Hop Bags or Not?

OK, I have always used Hop Bags but my beers have always seemed to be low on hops. This week I decided not to use the hop bags because I heard you get increased utilization. I turned by whirlpool immersion chiller on and hoped to leave some hops behind. When I looked in the kettle after transfering, nothing. All the hops ended up in my primary.

So ... Do you use Hop Bags or Not????

Nope, I just toss them in. I dont really worry about any of it getting into my primary.

I use a 5-gallon paint strainer. I've no issues with utilization and my wort is crystal clear going into the fermenter.

I used cheese cloth bags the first two times. It makes for a clean yeast cake in primary, but I think the hop flavor came through just fine. This last time I've been forced to dump in without bags, and there is still the issue of Dry Hop too. So Time will tell, but as it's also a different recipie... well it's an apple and oranges thing.

However I will say this, transfering to primary the trub at the bottom of my kettle was far more than I would have liked... so there's one pluss for the bags.

I've done it both ways for the same recipe, and can't tell a difference. So for me it's hop bags. If you tie the bag up loose enough it shouldn't be an issue. I don't like to have the hops go into the primary, so bags make life a lot easier for me.

+1 with BM.

Bag it and forget about it.







Ummm, unless you have a surprise boil over on a full keggle.........................

I use a bag with leaf. No bag with pellets.

I use a big SS Tea Ball for the 60/45 or 30 min additions. Late addition and Flameout addition just get dropped in. I am just using pellets for now

ohiobrewtus said:

I use a bag with leaf. No bag with pellets.

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+1 to this. I used leaf for the first time a week ago and DID NOT use a bag. Not going into the whole story, but it was a bad experience. The leaf clogged the ball valve on my kettle, so I had to pick up the whole damn thing and dump it through a strainer. Luckly my wife was home to help me stir the wort through the strainer, or I would have had quite a mess! For now on, I'm using a bag for leaf!

Right now, I use those little tea ball thingies, no more than 1/2 oz per ball.

But then, I am not a hop-aholic.

No bag for me. The wort goes through a strainer during the aeration process anyways, so I just filter them out that way.

I use whole hops whenever possible, and have a bazooka t-screen on my boil kettle. Therefore, I don't use hop bags.

UNLESS I'm using pellet hops...then I'll throw those in a muslin grain bag, just so there is no chance of clogging my CFC. I maybe use pellet hops for one or two brews out of the year...my LHBS has a decent selection of cheap whole hops so it's rarely necessary to get anything different.

I use pellets in a 5g nylon paint strainer. The size and knit on the strainer bag is big enough to allow plenty of wort to pass through but too small to let all the hop residue pass through. The batches I did before the bag always had a lot of hop residue going into the primary, very little with the bag. I haven't noticed any difference in utilization either.

I'm with Biermuncher. Only my wort never comes out that clear, ever, regardless of anything I do. Damn!

I use a bag with whole hops, but not with pellets.

I use a CFC so bags are a must.

I use a bag with Pellet hops, but not with whole hops.

I've absolutely noted a huge decrease in hop flavor and aroma which I can only attribute to late additions being in a bag. I use 5-gallon bags for each addition too. I'm currently working out another wiremesh strainer on the siphon tube to let the late additions swim free.

Since I use a CFC I bag as well, regardless as to whether I am using whole or pellet.
My hope bag apparatus is identical to this. It is not so much a pain in the butt to bob it up and down every few minutes to make sure the hops are in contact with plenty of wort. Also, the last 15 minutes that I am recirculating, I stick the hose into the top and let the wort flow through the bag just to be sure.

What are the benefits to keeping hop residue out of the primary? My beers tend to come out quite clear, so that can't be it. Is it just a space issue?

Well, for me it is more of a matter of keeping the hop crap out of the CFC. It shouldn't clog it as much as just depositing itself inside where it is the most difficult to clean.
With a plate-type CFC though, it is mandatory to keep the hops and grains out of there.

I strain the wort going into the carboy so I just toss the hops right in the boil...no bag.

I also just use plain-jane pots, an IC, and I lift/pour (or use a saucepan if it's too heavy). But if I had a nice structure with valves at the bottom of keggles or a CFC or anything that might get clogged I imagine I'd do whatever it took to not let anything get clogged mid-brew. That would be teh suck.

Only for dry hopping. I stir with a strainer to get most of it out then whirlpool and siphon.

bull8042 said:

Since I use a CFC I bag as well, regardless as to whether I am using whole or pellet.
My hope bag apparatus is identical to this. It is not so much a pain in the butt to bob it up and down every few minutes to make sure the hops are in contact with plenty of wort. Also, the last 15 minutes that I am recirculating, I stick the hose into the top and let the wort flow through the bag just to be sure.

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I have the brewzilla 10 gallon kettle with the pump. I tie my nylon bag onto the pump arm allowing the bag to be submerged in the wort and cycle my pump. I like your setup and I'm thinking about doing this. I thought I was the only one that thought "hey, I have a pump, why not flow my wort through my hop bag"?? Lol

12 years after the original question was asked, I still don't use hop bags. I tried them once, but it seemed most of the pellets filtered through the bag anyway, and I was concerned some of the hop oils were being retained by the fibers in the bag.

So I voted "no."