Hops - how do you apply them to your wort?

I've recently been experimenting with different ways to apply my hops to the boil. It started because when I would drain my keggle, I'd get a ton of pellet goop clogging up my spigot filter -- not fun. I've also recently started using hop bags, which is great for keeping the hop matter out of my spigot filter and carboy, but it also costs $4.50 a batch -- which increases the cost of each 5 gallon batch by 15%.

How do you apply your hops and how do you like that method?

I toss in whole flowers by shaking a bowl full of hops flowers over the boiling wort.



Yeah, it's flippant. But I only use pellets if I have to. I prefer the filter bed whole flowers give me after whirlpool. I get star-bright bitter wort in the primary with all the break filtered through the bed of hops.

Some people say they can taste a difference between whole and pellet hops. I can't. I prefer them for the mechanical assistance they give in the brewhouse, nothing more.

Edit: Can't you reuse nylon hops bags? I'd think you could just turn 'em inside out and launder 'em, or put 'em in the dishwasher or something.

Cheers,

Bob

Works well with both whole and pellet hops. The bag is a 5 gallon paint strainer available at Lowe's/HD. Around $3/pair and they can be laundered many times over.

Do you have a diptube in the kettle? If so, you can also do something like this:

[youtube]ypBIcRE2cV8[/youtube]

Hop Filters like these do best with a large proportion of whole hops that help filter out smaller particulate. Like Bob, I much prefer whole hops in the kettle because of the fine filter bed they provide.

I just use whole hops in the boil, hardly ever pellet. Anyway I do reuse my hop bags, or used to when I used them more. I don't use hop bags anymore as I'm afraid they will melt to the heating element in the new system.

I primarily use Pellet hops -- very rarely have I used whole hops. I'll try the paint strainer thing -- that looks really easy.

I had never thought about reusing hop bags -- That might be my answer too.

Stevorino said:

I primarily use Pellet hops -- very rarely have I used whole hops. I'll try the paint strainer thing -- that looks really easy.

I had never thought about reusing hop bags -- That might be my answer too.

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I don't often use hop bags, but when I do, I reuse. You just rinse them out, and then turn them inside out, and put them in the laundry. If it's not laundry day, you can run them through the top rack of the dishwasher, inside out.

I add the pellet hops naked... or rather without a hop bag or strainer or anything like that. I had a drain on welded on my kettle about 1.5" off the bottom, on the side. This allows me to whirlpool and drain from the side. It works great. The drain is a 1/2" pipe, so if I do get some solids into the drain, they go through. I whirlpool every time and I'd estimate at least 90 to 95% of all precipitated solid gunk gets left in the kettle. If I'm really carefull, its close to 100% separation. A bunch of cold break solids form when it goes through the CFC anyway so I'm not terribly worried about perfect seperation in the kettle.

I use tea balls with pellets and plugs. They cost about $2 at Wally World.

You can put half an ounce of pellets in a tea ball (about a third of an ounce of plugs) and get good utilization. Just use multiple balls for more.

Though, I am not a hop head. If you are one of those guys who measure your hop additions in pounds, you should use a bag.

Cpt_Kirks said:

I use tea balls with pellets and plugs. They cost about $2 at Wally World.

You can put half an ounce of pellets in a tea ball (about a third of an ounce of plugs) and get good utilization. Just use multiple balls for more.

Though, I am not a hop head. If you are one of those guys who measure your hop additions in pounds, you should use a bag.

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How did you determine that you can do half an ounce and get good utilitization? I tried one of these just recently but I put a whole ounce of pellets in it and my beer seems lacking in hoppyness so I was thinking I put to much hops in the ball. But 5gal experiments as to how much hops in it works isn't a good way to go.

If the hops swell to the point the ball is full, you will not get much of a flow of wort and hence, bad utilization. If the ball is half full when you are done, you probably good a good flow of wort.

As to the "how", well, my beer was not too sweet, so I must have gotten close to the bittering I was aiming for.

YooperBrew said:

I don't often use hop bags, but when I do, I reuse. You just rinse them out, and then turn them inside out, and put them in the laundry. If it's not laundry day, you can run them through the top rack of the dishwasher, inside out.

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I use hop bags with pellet hops (bazooka screen in my kettle for whole). I don't even wash the bags...just rinse'em out, let them air dry, and they're ready to go next time. I figure they're getting boiled anyway, so why do more than that?

Although I am going to construct a paint-strainer contraption soon...my next brew is your DFH60 clone, and there's no way I'm using 20 hop bags for my "continuous hopping" additions

I use a kettle with a spigot and a false bottom, whole hops, and a CFC. No need for hop bags. The hops on the FB form a great filter, but I don't think it would work with pellet hops; and it doesn't work at all well if you forget to put the false bottom in before adding the hops.
The one time I did use pellet hops, I used something like Flyangler's solution, and I could definitely taste the difference. However, that could have something to do with using cascade pellets vs my normal Fuggles, Goldings and Willamette.

-a.

this thing cost me about $11. the wood dowel rod right thru the center is cheaper and easier to assemble than the metal thing with the 4 posts thru it

i do though still get a fair amount of pellet trub that leaks thru the paint strainer. my LHBS had these really fine elastic things that you put around the lip of the bucket. i put that over the primary while i pour into it. that cathces all the extra trub. its much finer knit than the paint strainer and only cost about $4

I just place a stainless tight mesh colander on the top of my pot and toss my hop additions in there. It seems to work okay, and keeps the hop leaves from plugging my auto syphon.

just dump them in and strain later.

opengun said:

just dump them in and strain later.

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thats what I do I use the paint bag but after the boil....

throw my hops in like normal then after my IC had chilled my wort off I pull it and put it inside the paint strainer I have had soaking in sanitizer put the whole thing back into the pot and siphon out from inside the nice clear pool thats made.....

I use pellets and I just dump them into the kettle. The spigot sits just off the bottom so as I'm dumping to the fermenter, the crap that settles lower than the spigot stays in the kettle.

It's worked great as I get a lot less stuff in my fermenters than I used to by just dumping everything into them.

I traditionally use pellet, as my LHBS has a huge variety of pellet. I have picked up some favorite and/or hard to find leaf online, and the leaf seem to help keep the pellet from clogging the screen.