco with an exposed element which sits in the middle of the boiler. I would be better off with something similar to your second picture. I'm not sure how I would seal the mesh once I had rolled it, though, so the envelope design might be better.
Is your 15mm tank connector the piece that goes into the side of the barrel? If so, is the hole in the barrel 15mm too or is it 22mm? My hole is currently 22mm and I'm wondering whether I'd need an extra bit to convert the 15mm filter to fit the hole.

[Fil]

a 22mm hole will be fine for a 15mm compresion fitting the threaded barrel is circa 21mm in diameter being equivalent to 1/2" bsp I think you can get a pre drilled one via the copper kettle online brewshop..

the mesh in the blue barrel is an automotive sleeve of stainless steel ' over braid' sold by the meter via ebay, though i did a quick search and couldnt see any currently on sale, a local automotive shop may have some??
and it worked well as a hop filter, the downside being the deadspace level was just under the height of the 15mm tube feeding it,not a biggy with the smaller boiler i could just tip it forward , the bigger one however is plumbed in place the fryer guard mesh entry hovers barely a mm or so above the pot bottom to minimise deadspace..

you may be able to use beerline to seal a semicircle edge for a mesh circle folded in half if you apply tension with a cord or small diameter threaded stainless steel stud rod between the beerline ends?

if you keep the inside plumbing close to the edge it will facilitate a forward tip at the end of the drain to minimise deadspace thru a siphon effect.

[DaveyT]

Thanks a lot, Fil. I haven't replied yet as I've been thinking. And I'll have to do a bit more thinking and a bit of playing about.
I'll let you know how it comes along.
Thanks again.
David