Squeezing hop bag after boil?

[berndawg84]

So I brewed a Saison recently and used a hop bag to minimize trub. At the end of the boil I lifted up the hop bag and let it drain into the kettle. I do BIAB, so I have a squeeze the bag mentality. I wanted to get as much wort as I could. I squeezed the bag once and got some wort out - nice! I squeezed it again and then just got green hop juice. Since I'm doing a Saison, which is lower IBU, I wonder know if I've gotten lots of astringent/bitter liquid into my fermenter now? Since it was "hop Juice" and not trub, there's no way I can filter it out. Just wondering if people have done this before, or is this a DWHAHB kind of situation? I'm thinking for next time though that I'll just let the hop bag drain and not squeeze it at all.

On an unrelated note...I don't have a hop spider or fancier setup. I just use a binder clip to attach the bag to the side of the kettle and let it "float around" in the kettle during the boil. Does this work OK, or should I be doing a different setup?

 

[beernutz]

So I brewed a Saison recently and used a hop bag to minimize trub. At the end of the boil I lifted up the hop bag and let it drain into the kettle. I do BIAB, so I have a squeeze the bag mentality. I wanted to get as much wort as I could. I squeezed the bag once and got some wort out - nice! I squeezed it again and then just got green hop juice. Since I'm doing a Saison, which is lower IBU, I wonder know if I've gotten lots of astringent/bitter liquid into my fermenter now? Since it was "hop Juice" and not trub, there's no way I can filter it out. Just wondering if people have done this before, or is this a DWHAHB kind of situation? I'm thinking for next time though that I'll just let the hop bag drain and not squeeze it at all.

On an unrelated note...I don't have a hop spider or fancier setup. I just use a binder clip to attach the bag to the side of the kettle and let it "float around" in the kettle during the boil. Does this work OK, or should I be doing a different setup?

Your way will work as I did it that way for many years however I now only use a large nylon bag that I attach to the side of the kettle with a clothespin. I think it gives the hops more contact with the wort and is easy to remove from the kettle.

You can use a nylon paint strainer bag available for hardware stores but I've found that they aren't as sturdy and don't last as long as the similarly-sized nylon bags my LHBS sells. I don't squeeze my nylon bag but just leave it in the kettle when I'm draining the cooled wort as most of the liquid seems to be out of it by the time I'm finished.

 

[berndawg84]

OK thanks. Yea, I'm using one of the fine mesh BIAB bags (hop sock) from Wilser BIAB. Sounds similar to your method. Yea true, I probably should've just left the bag in there during the wort chilling time in order to increase the hop contact time. I hope I don't get an astringent mess in my Saison due to the squeezing, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[schatzke]

I use a hop bag the samw way you do and any of my hoppy beers I squeeze that hop sack like it's tryin to steal my wort!

 

[berndawg84]

OK, guess there's no problem with squeezing then. I was worried about too much bitterness. I think to be safe I won't squeeze next time. But other threads I just read seems to also say it's fine to squeeze the hop bag. Thanks ya'll

DWHAHB

 

[bleme]

Consider all the people who don't use bags at all and just dump it all in the fermentor. If they don't have a problem, I can't see how you would.

FWIW, my method is to put the bag in my bucket, pour the wort in, pull out the bag, and give it a squeeze. It gives me cleaner yeast for my next batch.