Hop Back...and kiss myself!

[Nate-O]

Hello everyone,

I have a question about using a hop back.

I'm currently brewing on a 50 bbl Newlands system that has a hop back already installed. It's never been used in eight years of operation and yesterday, I spent the afternoon cleaning it and dreaming of infusing our pale ale with a glorious hop aroma.

However, in poking around the web, I've only found scattered references to potential hop rates in a hop back (anywhere from 10 lbs to 50 lbs/bbl).

Does anyone have any experience using one? And if so, any guidance or good references would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Nate

[brewery master]

you can talk to brad mc quay at newlands at 604 855 4890 I made a hop back in a sealed unit that operates at 12 psi and has a wart contact time of 3 min. hoppy brewing don@brewerymaster.com

[Valleybrew]

I have a 7 BBL system with a hopback and hop at 1-2 lbs per BBL. At 2 lbs/BBL I get a definately noticeable hop character in my IPA. I also use 2 or 3 different hops in some recipes. You will love the hop character it adds to your beers.

[Nate-O]

Guys,

Many thanks for your help and suggestions. Since our pale ale is, for the moment, an English-style PA, I'm thinking about staying down around 0.25 - 0.5 lb./bbl and seeing what that does. Brewing on a 50 bbl system means that 50 lbs. of EKG whole-leaf would be expensive! I'll post after my brew and let you know how it works.

As for Brad, it's funny you should mention him. He just called about a couple weeks ago to see if I had any questions. This was before I started getting the HB cleaned and operational. Now might be a good time to give him a call!

Thanks again guys,

Nate

[Sauce]

Nate, Valleybrew

Any chance you guys have pics available of your hopbacks? I would like to have one fabricated but I would like to see some actual "factory made" examples before I start drawing up some designs.

If you do, feel free to PM me and I'll send you my email.

Thanks

JackK

[aswissbrewer]

Thankyou everybody for the interesting discussion and information.

I am fascinated by the hoppy american ales and would like to try my hand at one or two. I would like to start off with a hop back, as apposed to dry hopping.

Does anybody know where I could get a hop back for a 10 hl Kettle. Links and/or addresses would be much appreciated - especially european links/addresses.