hopps pellets leaving the bag

hey. newbie here going straight into grain brewing. makin a blond ale.. kit from morebeer.com, the hopps came in pellet form... i think next time ill put my own together and make sure im getting flowers right? im pretty sure theres no hole in the bag.. im assuming the pellets just brake down too much... or is it cuz im usin g my grain bag for my hopps bag? or the combo of both things...

think it will effect anything? im just gonna strain in into the fermenter... not sure with what though... if the grain bag isnt catchin it all..

hope i didnt make any classic nube poster mistakes... thx for taking the time to read my problems!

there was def a few other bumps along my first brew ride here, hopefully the next one will go smoother, its a smoked scotch ale.

That looks more like hot break material. You could use Irish moss or worlflock for the last 15 mins. of the boil. Also a whirlpool is a great way to separate it. Stir it slowly and let it sit about 15-30 mins, Using both is a great advantage.

Don't even bother using a bag to contain the hops. No need to use flower hops when you are using them for boil/flavor.

It doesn't matter AT ALL if the hops get into your fermenter from the kettle after the boil. Zero impact on flavor, and nothing to worry about. Having a bag in the boil and trying to contain them and filter them is just completely unnecessary - seriously.

The only time you may want to consider using flower hops is when dry hopping. Even then, many people use pellet hops for dry hops and get great results.

There are advantages to using pellet hops in the boil. First of all, utilization and consistency. You can count on the pellet hops being fully utilized in the wort, because they break apart and the full surface area is exposed. They also don't soak up the wort like flower hops do. They are easier to work with overall.

The only time you should use flower hops is in dry hopping (maybe). If you use them for dry hopping, remember that it sucks to clean a carboy out with a bunch of soaked dry hops in it. I only started using flower hops for dry hopping when I switched to kegs, because it was easy to clean.

Stick with pellet hops, and forget the bag. Don't think twice about them going into your fermenter. If anything, they will help the flavor - they will never hurt it.

thx eltorrente i feel a lot better about the hops. useful info as well ill stick to pellet.

ak hop - the layer of material is much thicker and greener then it looks and it happened shortly after i put the hops in. but i want to know more about this hot break material and figure out if im dealing with that, and what that means and what to do about it.

thx your input guys.

Hot break is proteins that have coagulated and dropped out of solution during the first stages of the boil. This material becomes part of the "trub", that you have heard so many horror stories about in various books.

"Cold break" makes up another part of trub - the rest of it is inactive yeast and fats that have been produced during fermentation. This stuff is what scares new brewers because they hear that it will make their beer taste bad if it comes into contact with their beer in the fermenter.

The fact is, it won't affect your beer at all. Yes - many books talk about it, but it's completely overblown and is not an issue at all. Never use a secondary fermenter because you are afraid of the evil trub touching your beer - you will only introduce oxygen by transferring, and that actually is a bad thing. Leave it in the primary fermenter until you are ready to bottle.

Never worry about filtering your kettle to prevent hot break or cold break going into the fermenter, either - it simply doesn't matter. Seriously. It will just sit on the bottom and form a cake with your hops and yeast.

Your beer will taste great and be clear, and there will be zero effects. The more "break" that is produced, the clearer and better your beer. Doesn't matter if it's sitting in the bottom of your carboy or not. It isn't worth any ounce of effort or worry to try to prevent it from entering your carboy.

man i sure wish i was able to read your post before i tried to filter the trub and dropped the grain bag into the fermenter... maybe if i was worried about filtering the wort i woulda realized my fermenters spout was open and not lost a half gallon to my kitchen floor...

heh yeah i made a deal of noob mistakes but im more prepared for my next batch now.

thanks again mr. torrent for your simple explanation of hot and cold break and trub and hopps all being a non issue... ill be much more at ease for my second brew and things will probably go much smoother.

I should also say that I wish it was easier to filter that stuff out, because if I had the choice - I'd rather just keep it out of my fermenter. Most people at least whirlpool the wort before draining into the kettle, and that can create a cone of material in the center of the kettle, then you can drain around it.

My kettle has a drain valve on it, and I usually just tip the kettle on its side and drain the whole thing in. I used to worry about it, but no more..

eltorrente said:

I should also say that I wish it was easier to filter that stuff out, because if I had the choice - I'd rather just keep it out of my fermenter. Most people at least whirlpool the wort before draining into the kettle, and that can create a cone of material in the center of the kettle, then you can drain around it.

My kettle has a drain valve on it, and I usually just tip the kettle on its side and drain the whole thing in. I used to worry about it, but no more..

Click to expand...

While that whirlpooling does keep some of the trub out of the fermenter, what most people don't think about is that any liquid left in the boil pot with it is potential beer that is lost. It's just like buying a 12 pack and opening one just to pour it out on the ground. I dump it all into the fermenter because I want all the beer that I made.:rockin:

RM-MN said:

...I dump it all into the fermenter because I want all the beer that I made.

Click to expand...

Don't you end up with sizeable trub losses later, in your fermentor?

I prefer to leave the trub behind in the BK as much as possible. Straining the wort in the BK, by using a screen, is easier than during racking later.

Plus it's easier to harvest the yeast without all that trub mixed in.

IslandLizard said:

Don't you end up with sizeable trub losses later, in your fermentor?

I prefer to leave the trub behind in the BK as much as possible. Straining the wort in the BK, by using a screen, is easier than during racking later.

Plus it's easier to harvest the yeast without all that trub mixed in.

Click to expand...

There shouldn't be much trub loss in the fermenter. The hops will settle first, then the yeast. Given time, that layer will settle pretty compactly with the beer on top. You can't avoid all loss as the yeast/trub layer will still be moist but the loss is as minimal as you can get.

RM-MN said:

While that whirlpooling does keep some of the trub out of the fermenter, what most people don't think about is that any liquid left in the boil pot with it is potential beer that is lost. It's just like buying a 12 pack and opening one just to pour it out on the ground. I dump it all into the fermenter because I want all the beer that I made.:rockin:

Click to expand...

Me too, for the most part.

I don't have a good way to whirlpool well, and all of the cold break ends up in the fermenter anyway, since I have a CFC. I would keep out the hot break if I could- but I don't have a way to filter out the hot break either.

I make a lot of hoppy beers, and there is a lot of hops debris. I leave the thickest sludge on the bottom of the boil kettle, but I'm not leaving more than a quart or so behind. It all goes into the fermenter to become beer.

It'll settle and compact into a tight mass with the yeast cake in the end.

Yooper said:

Me too, for the most part.

I don't have a good way to whirlpool well, and all of the cold break ends up in the fermenter anyway, since I have a CFC. I would keep out the hot break if I could- but I don't have a way to filter out the hot break either.

I make a lot of hoppy beers, and there is a lot of hops debris. I leave the thickest sludge on the bottom of the boil kettle, but I'm not leaving more than a quart or so behind. It all goes into the fermenter to become beer.

It'll settle and compact into a tight mass with the yeast cake in the end.

Click to expand...

Do you ever worry about clogging your CFC? I'm thinking about building one, but I'm terrified of keeping it clean and unclogged.

When I use leaf hops in the boil I make sure the bag is overly large and I poke it a lot to get it well soaked. It kind of becomes a pancake of hops. Then I pick it out with a strainer at the end of the boil so I can stir the wort to simulate a small whirlpool effect and then put the bag back in very gently. The bag then almost becomes a filter for the hot break as it settles during the drain.....I have a valve on the kettle with an elbow inside to suck out every drop I can.

What I'd like is a big stainless ring to put on that pancake bag to force it to the bottom when I turn off the heat so I could then whirlpool......maybe a dumb idea. And then I could mash the bag to squeeze out that last bit of wort

I wonder if anyone that uses a bag for hops puts marbles in during the boil?