Do you see a benefit to a hop filter in the boil?

[LAbrewer]

I was filtering the pellets in a hop bag until recently when I decided that my beers were not getting much hop utilization. I even tried to squeeze and dunk the bag which gave my hands a nice burn. It just didn't seem to want to work right. I use a keggle and attached the bag to the rim with a binder clip. Now I just dump them in and if needed I can always just siphon off the top.

Anybody else in this boat?

 

[Golddiggie]

I've found no difference in hop utilization when using my hop spider with LARGE nylon bag attached (it's all good). Since I use a plate chiller, and the valve installed in my boil keggle, it's all I need to keep things flowing right. SMALL hop bags have issues, using a large enough one eliminates those issues and difficulties. I'm thinking about giving one of the all stainless items Stainless Brewing sells. Minor change from what I use now, in that mine is all stainless except for the bag. His includes a stainless basket to hold the hops.

 

[mikescooling]

I have thought the exact same thing. I even did a brew with 3X the amount of hops vs just dumping the normal amount in. The normal amount of pellets, dumped in was hopper, by a lot. I'll try the hop spider with a large bag.

 

[Darkness]

I run a 3" PVC cupping with three arms for support and a 12"x19" bag I can put a big spoon in the bag and stir the hops in works great. Also leave the hop bag in till cool then sanitize your hand and squeeze out liquid. Or just twist it up that works great to.

 

[Golddiggie]

I use a 6" stainless cake form with one of the LARGE nylon mesh bags sold for BIAB brewing. I just set it so that the bag will NOT touch the bottom of the keggle during the boil. Easily holds at least 7.5oz of pellet hops during the boil.

IMO/IME, the real trick is to have a large enough bag on the spider. Using a small one isn't nearly as good as using a large one.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of the spider ready for use before I brew again...