CO2 Hop Extract

[nohandslance]

I have a used Mash/kettle brewing system with a convex steam jacketed bottom with mixer and internal colandria.
Outlet port to Heat exchanger is DIN 50, thinking about hop extract in the boil and whole hops in hop back as the trub pile will not be tight with the mixer creating an interference in the whirlpool and blockage in the outlet pipe.
Anyone else using C0@2 extract for bittering, kettle only and hopback and dry hopping (whole cone) for aroma.

Thanks
Lance
Tonopah Brewing
775.997.6411

[brewmaster 2011]

YOu could get a separate Whirlpool if you can afford it.

[dick murton]

A whirlpool is not effective with hop extract only. You may be surprised, but the wort benefits from some vegetable matter from the hops, whether hop pellets or whole hops to create good trub cone. In the case of a whirlpool, hop pellets, perhaps oddly, work better than whole hops. Based on experience of lots of trials with new whirlpools when I had to change some of the hops grists because there were too many hop pellets, or not enough hop pellets to form a decent cone.

[gitchegumee]

Unusual setup

Looks like German-made equipment. Didn't come with whirlpool ability? Seems quite unusual. Besides the hop particulate you seek to separate from the clear wort, there is also likely to be significant protein break as well. How does this get separated? I guess you wouldn't use a kettle coagulant. I've seen German systems with "Drop Tanks" that aerate the cooled wort via dropping into a tall tank after the heat exchanger. The foam that develops helps to float the trub and it is eliminated from the top of the liquid. If you cannot use a separate whirlpool to allow use of pelletized hops, then your CO2 hop extract sounds like a good compromise. Some might balk at the higher intensity processing, but even T-90s are processed to a fair degree--albeit mechanical vs. chemical. Good luck!