Hop bags in the way

[Darin]

I brewed up an amber ale last night and things went pretty smoothly. There was one
phase of the boil that was a bit of a pain though. I started using hop bags to make racking
to my carboy/cleanup a bit easier. I noticed that when I went to do my late extract
addition (10 min. before the end of the boil) it was difficult to pour/stir the LME and work
around the hop bags. Are there any tips or techniques that I can use to make this process
easier?

 

[doulovebeef]

instead of using a hop bag for the hops, have u tried putting the mesh bag around ur siphon? this is what i do and i get virtually zero hops in my carboy

 

[kegtoe]

get a great big fine mesh bag that fits in your kettle then brew in that. after your boil, pull the bag out and all the break material and hops comes with - its too easy.

 

[cappy]

Damn, I need to get one of those bags. Sounds nice.

 

[glenn514]

Go to your local Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's or any place with a well-stocked paint department. Pick up a 3-pack of 5 gallon nylon mesh paint strainers. The pack I've got...but haven't used one yet...was manufactured by Reaves & Co., Durham, NC. Their email addy is www.reavesdrop.com. The strainers are fine mesh with an elastic top. And the pack of three was around 2 bucks, I think.

glenn514

 

[cappy]

Wow, thanks for the tip. Probably a lot cheaper than at a homebrew shop.

 

[tojo]

I "tie" (loop the end of the bag) off the muslin bags on my kettle handle to keep them to one side of the pot.

 

[cappy]

That's what I do with my grain bags, too. I guess with the large nylon bags you could use one to steep the grains, take it out, and then put in another for the hops.

 

[dotnetdotcom]

I just boil the hops without a bag. For my last few batches, I've strained during transfer with the nylon paint straining bags from Lowes. But honestly, I haven't noticed anything different in the taste from when I just dumped everything into the fermentation bucket. For me, it has become a question of dealing with sanitizing/cleaning the straining bag vs. dealing with extra trub in the fermenter. Neither one is a big deal.

 

[TVM71]

I usually scoop out my hop sack with a strainer, set aside for a few minutes while adding my late addition DME, then plop it back in. It's for a short period of time and has already been in there for about 40 minutes so no harm done.

 

[bobbrews]

Tie the fine nylon paint strainer bag filled with hops to the kettle handle so it won't bob around in the wort.

 

[tknice]

I use the large nylon bag as well but a little differently. I put the bag around the rim of a sanitized brew bucket and pour the cooled wort in. If you turn the mesh bag inside out so the seam is on the outside, it will be very easy to rinse out. Then just lift the bag out and squeeze it flat with a brew paddle or spoon. The bucket has gallon marks on it so I just top off to 5 gallons--nice and clean. The bucket pours into a carboy with a funnel and I usually pitch the yeast halfway through.

-TK