Finishing hop bags (tea bag style) any good?

Hello,
I picked up a kit can of BlackRock East India Pale Ale for my second home brew batch. I also got a packet of Brewcraft Beer Enhancer English Bitter No.70 to add instead of sugar.

Ideally I'd like to get a flavourful beer out of it so I was thinking of adding some additional hops and maybe not using the full amount of water (like maybe 18 litres instead of 23). I want to keep it as simple as possible so the Brewcraft hop bags that you just steep in a cup of boiling water seem ideal. (http://shop.brewcraft.net/BrewcraftNZ40/C-1023/Finishing+Hops) Are these worthwhile? Any recommendations for hop variety to use with IPA?

By the way, when I was picking up the beer enhancer I was looking for some type of enhancer that would work with an IPA but didn't see any ale varieties so I reckoned the English bitter would be close enough. Should it be suitable?

Cheers,
Aidan

Hmmm I can't seem to open your link. I personally love your Rakau as well as NZ Cascade in an IPA. My American favorite would probably be Centenial for IPA

JonK331 said:

Hmmm I can't seem to open your link.

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I've edited and fixed that link now. Thanks for your recommendations on hop varieties. Any take on the tea bag hops product?

I see nothing wrong with using those, they are convenient but like carbing tabs may not be a very effective use of money when compared to just buying hop pellets and a reusable hop sack.

dvdanny said:

I see nothing wrong with using those, they are convenient but like carbing tabs may not be a very effective use of money when compared to just buying hop pellets and a reusable hop sack.

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I'm a noob but from what I understand you need to boil the extract to use the hop pellets - or am I wrong? It's an ezy no boil kit so I'm not planning on boiling it up - can I still use pellets?

aidan said:

I'm a noob but from what I understand you need to boil the extract to use the hop pellets - or am I wrong? It's an ezy no boil kit so I'm not planning on boiling it up - can I still use pellets?

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seems like those hop bags are used for finishing, meaning you add them at either flame out or a few minutes before (like 5mins). In your case because it is a no boil kit you can either add the hops to the warmed wort (you'll still have to heat the water to dissolve the extract) or add it after a week of fermentation as a dry hop. I am assuming your kit uses pre-hopped LME or DME. In that case using the finishing bags for either finishing or dry hopping would be ok if you want more hop flavor/aroma.

dvdanny said:

seems like those hop bags are used for finishing, meaning you add them at either flame out or a few minutes before (like 5mins). In your case because it is a no boil kit you can either add the hops to the warmed wort (you'll still have to heat the water to dissolve the extract) or add it after a week of fermentation as a dry hop. I am assuming your kit uses pre-hopped LME or DME. In that case using the finishing bags for either finishing or dry hopping would be ok if you want more hop flavor/aroma.

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I believe the usage instructions are to steep them in a mug of boiled water for 15 mins and then add the liquid and bag into the fermenter with the wort. Can the pellets be used effectively without boiling the wort? i.e. like soaking/boiling them in water?

Yea thats fine, that's the "hop tea" process that a few members on this board of used to increase hop flavor/bitterness in IPA's after they have finished fermenting. If that's an IPA kit, I would also suggest dry hopping to give more hop aroma.

dvdanny said:

Yea thats fine, that's the "hop tea" process that a few members on this board of used to increase hop flavor/bitterness in IPA's after they have finished fermenting. If that's an IPA kit, I would also suggest dry hopping to give more hop aroma.

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So for dry hopping would I just add some hop tea to the fermenter after the week and let it set for another week or 2? (I will just be doing single stage then bottling) Oh and can you also dry hop with pellets?

aidan said:

So for dry hopping would I just add some hop tea to the fermenter after the week and let it set for another week or 2? (I will just be doing single stage then bottling) Oh and can you also dry hop with pellets?

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for dry hopping i wouldn't even make a hope tea, just throw the hops directly into the fermenter 7 days before bottling.

dvdanny said:

for dry hopping i wouldn't even make a hope tea, just throw the hops directly into the fermenter 7 days before bottling.

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ok, so would you just chuck the dry pellets straight in?

yup