SS Brewtech 10 Gallon Kettle

[Halfacrem]

I tried out my new SS Brewtech kettle/Buffalo Induction combo on Monday. Works great. The pot is SOLID and very heavy! The Induction Hob worked a treat and kept my modest 17 litre pre boil wort boiling on pretty much half power.

The kettle came with a dam trub, which is an angled tube that fits in the back of the ball valve, with a rubber wiper thing attached to it. It's supposed to keep all the kettle crap from clogging the tap. However, when I came to draw the cooled wort into the FV through the ball valve, all I got was a trickle! I had to end up pouring the brew directly into the FV, which kind of defeats the purpose of having the tap (and was also quite awkward as the pot is so heavy).

I checked the trub dam was fitted properly, but maybe I'm doing something wrong. Anyone else with the same kettle have problems, or maybe advise what I'm doing wrong?

PS the tap works fine as I opened it up when I first got it and cleaned the thing out.

[ciderhead]

Did you stir vigorously to have a pile of trub vortexed in the middle and let sit for 10?

[Scott-westy]

I use a hop bag with mine and then it doesn't block with hop debris, I don't really care if break material goes in the FV but manual whirlpool does help a lot.

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[Halfacrem]

Thanks guys.

The short answer to the whirlpool question is..no! It shall be done next time. I tend to gently stir the wort while the chiller does it's work, so I guess I'd chill, whirlpool,leave for 10, then drain.

[malcolm]

I whirlpool with a long plastic spoon in my cordless drill but still find that the trub dam does not catch everything and the ball valve can get clogged. I use silicon tube to transfer the wort to the fermenter so when the flow slows, I pinch the tube about 20cm from the valve and then repeatedly squeeze the 20cm section of tube to create back pressure and clear the blockage. I did think about getting a false bottom for the kettle when I first got it and found the valve getting blocked but the whirlpool with the drill and squeezing the tube mean I can easily live with this.

[Halfacrem]

I whirlpool with a long plastic spoon in my cordless drill but still find that the trub dam does not catch everything and the ball valve can get clogged. I use silicon tube to transfer the wort to the fermenter so when the flow slows, I pinch the tube about 20cm from the valve and then repeatedly squeeze the 20cm section of tube to create back pressure and clear the blockage. I did think about getting a false bottom for the kettle when I first got it and found the valve getting blocked but the whirlpool with the drill and squeezing the tube mean I can easily live with this.

The false bottoms are expensive bits of kit too. Good tip with the hose. My first thought was I'd have to be gentle making a whirlpool, but of course it's cooled by then and just about to be whisked up in my FV anyway

[Secla]

I have the false bottom and a lot of the trub does settle out on it
Il probably get the whirlpool fitting at some point to see if it settle out a bit more pellet hop matter

[bochgoch]

For me the false bottom is essential - to much faffing otherwise...

[j444fog]

I've just bought a 15 gallon one of these with a false bottom, so I'm really interested in this topic, but I don't understand what is meant by 'whirlpool'.

Is it just give it a damn good stir for a couple of minutes to get it going round in the boiler and then leave it to settle? I assume this drags all of the break material and other stuff into the middle of the boiler and the majority of it then sits in the centre of the boiler whilst draining?

[Halfacrem]

I've just bought a 15 gallon one of these with a false bottom, so I'm really interested in this topic, but I don't understand what is meant by 'whirlpool'.

Is it just give it a damn good stir for a couple of minutes to get it going round in the boiler and then leave it to settle? I assume this drags all of the break material and other stuff into the middle of the boiler and the majority of it then sits in the centre of the boiler whilst draining?

At it's simplest, yes, I think it's just giving it a good stir to build up a vortex. You can buy a whirlpool adapter which screws into the kettle's thermowell hole, along with another ball valve. I think you then need a pump, so that's clearly an expensive route.

I think I might get the false bottom at some point.

[Matt in Birdham]

I've got the same kettle and, generally, it's been flawless - but I have had the issue you describe though on one occasion. I opened the tap to transfer to the FV and nothing came out at all! I ended up having to work the pickup tube out of the hole using a metal spoon, and then the wort started flowing freely. What had happened was that hop pellet sludge had formed a plug in the pickup tube, and got lodged where the tube narrows round the bend. Bit of a pain in the arse, and I suspect it will happen again. On more than one occasion I have forgotten to put the pickup tube in and to be honest it doesn't make a lot of difference - but you do need to tilt the kettle towards the end to get the last of the wort out.

I also tried the whirlpool pump thing and didn't get good results - I found that the pump macerated the break and hop matter, and actually ended up with a worse trub cone (actually - no trub cone) than I get from stirring. People do report good results though, so it's worth a try.
Actually I brewed today and got my best ever cone, which was just a short vigorous stir and a 45 minute rest:

[Scott-westy]

Hop bag solves this all for me.

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[Skittlebrau]

I did my inaugural brew with mine last week. I have the whirlpool fitting and a March 809. I found the whirlpool worked well for the chill but wasn't fast enough for a proper spin up and cone formation. However, I didn't get much crap through into the FV - when I started the run-off it was cloudy for about the first 250-500ml, then absolutely crystal clear until just before the run-off stopped. I also observed LOADS of muck on the bottom with a little clear area just behind the trub dam. So it seems to work.

The other thing I found interesting came after I'd emptied the trub down the bog and put it back on the hob for a PBW cycle - the whirlpool spun much faster. This must be because the water/PBW/little bit of leftover gunk mix was much less viscous. So I have bought another pump - a TD5 from Brewbuilder. If it and the hops arrive in time, I will brew again on Thursday - a much bigger, much hoppier DIPA - and run the two pumps in series. Should be more than enough power.

If people are interested, I'll post a full brewday report with pictures and maybe even a video or two?

[Matt in Birdham]

I'd be very interested to hear how you go. I rigged up a test through the thermometer port a few weeks back, and ran my TD5 through it on max(I haven't got the new model with the dedicated whirlpool port). I found that I got a reasonable velocity (btw - I don't think it needs to be fast for the whirlpool effect to work), but I also got the sense that all of my break and hop material was being finely macerated, and as a consequence took much longer to settle than usual. I whirlpooled for the entire duration of the chill and then let settle for an hour or so - with no discernible cone at all (much worse results than I get with a manual stir - see image above). I attribute this all to the break up of the hop & trub & decided not to bother again (it was also a bit of a PIA) but if you get better results I may revisit.

[Skittlebrau]

The chiller hanging in there will significantly disrupt the whirlpool. I will be whirlpooling at full tilt for about 10 mins after removing the chiller before leaving to settle. We shall see what happens...