bagging hops?

I'm a recent convert to AG. I dont have the really nice setups like most on here for it, in fact i'm doing it all stovetop for the moment using a method that deathbrewer has posted. Seems to be working great thus far.
I did something different this batch though and wonder if it will have an effect. i usually just dump the hops in (pellets), and then filter the finished wort through a muslin bag on its way into primary. this time though i put all 3 of my hop additions ( .5oz warrior for 60, 1oz cacade for 45, and .5oz warrior for 15) into muslin bags. I didnt get that whizbang hop smell and i fear not enough hop flavor was transferred. Normally when i use warrior, as soon as they hit the water you can smell them 3 blocks away.
Am i just paranoid cause i'm a noob to AG, or is there a different exchange rate for hops from a bag?

I think there is a different exchange rate. Depends on how tightly you bagged them. You want lots of flow around them, so the bigger the bags, the better.

I have no idea how to fix this if you don't get the bittering you want, however, after fermentation, you could always secondary, and dry hop with a bit of whatever.

+1 on just throwing them in, and then filtering for the primary fermenter is optional.

I used small bags. Hops had plenty of room dry but they really swelled and ran outa bag fast. I gave them a gentle press with the spoon a few times. I think the beer willl be good, i was shooting for about 70 IBU's though. I (guess) i'll end up with about 45-50. Still a good beer but not the bitter pale ale i was going for.

If you just toss hops in, whether pellet or whole, they spread over the entire surface of your boil kettle. This surface area is what gives you that aroma explosion. Putting the hops in a bag keep this from happening. I haven't seen a difference in hop utilization (bittering, flavor, or aroma) since switching to bagging my hops. I recently got a plate chiller and clean wort is a must.

+1 for JP and using a big bag. I just use a binder clip to hold mine to the kettle rim and add hops to the bag as I go.

I'll probably dry hop with some cascade leaf hops to bring the IBU's up a tick.

Dry hopping won't do a thing for your IBUs, but it does add a great aroma and makes it seem like there's more hops in it.

Even though you're doing stove top, you can still rig something similar.

Your hops should have enough room to churn freely even wen they've hydrated and swollen.

Here's a relative view of my hop bag in a full sized keggle

I'm not a huge fan of the muslin bags. I think they are a bit of a waste of time. I just throw my hops in whole or pelleted, then I run the boiled wort through my colander (it fits right onto my primary -- it gets out the large particulate) and let things settle out in my primary and secondary. I haven't had any off flavors or any problems yet. I think it's more of a personal opinion thing more than anything else. Also as long as you get the large particulate out you'll be OK. Even if you have a few hop petals in your primary they will still settle out over time.

Good luck!

Cheers ,

Joe

Holy crap I love that keggle. Its like someone drew the cut just for giggles

beerkrump said:

I recently got a plate chiller and clean wort is a must.

Click to expand...

That is exactly why I bag my pellet hops for the time being. I was using whole leaf and a false bottom in my BK. I quit doing that after the false bottom kept getting unseated and folding up due to the boil. I'm currently looking into getting weight welded onto it because I do prefer whole hops. I just don't like when they clog my pump and make the plate chiller filthy. Before I started bagging hops it would seriously take me over an hour to flush and counter flush the crap out of the chiller.