Today saw the replacement of the hop screen in my copper. As I'm moving towards using my gasket plate heat exchanger, I want to be able to pump the wort from the kettle at speed, without restriction. This is simply not possible using a bottom take off under the hop bed as shown above. So I've replaced it with a full height vertical screen of 304 stainless
with 1mm perforations. I had to shape the screen to get a tight fit inside the copper due to the curvature where the base meets the side wall.I have used a 1/2" male to female equal elbow as a scrounger directly from the back of the ball valve. I ground the thread of the male end of the elbow as it was bound to harbour bits of hops if left in place The screen is held in place by an M8 x 60mm bolt which is attached to the copper.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how this works.
