Anyone use cheesecloth for hops?

jedIPA · 04-16-2010, 01:23 PM

Does anyone use cheesecloth for a hop bag? I was thinking I could make individual bags for hop additions. Just tossing each bag in as the boil recommends. Any thoughts?

Munsoned · 04-16-2010, 02:52 PM

I use knee-high (white) panty hose. Tie them off, toss them in, and they contain 99% of pellet hop material (they actually suck up a lot of wort too in the process--1 ounce in, 1 lb out). Very cheap--I get them at the dollar store.

Cheese cloth might let more hop matter out depending on how fine the mesh is, but I've never tried it so I'm not sure.

If you use whole leaf hops, that's probably a whole other ballgame...

**steinsato** · 04-16-2010, 02:56 PM

A good friend of mine in Missouri uses cheesecloth only. He's never complained about it. He buys that cause it's cheaper than the muslin sacks. I usually just dump my hops right into the pot without any sack at all. Only time I use sacks is when I dry hop and for that I use the reusable nylon bags. They save you money after a few brews.

japhroaig · 04-17-2010, 04:19 AM

Yes, I do, and it is a bit more of a pain to assemble depending on what quality of cloth you use. I make 'hop bombs' with cheese cloth and butchers twine, and as long as you tie it well, it works great.

BigJason · 04-17-2010, 10:31 PM

I've done the same as japhroaig. I have since bought a couple washable nylon bags, one for hops and one for specialty grains (before I started doing All Grain). My hop bag contains 99% of the material, and it's long enough that I just lay the end of the bag over the edge of my pot and clamp it with a metal clamp. If I have a recipe with multiple additions, I just unclamp, open the bag, drop in the additions, and reclamp.

It also fills up with a ton of wort, so while I'm immersion chilling, I'll raise the bag out of the wort and clamp, to let it drain. Clean up is a simple wash out - flip inside out to wash the inside, and then hang it to dry.