Run off from boiler trouble [Solved]

[Brownster]

Hi all,
I wonder if I can pick your brains again...
I've just helped a friend do his first AG brew today (I've now got six under my belt woohoo) everything went just fine and dandy till I tried running off the wort from the boiler into the FV.
After a 2 second gush it slowed to a dribble, the only thing I thought I could do was give the trub a stir which I did, again a gush of wort then a trickle. Trying to turn the tap on gently after rousing didn't help at all so in the end I had to stir and open continuously until it was empty. The resultant transfer of trub to the FV is evident already as the material is settling out, is this going to be a problem do you think?

The boiler is a 10 gallon H&G with the standard copper hopback supplied, fitted with the slots facing down, once all the wort was out I checked the hop back and didn't find any obstructions inside.
The brew was from the Wheeler book, 'fuller london pride', we used a level tsp of protofloc as a copper fining, I can't think of anything else relevant so what do you think, was we just unlucky or did we do something wrong? All I can think to do is add more cuts to the hop back. Anyone else have this problem from time to time?
Thanks in advance.

[brewzone]

The brew was from the Wheeler book, 'fuller london pride', we used a level tsp of protofloc as a copper fining, I can't think of anything else relevant so what do you think, was we just unlucky or did we do something wrong? All I can think to do is add more cuts to the hop back. Anyone else have this problem from time to time?
Thanks in advance.

More slots is the way to go from what I have read on the subject.

Seems to be a regular problem with those hop filters.

BZ

[Parva]

The H&G boiler is infamous for this problem, indeed I have one and suffered the same issue. The solution is to drill a 3mm hole between each of the slits. Use a hammer and nail to mark a 'dink' in the copper before you drill it as the drill will just slide all over the place if you don't. Once done you'll find the problem is cured. Regarding your brew, I suspect it will be just fine.

[Brownster]

Thanks for the input guys, I was hoping you was going to say it was the hop back design and not myself making a foobar!
The heavy layer of trub that's come over into the FV will hopefully settle at the end of the ferment, he'll just have to be extra careful when siphoning off; he's going to use a bottling barrel before bottling so that should make the transfer a bit easier.

[booldawg]

I've had this problem a couple of times for no apparent reason; I find that leaving the wort to settle for 30 minutes after cooling has improved the chances of a decent run-off.

[Parva]

I've had this problem a couple of times for no apparent reason; I find that leaving the wort to settle for 30 minutes after cooling has improved the chances of a decent run-off.

Modifying it as I detailed will improve it to the point where you no longer have anything to worry about.

[Brownster]

Hiya, just as a follow up, I turned my hop strainer into something that resembles swiss cheese with 3mm holes all over it. The result, a run off in under 5 minutes flat! Thanks for the advice