GroosBrewz

Recipes 

Hey guys-

I have never used a hop bag because years ago I read that they can "stifle" the activities of your hops.. Better utilization if free floating... But man are they a pain to strain sometimes.. So do you guys use them? Does their use lead to less utilization?

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Revvy

Recipes 

I started out using them....for the first 4-5 batches....but like you said (sort of) they didn't seem to break up, so I figured all the precious goodies were not coming through...so since then I just dump themin...and I've had no problem with straining them off..Using a chiller, and racking with an auto siphon, I can easily leave them behind.

But even before I got the chiller...for buckets I used a 5 gallon paintstrainer bag to strain into the bucket...and a big wire strainer inside my large funnel if I was fermenting in a carboy...

So if you are careful after the boil, hop gunk shouldn't be an issue after the fact, even if you do just do the "dump" method into your primary, it will settle.

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p4ck37p1mp

Recipes 

How about the best of both worlds?

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/hop-strainer-34303/

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BeerPressure

Recipes 

I use them for whole leaf hops. Pellets i just toss right in.

FxdGrMind

Recipes 

I used them on the first batch with Hop flowers (whole). But with the second I got pelets.. The 60min Boil hops I put in a bag, it circulated the boil nicely. Then to finnish it had me put them in just after shut off and I dumped them in. They went to the bottom then exploded and there was this rise of hop..."Stuff" in the kettle. Durring the Chill they settled to the bottom... with stirring and I didn't get much with the siphon. No need realy to bag the pellets.. as for the full flower.. I'm thinking safer to bag than to stop up my siphon.
Cheers

p4ck37p1mp

Recipes 

Depends if you have a CFC or plate chiller, have to strain them somehow to keep them out of the chiller. I have a plate, this I made the hop strainer / bag / gadget.

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'Insert Name Here' Brew Club (North Atlanta Metro Area)

-- "Unix is user friendly. However, it isn't idiot friendly."

Bob869007

Recipes 

I use whole hops and I use a strainer when I syphon into the fermenter. I have not tried a hop bag. I get a lot of cold break because I use a 50' SS immersion wort chiller. I also use a keggle so dumping is out of the question. So I figure no matter what I need a strainer. One day I will get a Blichman boil kettle.

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Angry Bob's Brewery

Primary: Salty Dog Pale Ale

Primary: Angry Bob's Amarillo IPA

Primary: Salty Dog Pale Ale

Secondary: Ed Wort's Apfelwine

Keg 1: Salty Dog Pale Ale

Keg 2: Angry Bob's Amarillo IPA

Keg 3: Cask Conditioning: Ed Wort's Haus Ale with a Hops adjustment

Bottled: Salty Dog Pale Ale

williec30

Recipes 

i started straining the wort through a stainless industrial colander... the combination of that and whirfloc seems to work well.

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Nostrildamus

Recipes 

I have done both and noticed little difference. The simplicity of a hop strainer is very nice though.

I took a SS mesh strainer for cooking, cut a small hole in the bottom of it, turned it upside down and put the dip tube through it in my keggle. Easiest conversion I've ever done.



Because the sides of the strainer are mesh as well it compacts to fit under the horizontal portion of my dip tube thereby holding it place. If you are brewing in a spigotless pot, you could put a SS racking cane through the bottom of the strainer and place it in the pot and it should filter out the majority of the hops.

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ArcaneXor

Recipes 

I don't use hop bags anymore, and I don't strain either. All the junk goes into my fermenter, where it eventually settles out under a nice thick layer of dormant yeast.

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