volume loss from hops in pliny clone?

Hey guys, I'm brewing a pliny clone next weekend and I was wondering how much volume loss I can expect due to the 12.50oz. of pellet hops in this brew. I don't dry hop in bags, I just dump the hops right into the primary after fermentation has stopped. I'm not worried about the extra loss of beer, but I am curious as to how much smaller this batch will be due to all that junk in the bottom of the fermenter. Thanks for any info.

Pellet hops won't soak up that much to worry about. After a few hours in liquid, they break apart into smaller pieces and settle with the trub. Whole hops are a different story, but pellets aren't much to worry over.

He seems to be talking about volume loss due to excess trub, not volume loss due to hop absorption.

I'm not sure exactly how much extra trub all those hop pellets will create. But, you can minimize it by using a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in the boil. Just clip the bag onto the side of the kettle with a couple binder clips or something then throw your hop pellets in the bag. That'll reduce the amount of volume lost due to trub coming out of the kettle and the fermenter. I usually still get some hop sludge, but not a whole lot. Using the bag has no perceivable effect on hop utilization for me.

I'm not sure how much you're dry hopping, but I'm guessing, after the boil, it can't be so much that it'll create a significant layer of trub.

mojotele said:

I'm not sure how much you're dry hopping, but I'm guessing, after the boil, it can't be so much that it'll create a significant layer of trub.

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Its about 4.5 to 5 oz of dry hops.

thanks for the responses guys

I made this beer last weekend. I didn't use anything to keep the hops out of the brew kettle and probably was only able to rack about 4 gallons into the fermenter.

Quite a bit. I had 3-4 inches of trub on the bottom when all was said and done. Even after cold crashing there was fairly significant volume loss.

thanks for the responses, I know I'll lose quite a bit but I'm hoping to get at least 4 gallons into the bottling bucket from my 5 gallon post boil batch. We'll see, lol.

JBrady said:

Its about 4.5 to 5 oz of dry hops.

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I stand corrected!