The re-jigged system had a brew through it last weekend and an issue arose with the copper take off on the back of the copper ball valve. After steeping aroma hops at 80 deg c for 30 minutes it was time to pump the wort from the copper, through the in-line filter to the gasket plate heat exchanger and on to the mash tun for a cold break rest. Operating the Totton pump at full bore a huge amount of hot break material was sucked into the in-line filter almost blocking it, so much so, I had to back off the flow rate. The issue lies in the fact that the take off from the back of the coppers ball valve points downwards, hence with powerful suction from the pump, any deposit on the coppers base behind the kettle screen will be sucked up.
My solution to this is to modify the coppers take off, so the opening is angled upwards. To do this I used a 1/2" to 3/8th reducing bush which was screwed into the elbow on the back of the coppers ball valve. I've then screwed a 3/8th street elbow into the reducing bush. To reduce volume loss to the copper I've cut down the female end of the street elbow. There will be a small plug of break collected in the elbow at the end of the aroma steep. The options are to run a small amount of wort to waste, of just let the filter deal with it, I like the latter! Hopefully that should do the job ready for the next brew.
A blog dedicated to my HERMS brewery
