Moving to AG, Finding the right grain

[drsmurto]

Hopscreen is not only a great looking piece of kit it is also very effective and a great investment.

Like the false in the esky I've been using them for 5 years and they still look brand bew.

Whirlpool, as Rotten mentioned, is critical. More so than the hopscreen but i find in tandem they work like a dream.

Immediately after flameout i whirlpool and let it settle for 10-20 mins. After this time the trub has formed a nice cone in the centre of the kettle, away from the hopscreen. Drain through the chiller.

I sometimes use a hop bag if i am using large amount of hop pellets but not all that often. If you use a hop bag for the duration of the boil the amount of trub would be greatly reduced.

5 years, 120+ brews and never once blocked the chiller.

[melykabeer]

I will get a hopscreen but the one I want comes from the US and will take a few weeks to get here. If I do a brew before then I will use a hopbag and whirlpool. I dont think any hot break that may be sucked up will clog the chiller.
Drsmurto do you mind giving a quick rundown on how you keep your chiller clean?

[Bum]

Whirlpool immediately after flameout for say 2-3 mins and leave for 20-30 mins. You want the convection currents to stop or at least slow dramatically.

I find my whilpool works better if I wait for the convection currents to die down first (or at least slow considerably). YMMV.

[melykabeer]

Thanks Bum, do you do a gentle whirlpool or as fast as you can make it go without splashing around too much?

[Bum]

You can get a fairly strong vortex going without any splashing at all. Just start slowly at the outside and get faster as you slowly move towards the middle. If that makes any sense at all.

[melykabeer]

Still yet to do my first all grain brew

I nearly have everything together just need some tubing to go from the tap on the pot to the wort chiller. For some reason they have a different sized barb, the ones on the wort chiller are alot bigger. I think I need a new screw on adapter for the tap to make it the same size then I should be good to go.

I ended up with a hop strainer off ebay looks like it will work but its a bit fragile will crush easy. It looks like it will be a PITA to clean too.

Im nearly outa home brew beer, ive got a extract batch thats been sitting in the fermenting fridge over a month or so, once I run outa that Ill have to start my all grain!

[squirt in the turns]

Drsmurto do you mind giving a quick rundown on how you keep your chiller clean?

I'll chime in here, as I use the same chiller as drsmurto linked. The page actually gives suggestions about keeping it clean, and the method is pretty effective.

If you have a suitable pump, recirculate hot PBW or Napisan solution. If not, a soak should do the job. That said, check out this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi-Ib0vBnXQ
The pressure achieved by vigorously hand pumping like that is a lot higher than you'd get with a March pump and the bloke claims that a lot of gunk came out using that method.

I recirculate using a pump, sometimes leaving to soak overnight afterward, then flush both ways with my garden hose, which has such ridiculous pressure that I can't imagine much would be able to cling to the inside of the chiller. I then drain it, cover the wort in and out barbs tightly with foil, and bake it in a hot oven for an hour or so. This ensures that all moisture is evaporated out of it and anything that remains inside (residual water, or gunk that survived the wash) is sterile. Leave the foil on until next use and it's ready to go with no further need to clean or sanitise.

I prefer not to run Starsan through it as it's known to do things to copper and even to stainless steel (given time). The chiller is brazed and when I have run Starsan through it, it comes out with that dissolved copper aroma.