Best way to fix a mistake I made with my hops?

I just recently boiled my first batch of beer and it's fermenting right now.

I realize now I made a mistake when I put in the hops. I used pellets and I just put them straight into the wort (not in a nylon bag like I should've).

I'm worried this will make my beer really cloudy and I'm afraid of having pieces of hops in the actual beer itself.

When I pour the beer into the carboy should I strain it through a nylon bag? Any ideas?

Nope - you should be fine. Most of that stuff will settle out in the primary. You may loose a little more beer when you rack into the bottling bucket since you probably have more sediment. I don't (seldom) use a nylon bag with my hop pellets. I just cool it, give it a good whirlpool stir after its cooled, then let it set for 20 minutes. That will take a good amount of all the junk. As far as into the finished beer itself, unless you rack a lot of junk into the bottling bucket and really careless when bottling - this won't be an issue.

I don't strain out my pellet hops. I've made good beer so far! Putting the hops in a bag can work ok, but it can also decrease the hops utilization, and sometimes those darn bags leak out the hops anyway. The pellet hops degrade into a sludge that just seeps out.

The only time you get bittering from hops is during the boil- the wort as to be boiling for the hops oils to isomerize and go into the wort. During fermentation, everything will churn up, but then the heaviest stuff will fall to the bottom as "trub". By the end of fermention, you'll have a layer of trub on the bottom of the fermenter that will include hops debris, coagulated proteins, and spent yeast. You'll just rack (siphon) from above that trub and leave all the crud behind.

i think i used a hop bag once or twice. i've brewed a good dozen or so batches easy in the last year. never found any hops in my beer glass. i even made a Belgian Golden strong with 3 oz. hops in the boil. when i racked the beer to the carboy it was green. when i racked to the bottling bucket it was a nice gold color. all the hops had settled out in the fermentation.

You will be fine without filtering, but use it if it makes you feel better.

My first few beers I used a hop bag. Then I switched to use a funnel with a strainer to separate the hops. After a few beers I have not bothered with either. Even if it gets into the fermentor, it will be covered by yeast in a few weeks and you won't rack it into your bottles.

PFFT...you think that is a Hop mistake...

The IPA I just made was supposed to have Columbia hops (Dry and 60m) 5.5% and I added Columbus 14%

But hey...if its too bitter that's why they invented Fruit Purees

YooperBrew said:

I don't strain out my pellet hops. I've made good beer so far! Putting the hops in a bag can work ok, but it can also decrease the hops utilization, and sometimes those darn bags leak out the hops anyway. The pellet hops degrade into a sludge that just seeps out.

The only time you get bittering from hops is during the boil- the wort as to be boiling for the hops oils to isomerize and go into the wort. During fermentation, everything will churn up, but then the heaviest stuff will fall to the bottom as "trub". By the end of fermention, you'll have a layer of trub on the bottom of the fermenter that will include hops debris, coagulated proteins, and spent yeast. You'll just rack (siphon) from above that trub and leave all the crud behind.

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Ok thanks I feel a lot better. I'm fermenting in a plastic bucket and I am transferring it to another identical bucket for the bottling. What confuses me is why do I need to transfer buckets? Why can't I just add the sugar to the fermentation bucket at the end and bottle from there?

Also what is the best way to transfer from the fermentation bucket to the bottling bucket? Should I pour out from the top or let it out from the tap at the bottom?

I'd definitely avoid pouring. You want as little exposure to the air as possible. Either siphon it outta the primary bucket with a racking cane and a hose, or use that tap and a hose.

Best way for me (so far) is to boil up the sugar in some water (gotta sanitize!), let it cool, then put it in your bottling bucket, then siphon/tap/transfer with a hose into the bottom of the bucket. The natural swirling will mix up the bottling sugar.

If you add sugar right to your primary, you'd have to stir it up to mix, and that'll kick up all the crud that's (hopefully) settled out.

I brew with pellet hops all the time and I've always just tossed 'em in. No problems at all.

I never use a hop bag, but I do strain. Prior to straining, I never saw pieces of hops in my beer or at the bottom of bottles.

The reason I strain is to reduce the amount of trub so I can get a little more out of the bottom of my primary.

It's no more a no-no as it is a yes yes, it really doesn't matter either way.

Some dump everything in, without straining, just pour it in the bucket or in the funnel....Some use a big strainer that fit in the funnel for a carboy, or a sanitized 5 gallon nylon paint strainer bag in the bucket...

I have done it all ways. It really doesn't matter...anything will settle.

In other words, there is no wrong way to do it, or better way, or way that will make the best beer...they all work...the choice is what will work the best for you. That's how you develop you own unique brewing process. By trying all ways and deciding what works best for you.

What I do with my IC, is chill the wort, then I lean the bottom of my autosiphon about two coils up from the bottom on the metal of the siphon. That rests it above most of the break material and trub, then I rack it to the fermenter until I'm down to that and carefully lower the siphon down into the gunk, just trying to get as much of the wort as possible without letting in the hops and break matter.

But pretty much up until I got my immersion chiller for christmas last year I just dumped for the majority of my batches.

Everything is fine, it won't affect the beer one way or another. It will settle down anyway.

crw011 said:

What confuses me is why do I need to transfer buckets? Why can't I just add the sugar to the fermentation bucket at the end and bottle from there?

Click to expand...

During fermentation, a bunch of stuff is going to accumulate at the bottom of your bucket (trub and flocculated yeast) that you won't want in your bottles. If you stir it up adding the priming sugar, or while bottling, that undesirable stuff could end up in your finished beer.

Thank you everyone for all your help and knowledge. This is a really generous board. I'll post some pictures of my finished beer.