Is it just me, or do hop spiders just suck?

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krazydave

krazydave

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I built a stainless hop spider a few months back and have used it on maybe 6 batches so far.
Honestly, it's driven me to the point where I just ordered a jaybird false bottom for my BK to do away with it and just use loose hops

Every brew I do with it, the thing gets so clogged with all the break material that when I'm emptying my kettle through my CFC, the hop bag stays suspended full of boiling wort. I end up have to put my gloves on and flip the bag over to drain the wort that's trapped in there.
Certainly I can't be getting great hop utilization when liquid can't even flow through the bag! I used to just use loose hop bags and never seemed to notice this problem. they would get clogged, but would always drain when I picked them up.

Am I the only one noticing this? Not sure that I've seen anyone else mention this problem with them...
 
Mine seems to actually clog up enough to the point where my kettle will drain faster than the hop spider does, which means at that point I've already lost the prime on my pump.
At this point I'm just hoping that the false bottom that I ordered will let me just use loose pellet hops without completely clogging everything up.
 
Spartan1979 said:
I've started skipping the hop spider until right at the end of the boil and then recirculate through it. It catches most of the hops and I don't have to worry about utilization.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried just throwing it in at the end. I might have to if I decide to use it again. I did recirculate into it at the end though to sanitize my CFC. I figured that I may as well try to get some hot wort flowing through the hops in there in an attempt to get a little better utilization.
On the beers I've made using the hop spider that call for 0 min hops, I've just been throwing those late hops directly into the kettle and whirlpooling it to try and keep whatever I can out of the fermenter.
At least that way I still get all of the aroma from them.
 
passedpawn said:
Do either of you guys use a plate chiller?

I'm scared to death of clogging that thing. I like your idea, Spartan. I might try that!
Click to expand...

I use a CFC, because clogging a plate chiller scared me also. Though I do know many people that love their plate chillers and never clog them. I think it's kind of an apples vs. oranges thing.
 
Spartan1979 said:
I've started skipping the hop spider until right at the end of the boil and then recirculate through it. It catches most of the hops and I don't have to worry about utilization.
Click to expand...

Any more specifics on this? Are you whirlpooling first? Any screen in the kettle? How's the pump hold up with all the hops going through it?

My hop spider has been working fairly well, but I always worry about utilization and I've been thinking of trying similar to what you describe.
 
I switched to a 30 plate chiller about a year ago and have never clogged it (knock on wood). Know what I use? Simple. I use a copper wire to tie a copper scrubby around the end of my pick-up tube in the bottom of my keggle. I got this from a buddy of mine. I use whole hops almost exclusively, but I've also tried some pellet hops, and have never, not once, clogged my plate chiller. It's super cheap and works great!
 
Beavdowg said:
I switched to a 30 plate chiller about a year ago and have never clogged it (knock on wood). Know what I use? Simple. I use a copper wire to tie a copper scrubby around the end of my pick-up tube in the bottom of my keggle. I got this from a buddy of mine. I use whole hops almost exclusively, but I've also tried some pellet hops, and have never, not once, clogged my plate chiller. It's super cheap and works great!
Click to expand...

I've been using the copper scrubby in mine also, but I've recently been trying to get away from that method since the copper seems to turn black and where it touches the bottom of my kettle is always black as well. Also, when it's boiling, I notice that a lot of the boiling action is coming from the scrubby.
All that just makes me think that it's acting like the anode in my keggle and it concerns me that I might be dissolving more copper than I want into my beer.
 
krazydave said:
I've been using the copper scrubby in mine also, but I've recently been trying to get away from that method since the copper seems to turn black and where it touches the bottom of my kettle is always black as well. Also, when it's boiling, I notice that a lot of the boiling action is coming from the scrubby.
All that just makes me think that it's acting like the anode in my keggle and it concerns me that I might be dissolving more copper than I want into my beer.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. That's an interesting observation. How do you see to the bottom of the wort when it's boiling to see if it's originating from the scrubby? None of my worts in 14 yrs of brewing have been transparent enough to see to the bottom of the keggle. You're whole anode concern beckons knowledge of high school/college chemistry, of which I've lost long, long ago. However, I would agree, we don't want to be melting copper in our wort. The bottom of my keggle does not turn black. Well, let me clarify, the internal bottom (the part that actually comes into contact with wort) has never been black. The external surface bottom of my keggle has turned black before but that's from the by-products of the flame, not any sort of metal reaction from the copper. You would get the same black "dust" on the bottom of your keggle if you didn't have the scrubby in there. I think those Jaybird false bottoms are great, I'm going to get one when I convert my keggle to a mash tun but I'm not convinced that it would filter out pellet hop sludge. Only my $.02. Not worth much but an opinion.

Cheers! :mug:
 
Beavdowg said:
Hmmm. That's an interesting observation. How do you see to the bottom of the wort when it's boiling to see if it's originating from the scrubby? None of my worts in 14 yrs of brewing have been transparent enough to see to the bottom of the keggle. You're whole anode concern beckons knowledge of high school/college chemistry, of which I've lost long, long ago. However, I would agree, we don't want to be melting copper in our wort. The bottom of my keggle does not turn black. Well, let me clarify, the internal bottom (the part that actually comes into contact with wort) has never been black. The external surface bottom of my keggle has turned black before but that's from the by-products of the flame, not any sort of metal reaction from the copper. You would get the same black "dust" on the bottom of your keggle if you didn't have the scrubby in there. I think those Jaybird false bottoms are great, I'm going to get one when I convert my keggle to a mash tun but I'm not convinced that it would filter out pellet hop sludge. Only my $.02. Not worth much but an opinion.

Cheers! :mug:
Click to expand...

Not an anode. The scrubbie is just conducting the heat from the bottom of your pot. The boil always comes from the bottom of the pot where the heat is, and the scrubbie just became part of the bottom. That's my take.
 
JonW said:
Any more specifics on this? Are you whirlpooling first? Any screen in the kettle? How's the pump hold up with all the hops going through it?

My hop spider has been working fairly well, but I always worry about utilization and I've been thinking of trying similar to what you describe.
Click to expand...

I add the hop spider and some weights at the same time I add my chiller so it sterilizes. I also start my pump recirculating outside the chiller to sterilize it. At knockout, I turn on the water and move the pump output into the hop spider and let it run while I chill. It also keeps the wort moving while I chill, although not as much as it would outside the spider.

I use a March pump and pellets and I haven't had any problems from the hops. No screen, no false bottom.

It does pretty well at straining out most of the hops. Not as well with the break material.
 
i use a spider and a plate chiller, mostly for the same reason as some above about worrying about the inside of the chiller.. lot at my signature and see the type of spider that i have.. because of how mine is "mounted" every once in a while during the boil i will just twist it up and around a bit to squeeze all the liquid out.. then i do that one last time as i start pumping through the chiller and by the time it gets low enough i have already strained everything out.. should really invest in a good pair of thick rubber gloves for this though.. been doing it bare handed and i can only do so much until have to stop to cool off ;-)
 
I like my hop spider. But if I had a good way to filter hops from wort during transfer into fermenter, I'd probably just put them in commando. One day I'm sure thats what I'll be doing. Until then the hop spider is great!

One equipment upgrade at a time.... :)
 
Spartan1979 said:
I add the hop spider and some weights at the same time I add my chiller so it sterilizes. I also start my pump recirculating outside the chiller to sterilize it. At knockout, I turn on the water and move the pump output into the hop spider and let it run while I chill. It also keeps the wort moving while I chill, although not as much as it would outside the spider.

I use a March pump and pellets and I haven't had any problems from the hops. No screen, no false bottom.

It does pretty well at straining out most of the hops. Not as well with the break material.
Click to expand...

I may try this at some point. My rig is setup where I can whirlpool first without my plate chiller in the loop and then I add the plate chiller into the loop via activating the automated valves. I think I'll wait for a low hop brew to first try it on though.
 
I've never had a problem of the hop bag clogging. Maybe it's the type of bag you're using.
 
TheOnionKnight said:
I bought 3 of these and use them for my hop additions. They work great.
Click to expand...

OK, those are going on the wish list. Do you just throw them in or do you use the chains?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Keithww said:
OK, those are going on the wish list. Do you just throw them in or do you use the chains?
Click to expand...

This is 1 oz Cascade pellets in the smaller size tea ball ( 2" I think), obviously after I removed it from the keg. Filled completely. I tossed this right into a keg, but next time I'll probably tie some fishing line to the chain.

2012-06-16_at_12_51_31-55251.jpg
 
I'm not sure that fishing line will be able to handle the boiling temps without melting.
 
krazydave said:
I'm not sure that fishing line will be able to handle the boiling temps without melting.
Click to expand...

Woops, I got confused. I was thinking dry hopping in keg. Sorry. Der.

However, fishing line was made of nylon, and probably still is made of something very similar. Nylon won't melt until nearly 250C, and fishing line probably is up there as well. I'd bet a beer that fishing line is perfectly fine in boiling water.
 
I think it'd be a worthwhile beer just to find out and I'd be happy to provide them! Best I could find was that its melting point was around 177 degrees. But that was only for one specific kind of line and there are a few.

I've definitely seen people dry hopping in those stainless balls. And I'm not far from getting a couple myself for the same purpose.
 
passedpawn said:
Woops, I got confused. I was thinking dry hopping in keg. Sorry. Der.

However, fishing line was made of nylon, and probably still is made of something very similar. Nylon won't melt until nearly 250C, and fishing line probably is up there as well. I'd bet a beer that fishing line is perfectly fine in boiling water.
Click to expand...

I'm not a fisherman, but doesn't a lot of fishing line contain lead? You wouldn't want that seeping into your beer.
 
krenshaw said:
ah.. good idea.. i'm planning a dark IPA that i have to dryhop (never done that before).. i know i have a couple of those tea infusers.. i'll just have to test to see if it fits down the neck of my carboy
Click to expand...

I'd always dry hop with loose hops. I only used the tea ball because I forgot to dryhop a beer in the carboy, so it was in the keg and I didn't want to throw loose hops in there.

I'm drinking a very nice BIIPA right now. Tons of hops in the boil and dry hop. I made it dark with chocolate wheat. Nom nom nom.
 
I use a "standard" CPVC hop spider with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. I have seen some of the hot break material gather on the outside of the bag. I do usually throw a couple of stainless fittings in the bag to weigh it down.

At the end of boil, during the first part of whirlpool/chill, I do remove the spider and twist the bag, wearing thick brewing gloves, to get all the liquid out. I continue to whirlpool, turn off the pump and then let the wort settle for 10 minutes.

This allows any of the hot break along with the cold break to settle to the bottom of the keggle.

I have noticed that StainlessBrewing.com is now offering a fully stainless hop spider with a stainless mesh screen for a "bag" in different sizes. This might offer the ability to use pellets and still get a good wort flow through.

picture145v.jpg


59549162.jpg
 
TheOnionKnight said:
Just throw them into the BK. I would not put more than 2oz of pellets in the 4x4 inch ball. I see they have a 5 1/2" diameter ball now. Think ill get one
"
Click to expand...

I looked this up and read the reviews.

- a homebrewer who reviewed this (not me) says the mesh is too wide for pellet hops.

Is the 4" infuser ok for pellet hops?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My hop spider and a large PVC union with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. Never had it clob or hold too much wort. Even with a pound of pellet hops.
 
rvklein said:
My hop spider and a large PVC union with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. Never had it clob or hold too much wort. Even with a pound of pellet hops.
Click to expand...

Are you using it from the start of the boil? And are you doing AG or Extract?
I don't think it's the hops that clog mine, I think it's all the break material.
 
krazydave said:
Are you using it from the start of the boil? And are you doing AG or Extract?
I don't think it's the hops that clog mine, I think it's all the break material.
Click to expand...

All grain and from the start of the boil.
 
Strange, that's exactly what I'm doing also. Different results obviously.
I think I got the 5gal paint strainer bags from Lowe's. Do you recall where you got yours?
 
I skipped the spider and just draped my 5 gallon paint strainer bag over my bucket (if you are using a carboy, I guess you could line the funnel with it). The elastic top holds great, I do have to squeeze the last half gallon out, just be careful if you are filtering through a funnel. Nothing like leaving less than a pint in the bucket when racking.
 
ArcLight said:
I looked this up and read the reviews.

- a homebrewer who reviewed this (not me) says the mesh is too wide for pellet hops.

Is the 4" infuser ok for pellet hops?
Click to expand...

It will not stop all of the tiny hop particles from coming through, which is fine with me since I also whirlpool. It does stop about 95% of hop matter.
 
Wayne1 said:
I use a "standard" CPVC hop spider with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. I have seen some of the hot break material gather on the outside of the bag. I do usually throw a couple of stainless fittings in the bag to weigh it down.

At the end of boil, during the first part of whirlpool/chill, I do remove the spider and twist the bag, wearing thick brewing gloves, to get all the liquid out. I continue to whirlpool, turn off the pump and then let the wort settle for 10 minutes.

This allows any of the hot break along with the cold break to settle to the bottom of the keggle.

I have noticed that StainlessBrewing.com is now offering a fully stainless hop spider with a stainless mesh screen for a "bag" in different sizes. This might offer the ability to use pellets and still get a good wort flow through.

picture145v.jpg


59549162.jpg
Click to expand...

WOW! i've been looking for something like this for a long time, too bad i didn't see this before ordering a HopStopper which has been useless for me when using pellet hops.
 
eastoak said:
WOW! i've been looking for something like this for a long time, too bad i didn't see this before ordering a HopStopper which has been useless for me when using pellet hops.
Click to expand...


Has anyone used one? Would be curious to read some reviews. Looks like it would work okay.
 

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