using a hop sack

So for my third batch, I'm broadening my horizons a little and adding hop pellets. I'm using all Mr. Beer stuff, including the recipe. The recipe says to add the can of weizenbier, unhopped malt extract, and 1/3 oz liberty hops to boiling water (where I've already dissolved the "booster"). Then the recipe says: NOTE: HOPS WILL APPEAR AS GREEN LEAF PERTICLES AND WILL NOT DISSOLVE.

Now to my question: I put the hops into the sack, tie it off, then put it in the wort when? And how long? I remember reading someone say somewhere here that a hop sack is just like dipping a tea bag in hot water, so soaking it in the wort for 10-15 minutes? I can't imagine I keep the sack in the pot, then transfer it to the fermenter with the wort and keep it there the whole time, like I would do with the pellets without a sack. Would I be better off just adding the pellets without the sack?

Another question: If I use the hops sack, I should sanitize it along with all my other tools, right? Mr. Beer just sent it in a plastic bag which wasn't sealed or anything, I can't imagine it is to sanitary.

Thanks for any advice-
Dave

i would just ditch the sack, throw them bad boys in the boil and fow-ged-a-bow-dit...i think youll get better utilization when the hops are free to move around and mingle and isometerize or whatever they do, after you transfer to the primary theyll settle out for the most part, and even more so in the secondary.

if you do use the sack, its gonna get sanitized while its boiling so dont worry about that.
alot of people use them, ive use them a couple of times but only for whole hops, but never for pellets, its matter of choice really...

I assume that you are using these hops for bittering purposes. This means that you should boil them for a full 60 minutes, but most brewers work on a hopping schedule. During this schedule, a brewer will add bittering hops with 60 minutes remaining in the boil; they will then add some flavor or aroma hops near or at the end of the boil.

If I were you, I would toss the hops into the bag and throw it into your boil for at least 45 minutes (if you are doing an all-extract brew, I assume that you want to limit your boil times to keep your wort from darkening). Strictly speaking, though, to get the best utilization, you should boil the hops for a full hour without a bag.

As long as you get the bag into boiling water, there is no need to sanitize it. The boil will do this for you. If the bag is really dirty, you may want to clean it, but I doubt it is.

If this is your first time brewing with hops (and if I were you), I would throw the hops into the bag, dump them into the brew for as long as you wish. Then, take them out of the boil right before you stop boiling and discard the spent hops. Then, cool your wort and pitch your yeast.

BTW, when hops are included in the fermentation process (i.e. after you've pitched yeast), this process is called dry hopping.

I hope this helps

Here is a basic schedule for hops addtions

10 minutes into the boil -Kettle Addtion
30 minutes left in the boil -Middle Addition
10 minutes left in the boil -Late Addition
End of Boil
During primary or secondary Fermentation- Dry Hopping

dheide said:

Another question: If I use the hops sack, I should sanitize it along with all my other tools, right? Mr. Beer just sent it in a plastic bag which wasn't sealed or anything, I can't imagine it is to sanitary.

Click to expand...

Ditch the sack, in my opinion. If you must use it, then don't worry about sanitizing it, nothing is going to live in the boiling wort.

I've done both ways, Ive thrown the hops in loose and I've used a hops bag.I like the hops bag method better. You dont't have to contend with a mess of particles floating around in the wort. As soon as the wort comes to a boil I toss in the bag with the bittering in the pot and boil for an hour. I squeeze the bag against the side of the pot with a spoon a number of times to squeeze the oils out of the hops. At the end of the boil I take out the bag, open it and add the fragrence hops to the bag so that I have both the bittering hops and the fragrence hops together in the bag then I reinsert the bag in the wort and boil for about 2 minutes. You can then discard the bag or wash it out and use it again for your next brew.

David

Thanks for all the advice!

But it all leads me to another question - Mr. Beer claims to have "done all the work for you", and recommends "not to boil the extract, 'cause it will muddy the hops". So I wouldn't want to boil the extract with the added hops (with or without sack) for a period of time, right? I read in their brewing book to "steep bittering hops for no more than 5 minutes, then transfer wort to fermenter". So if I'm gonna use the dang sack, just leave it in the hot wort for 5 minutes, squeeze out the sack and discard, then pour the wort into the fermenter?

Sounds like I might be better off screwing the sack (that sounds dirty) and just dealing with the little green floaties (sounds dirty too).

I believe Mr Beer only gives you aroma hops, they already bolied the bittering/flavor hops in the wort