Losing hoppiness reusable hop bag?

I have made a hop-thing using something similar to this:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...irring-straining/nylon-hop-bag-8-x-9-1-4.html

and I am curious to know if anyone has noticed less-than normal hop utilization? I have made a couple of beers in two different kettles, my large kettle uses the reusable hop bag, but my smaller kettle (for half size batches) can only accomodate the one-time use muslin bags. I feel as though the 1/2 size batches of the same brew are hoppier, most notably in the late hop area. Anyone else experience this?

I've stopped using hop bags. Particularly for dry hopping. I used to never use hop bags and had the best hoppy beers for a long time.

I got tired of hops getting in the siphon and switched to hop bags for a while. Since then, the IPAs and Pales have been noticeably less bitter and hoppy. I won't be using hop bags any more. The benefits of not using a hop bag far out weigh the convenience of racking with floating hop particles.

I have no scientific evidence to back my experience, but I can say that I've made many batches with and without hop bags and notice a HUGE difference.

BTW, when I used a hop bag, I would always increase the amount of hops by 50-100% (For dry hopping), and I could never reach the same level aroma.

I dont use the bag to dry hop, just during the boil. But I totally agree with you in that they seem less hoppy. I re-use my yeast and I just dont want to have all that hop trub on my yeast cake if I can help it (especially when I dry hop, it will be like quadruple the hops on the cake).

Maybe I can just be smart, and save the yeast cake from things that dont have that many hops.

Just to add. I stopped using the hop straining bag and noticed a huge improvement in hop flavor and aroma. I have since ditched the bag altogether

Utilization does decrease, but not by a lot. I still prefer to use paint strainer bags, because I hate the hop mess in my wort after I am done. You can always add a bit more hops if it bothers you, or do as you have been and just toss the hops in without a bag.

It might not just be hop utilization, but the fact that you're tasting the actual hop particles in the beer. When you don't strain the hops out, a lot can still be transferred over to your keg or bottle after racking from a primary or secondary. When the hop particles sit in the bottle or keg, it's like they are continuously hopping the beer as well.