Dry Hopping in a Paint Strainer Bag?

Has anyone here ever dry hopped using a paint strainer bag? I'm about to put in 1.5 oz of 3 different types of hops (cascades, amarillo, brewer's gold), and was wondering if this would work. Also, this paint strainer bag I have does not have something I can tie it down with at the top, would it work to use floss to tie it? I would make sure to sanitize everything well.

That's exactly what I do - paint strainer bag and floss.

Be sure to use unflavored and unwaxed dental floss. I sometimes use a length of boiled butcher twine, unwind the strands until you have one 'thread'

Paint strainer bags work very well.

I put the strainer on the end of my racking cane. Here's a thread.

I used floss too.
Boiled the bag first to sanitize.

shroomzofdoom said:

Be sure to use unflavored and unwaxed dental floss. I sometimes use a length of boiled butcher twine, unwind the strands until you have one 'thread'

Paint strainer bags work very well.

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All I have is mint flavored and waxed floss, I guess I could go out and buy some, but if I boiled the floss you don't think this would get rid of the mint/waxed flavor?

Just use any kind of string or thread.

Monofilament fishing line works also. FWIW.

I use a large mesh bag from my LHBS, add a shot glass to weigh it down, and hang it in the fermenter with fishing line.

wolverinebrewer said:

Monofilament fishing line works also. FWIW.

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I use a 1 gallon paint strainer bag and a small length of fishing line, works like a charm.

I never had much succes with putting the floss through the top of keg and
didn't modify the top or diptube.

What works for me is and an empty whitelabs bottle (after removing the sticker) and it works just like a fishing bobber in there once you put it paint strainer bag with the hops. Have to thank the president of my club for that one!

just toss the hops in and when racking out of the carboy, put the tip of your racking cane into the bag so it strains out any gunk before being racked out of the carboy.

mmonacel said:

just toss the hops in and when racking out of the carboy, put the tip of your racking cane into the bag so it strains out any gunk before being racked out of the carboy.

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Hmm, I like this idea a lot! Anyone else wanna comment on this?

LarsonLE said:

Hmm, I like this idea a lot! Anyone else wanna comment on this?

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I will.
I tried it this way and for 2 reasons it did not work as well as putting the bag over the end of the OUTLET hose in the bottom of the bottle bucket. One reason was somehow it was getting air into the auto siphon. I have no idea why. And also, with all of the extra bag material, you had to be more careful and not touch the trub. It just seemed to get in the way when you are to be careful siphoning. It was just so much easier to have it on the other end. Hang it off the end a few inches. It will catch everything. This still doesn't mean you can be careless when siphoning. Just keep the black tip just under the surface and lower it as it flows out. I have not found the siphon to clog even when racking through fruit and hop cone particles.

just dropped an oz of centennial into a nylon stocking from walmart 77 cents a pair, into a corney of edworts amber ale. weighted down with marbles, tied with fishing line. boiled the stocking first

If you're racking into a bottling bucket, you can put a large bag (not sure if a paint strainer is big enough) into the bucket as a liner, rack, then lift out the bag along with the hop residue. I use a jumbo grain bag (23" x 35") that I got from AHS - works great. I boil the bag for a few minutes to sanitize it, put it in the bucket and fold the excess over the top edge and secure it with a bungee cord around the outside of the bucket. Have another bucket sitting next to your bottling bucket when you take the bag out, so you'll have someplace to put it if you're doing this indoors.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_403&products_id=1058

wolverinebrewer said:

Monofilament fishing line works also. FWIW.

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Monofilament fishing line is the same material (Nylon) that the paint strainer bags are.

EDIT: Hey. You learn something every day. Some mono isn't nylon. There are others. One that is prevalent is PVDF mono. That's food grade too.

If the bag is big enough, just tie an overhand knot to close. That's what I do.

LarsonLE said:

Hmm, I like this idea a lot! Anyone else wanna comment on this?

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FYI -here's a pic. I make a lot of IPAs so I'm always dry hopping. Works great for me. I've never any issues with air bubbles as someone mentioned (with or without the strainer). If there's any concerns you could always throw a few pellets in the bottom of a carboy (or milk jug, etc.) with water and give it a test run yourself.

LarsonLE said:

Hmm, I like this idea a lot! Anyone else wanna comment on this?

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Yes. It doesn't work nearly as well for me - I always had problems with poor flow through the siphon (i.e. risk of oxidation) and clogging of the bag my the trub. I dry hop in the keg using both pellet and dried whole hops (aka "leaf" hops), and only once had a problem with excess hop particles in the keg because I shook it to carbonate while the hop bag was in there. I run the floss through the seal so that I can remove it easily. I have done the same thing with oak chips and spirals (with the spirals, there's no need for a bag), and it has always worked well for me. YMMV!

Edit: I used 1-gallon bags and tied them to the auto siphon much lower than the poster above me did. Maybe the resulting folds in the bag caused my entrainment/clogging issues.

So I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and they didn't have any marbles. Anyone know of a substitute? I just have to find something that I can easily get in and out of my carboy that is glass right?

The "marbles" I'm currently using are glass beads used for flower arranging I found at a craft store. They're slightly smaller than marbles.

Captain Damage said:

The "marbles" I'm currently using are glass beads used for flower arranging I found at a craft store. They're slightly smaller than marbles.

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Actually my girlfriend has these, except I was worried they weren't made out of glass, even though I was pretty sure they are. They also have some sort of coloring in them, would this matter at all?

I wondered myself, but finally figured that any honest-to-God marbles I would have bought would be just as questionable (possibly even made in the same Chinese factory), so I just went for it.

Edit: I didn't mean that to sound like I have anything against Chinese factories. I just meant I wasn't ultimately looking for some expensive, guaranteed super-quality, ultra-pure marbles. Just looking for some inexpensive, easy to sanitize weights.

You can also boil/sterilize one of those heavy bottom shot glasses if you want. I just let mine float free and it seems to work fine too.

Captain Damage said:

The "marbles" I'm currently using are glass beads used for flower arranging I found at a craft store. They're slightly smaller than marbles.

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Yep. thats what I use. Bought mine at Michael's

Or you could just sanitize some big nuts and throw them in... (I would rephrase that, but I'm sure the minds on this forum are nowhere near the gutter.)

I read recently in another thread that someone used SS spoons to weigh down the bag, I think thats what I am going to try in 2 weeks when i dry hop my IPA

Hey everyone, quick question before I add in the hops for dry hopping. I have 1/2 oz of armarillo (7.5%), 1/2 oz of brewer's gold (6.4%), 1/2 oz of cascade (5.4), and 1 oz of mt. hood (6.1%). The japanese pale ale kit that I made came with the the everything but the mt. hood. The mt. hood hops I have I saved from a hefeweizen kit I just made a couple days ago, but thought it might be a good idea to add in these hops as well to the dry hop. Anyone have experience in dry hopping with Mt. Hood or brewer's gold?

It's not necessary to weigh down the bags. Pellets will pull the bag down once they saturate. Whole hops float for the most part, but they still have plenty of exposure to the beer at the interface to get plenty of hop flavor and aroma into your drink; it just takes a little longer. Considering how quickly dry hopping can change the character of the beer, and how easy it is to miss the "optimum point" and end up with a grassy beer, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I have done it both ways, using leftover stainless steel washers from building my mash tun as the weights on those occasions that I did want the hops fully immersed.

wolverinebrewer said:

I will.
I tried it this way and for 2 reasons it did not work as well as putting the bag over the end of the OUTLET hose in the bottom of the bottle bucket. One reason was somehow it was getting air into the auto siphon. I have no idea why.

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When fermenting, not all of the CO2 escapes. Some of it gets dissolved in the liquid, and will be released when it's disturbed. Forcing the liquid through a fine mesh would certainly be enough to knock some of the CO2 out of solution, creating the bubbles in your line. While you'd be at no risk of oxidation (its not oxygen), air bubbles do disrupt the flow of a siphon. So at most, this is just an annoyance.