Hops in a Nylon bag

I brewed my very first batch ever yesterday, which was a sierra nevada pale ale clone, and have some questions for you seasoned brewers.

Please forgive me if this should have been in the beginners forum.

When the recipe called for hops, I put the hops in a nylon bag and steeped them for the length of time the recipe called for. I have watched a bunch of brewing videos and everyone I have seen the brewer just threw the hops straight in. I am wondering if I am going to get unexpected flavors by not just leaving the hops in through the primary fermentation?

One thing that amazed me is how much those hops expand, a one ounce bag of pellets is so small when it goes in but comes out at least 10 times bigger when saturated. A hoppy brew must have alot of sediment at the end.

I use nylon bags for the hops in all my brews, never had a problem and for me the beer turned out great. The issue I really had with brewing was my first two batches, I followed the kit instructions on the duration of time in the primary (which was 7 to 10 days), the beer had some off flavors. Now I leave my wort in the primary for no less than 3 weeks and the brews come out fantastic. Don't worry, you'll be fine.

You are good to go!
I steep mine in a bag as well. That way they don't clog up my strainer during transfer.. I think it's just a matter of choice as I've seen others on this board leave them in.

Hop bags are awesome. My one attempt on brewing without it (for the hell of it) turned into a disaster. Just my $0.02 though....

I bag as well. Buy a real hop bag though. The SWMBO gets really pissed at me every time she pulls a pair of hose out of the drawer that has one green-stained leg. I don't know, women are just funny that way....

I've never been a bagger, and my stuff turns out PDG. I strain into primary, and some of the IPAs fill the strainer up pretty quickly. I've had to stop the transfer to dump the strainer before, but it's quick and really doesn't cause a problem. Whole hops cause much less of a problem and mess. I don't think that there is an advantage to either way, just one less piece of equipment to have around in my small house.

My first batch I just tossed them in and didn't bother to strain them out. The batch turned out rather well to be honest and I didn't use a secondary.

All subsequent batches I just toss the hopps into the boiling wort and when I goto the primary, I strain it so most of the stuff on the bottom gets filtered out.

I still get some sediment on the bottom of the primary, yeast droppoff and what not...

It's entirely up to you what you want to do, but both methods work.

Hop bags FTW

Its a personal preference with the difference being sediment in the primary. Just make sure the hops have plenty of room to expand in your bag and your good to go. If they are too tightly packed in you won't get proper utilization because they need good contact with the wort.

My first batch I did'nt use them, but since then I have always used hop bags.

I haven't bagged my hops yet, but I might start soon. I tends to be a pain to strain out when transferring. My funnel with the little screen insert gets clogged really quick. I tried using a grain bag in addition to the strainer. I just put the drain hose from my kettle in the bag and it catches quite a bit of junk.

You guys using hop bags...when you have a recipe with multiple hop additions at various times, are you using a bunch of seperate bags, or do you pull the bag out and add the next addition into the same bag?

You guys using hop bags...when you have a recipe with multiple hop additions at various times, are you using a bunch of seperate bags, or do you pull the bag out and add the next addition into the same bag?

Click to expand...

I really dont think it matters. But like someone else said on this thread, I would just make sure that it has enough room to expand. Hop pellets definitely grow when added to the wort.

I have used multiple bags for previous brews just because the bags that were already inside were a little too hot for me to handle. Its easier just to throw another one in.

Fett327 said:

I really dont think it matters. But like someone else said on this thread, I would just make sure that it has enough room to expand. Hop pellets definitely grow when added to the wort.

I have used multiple bags for previous brews just because the bags that were already inside were a little too hot for me to handle. Its easier just to throw another one in.

Click to expand...

+1 on that.
After using a hop bag for the first time this weekend, I'll definitely be buying more bags because trying to reopen that dern thing mid-boil wasn't fun.

Home Depot Nylon Paint Strainers are the way to go. Much cheaper than buying hop bags themselves.

I have another question regarding hops and bags.

For dry hopping I want to use a bag, but I can see getting the bag back out of a carboy as a serious problem. Those hop pellets seriously expand when saturated.

Also if I want to leave my beer in the secondary for a longer period of time do i need to pull the hops out or is longer better for hops as well?

I use a bag on IPA's to make clean up easier.. mostly just toss them in (the hopstopper keeps them out of the fermenter

I use nylon knee highs, they're easy to get a ton of and pretty cheap, plus I can use the different colors to keep track of which hops are what.

Having done both, it's simply a matter of preference, I don't think my beer was affected by it at all.

i tried not using them and whirlpooling once. apparently that's not my forte.