No chill, hop bittering question...

[Hoochin'Fool]

Do late-addition hops (pelletized), say added for last 10 minutes of the boil (in a paint straining bag, or hop-spider), leak enough material into the wort to continue bittering for a no-chill process, if the bag/spider gets removed right at the end of the boil?

 

[mac_1103]

Strictly speaking I think the answer has to be yes. The pellets turn to pretty fine mush pretty quickly and some of it inevitably makes it through the bag or spider, and extraction and isomerization of alpha acids continues until the wort temperature is below about 170F. But is it a significant amount of unplanned bittering? I don't know. Maybe it depends on how much alpha you're starting with.