Hop strainer

Fig. 3. Brewing (1 = mash turn 2 = mash kettle 3 = lauter tun 4 = wort kettle 5 = hop strainer 6 = wort tank 7 = wort separator and,...

Treatment of the Wort. The hot wort produced in the brewhouse cannot be transferred directly to the fermenting room. If natural hops are used they must be separated by a hop strainer as shown in Figure 8. During boiling, protein—tannin complexes are precipitated in the form of warm sludge. 

Fig. 8. Wort filtering in a whirlpool (1 = wort kettle 2 = hop strainer 3 = whirlpool tank and, 4 = wort cooler).

Fig. 15.9 Hop separator. 1. Valve 2. Level control electrodes 3. Level control 4. Screw-conveyor 5. Strainer area 6. Compression chamber 7. Fasteners 8. Strainer basket 9. Three-way valve (wort return and sparge water) 10. Return pipe 11. Wort discharge 12. Clean-out valve. Spent hops are discharged at the top. (Courtesy of A. Ziemann, GmbH).

Hopping. Hops (dried flowers of the hop vine) are added to the wort in the brew kettle to impart to beer its traditional odor and bitter taste. The mixture is then boiled to extract the aromatic components of the hops, and to sterilize and concentrate the wort prior to fermentation. After boiling, the hops are removed by passing the mixture through a strainer. The hopped wort is held in a tank where the excess protein settles out. Tannins from the hops react with the protein so that it comes out of solution. Otherwise, it might cause clouding of the beer. The spent hops are saved for use as a livestock feed ingredient. After the protein has been removed, the wort is piped to a cooler, then to an open fermentation tank. 

---