marbles for dry hopping?

I notice in another thread a user says to get non toxic lead-free marbles for dry hopping. How the heck do i find lead-free marbles? Only source i can think of is the dollar store... You get what you get there. Any tips on where to find lead-free/organic/free trade marbles?

I think most are glass.

Glass will be safe.

And you need at least 2 bags of them, I had a hell of a time getting my hops to sink with just 1 bag of marbles......

Really? 2 bags?

You can also use those glass decorative marbles from any craft store. I did and they worked fine in secondary for 2 weeks.

Hell. Wash a rock.

Cheaper

use aquarium rocks. Get them at the pet store. I use maybe 6 of them, enough to have the hop bag sink during the boil.

I guess you could use them for a dry hop though

FYI: when you put the marbles in the bag, put them in a separate bag.

Put the marbles in a bag and tie it. Put the hops in a bag (don't tie it yet). Then put the bag of marbles in the bag of hops and tie the bag of hops. You'll be much happier pulling out a bag of marbles and pitching the used hops than trying to pick through the used hops to remove the marbles.

You can also use stainless steel washers. Very dense so it won't take as much volume. And I had a few left over from making my mash run cooler.

I used stainless nuts in a hop spider and they tarnished. I guess the acidity of the wort caused this but I was a little worried so I don't use them any more. As for the "glass" vase marbles in craft stores, look at the contents list on the packaging, most that I saw were 75% acrylic.

I use an extra Stainless steel 1/2" coupler I had laying around.

I need to get this going tonight and the dollar store is on the way home... So marbles for now. 2 bags though... Do i need that many, i'm only tossing in one ounce?

johngaltsmotor said:

FYI: when you put the marbles in the bag, put them in a separate bag.

Put the marbles in a bag and tie it. Put the hops in a bag (don't tie it yet). Then put the bag of marbles in the bag of hops and tie the bag of hops. You'll be much happier pulling out a bag of marbles and pitching the used hops than trying to pick through the used hops to remove the marbles.

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Good idea. I'll do a double tie... Maybe i'll just tie the hop sock twice though. If i don't pull the knots too tight i should be able to loosen afterwards

If you're using pellet hops, one bag will most likely work. Whole hops are the ones that are tough to keep down.

I use stainless steel ball bearings. Got an assortment of sizes in different weights from my local fastener supply for under $3.

I was planning on glass marbles but couldn't find any that I trusted in my beer. Then I was trying to find some stainless ball bearings but couldn't find any locally and the ones I found online were either overpriced and/or they wanted too much for shipping.

I ended up ordering some scrap stainless rod from a guy on eBay. They have more than enough mass to sink a bag of hops and they're easy to clean and sanitize. I can't remember the exact dimensions but I want to say they're 1/2" or 3/4" diameter and were pre-cut to a length of about 4". I paid about $10 or $12 with shipping for four of them.

microbusbrewery said:

I was planning on glass marbles but couldn't find any that I trusted in my beer. Then I was trying to find some stainless ball bearings but couldn't find any locally and the ones I found online were either overpriced and/or they wanted too much for shipping. I ended up ordering some scrap stainless rod from a guy on eBay. They have more than enough mass to sink a bag of hops and they're easy to clean and sanitize. I can't remember the exact dimensions but I want to say they're 1/2" or 3/4" diameter and were pre-cut to a length of about 4". I paid about $10 or $12 with shipping for four of them.

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P.S. Use caution if you go this route and you use a glass carboy.

mcbaumannerb said:

If you're using pellet hops, one bag will most likely work. Whole hops are the ones that are tough to keep down.

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Yes !!! A real pain !!.........But I do like the whole hops more versus the pellets on a dry hop.

At Dollar Tree you can buy a bag of glass beads (which are about the size of marbles). I add these to a pair of boiled nylon stockings to use for dry hopping. Very cheap yet effective when the beads have been boiled.

I stopped in at 2 stores looking for clear glass marbles, but all they had were coloured marbles and metallic fancy glass beads... neither appealed to me. Pretty sure they weren't food safe.

Ended up tying an oz of hops in the sock and dropped it in the carboy without any weights. Sank right to the bottom anyway. :/

rhys333 said:

Ended up tying an oz of hops in the sock and dropped it in the carboy without any weights. Sank right to the bottom anyway. :/

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Let us know how soon it's bobbing back on top. It will.

Quaker said:

Let us know how soon it's bobbing back on top. It will.

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Haha uou called it. Within the hour

Spoons. One per ounce of hops or throw in a bunch. Simple. Free. Safe.

I use dinner spoons to weight down the hop bag. You know, those teaspoons and tablespoons you have in the kitchen drawer? They are stainless so they will not give off flavors, round so they won't slice the bag, no chance of cracking like glass, and it's one less dang thing to buy and keep track of.

You probably have a lot of spoons on hand.

If you need a mash paddle, try a really long handle spatula from a grilling set, or a big commercial SS spoon from the dollar store. Why not use what you got.

Brew on.

50 cents for a bag of marbles at walmart. I need about 6 to sink an ounce...10 to sink 2 ounces. I actually really like it because when I am done I put some hot water in the carboy and shake it around...the bag basically cleans the krausen completely off before I even start to clean it

Update: second day after dry hopping in the carboy WITH a hop sock but WITHOUT any weights, and I'm actually quite happy with thr progress. After initially sinking, the bag rose to the top but stayed just under the surface. The hops are fully submerged and imparting their goodness about as well as i can expect.

On a side note, i have 6 oz of hops in this 6gal IPA (2 oz northern brewer and 3 oz cascade at intervals during the PM boil, with another 1 oz cascade dry-hopped). There's some debate around the actual IBU, but I get the sense this bad boy's gonna smack me in the chops before the first sip.

How about a couple stainless steel plumbing elbows?

I use pellets, and just toss them in. They swim right around the boil kettle with no complaints at all.