Stainless Hop Balls

[Zibe]

Saw these at Family Dollar when I was looking for a stopper for my laundry tub/brewery sink.

They say they are stainless

Figured if I drilled holes in the edges and use stainless screws they'd make good hop balls for the boil or suspended by fishing line in the primary for dry hopping.
Here they are together for reference with a beer bottle
Let me know what you think midwest sells the three inch hop balls for $3.79 the bigger set is about that size and cost $2 plus the screws, I admit not much savings (my usual diy projects probably end up costing more anyway)
Just throwing it out there.


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[botigol]

Good idea, but I would be leery of the material. Even though it says 'stainless steel', is it actually made of stainless or is it a 'stainless steel finish'?

 

[Zibe]

After I posted that it occurred to me as well I was thinking if they put stainless steel that it is in fact stainless steel BUT it's made in China and sold at family dollar so that should say something I guess. Is there a way to test it? I've been using the small one in my sink for a while with no sign of rust if that helps.
Maybe the thread should be Stainless Hop Balls???? This could quickly turn into do not use these.


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[miked597]

You can put a magnet to them. If it don't stick it's most likely stainless.


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[Zibe]

Yeah should have mentioned that I tried that right away the magnet no sticky but wasn't sure if that was conclusive


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[microbusbrewery]

FWIW, after repeatedly having to remove hair clogs from the drain in my two oldest daughters' shower, I tried using one of these to keep the hair out of the drain. It started to rust fairly quickly where the flange connects to the mesh, so I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Zibe]

Yeah you guys have totally killed my buzz over these things I'm just gonna call it a Fail. Thanks for the input though. Moving on.


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[Yooper]

The large stainless tea balls work great for leaf hops, by the way. But for pellets, they are a fail. When I dryhop in the keg, I use those stainless tea balls for leaf hops, and very tightly woven hops bags (the 'fine mesh' ones) for pellet hops.