Using a hop bag or not

[flyhigh]

When I started brewing 10 years ago at the age of 21 the kits I bought always had a sock like bag for the hops for the boil. I guess I have never really thought about it because "that how I have always done it"

The first question is do most people use a hop bag during boil? I have heard that it does reduce some of bittering and aroma properties.

The second question is if you do not use a hop bag to do you filter it out or just tosh it into the primary fermentor.

I guess what go me thinking is that I have been making more IPA and Pale ales for the summer. All of them are dry hopped. I was thinking they might get some more aroma from the some of the late addition hops if I did not use a hop bag and put them in the primary. But I was wondering if there is any down side to doing this.

 

[Kidder]

I use a hop bag for leaf hops in the boil. They can easily clog up your racking cane or Autosiphon, even with the plastic "filter" tip. I don't worry about putting pellet hops in a bag, just drop them in the boil or secondary, if dry hopping.

 

[beeber]

I use mostly pellets and never use a hop bag for boiling. I will sometime use a hop bag for dry hopping.

 

[samc]

Trick is to use a large bag that allows the hops room to move around in the boil. I have a false bottom in my BK, but some bits of hops manage to get past and with a plate chiller that is not good, so I still bag them most of the time.

 

[cfonnes]

The way that I set up the pickup tube in the bottom of my keggle leaves most of the hops/trub in the bottom. I just remove the chiller and create a whirlpool, then after it sits for a few minutes I open the valve and drain it to a fermenter.

 

[Golddiggie]

I've been using bags for my hops since I shifted over to all grain brewing (also did it in my partial mash batch)... I'm getting what I want from the hops, still, so I don't think you need to worry so much about lower utilization of the hops. Keep in mind, I use one bag for each addition, so they have plenty of room to make contact with wort within the bags. I've used both nylon and muslin bags for the hops. Both have their advantages. The muslin bags are easy to just toss in (once you close the opening) and let them roam free. I loop the string for the nylon bags around one of the kettle handles so that they don't get to the bottom and get scorched/burned.

I've only dry hopped once (so far). I went with whole hops, putting them into the primary loose. That batch was bottled last week, so I still have some time to go before I pop one open to taste...

If you're curious, try using bags for a couple of batches. I think a solid test would be to brew a recipe you've made before, and see how it comes out using hop bags this time. Even better, brew the same recipe both ways, within a couple of days of each other, so that you can compare after the same amount of time...

 

[badhabit]

I use a nylon bag almost all of the time. I am sure that I don't need to but I feel like it is in the long run less work.....which I am all for. I do think that the nylon bag is helpful when you dry hop. Any thing that you can pull out of the finished but non carbed beer in the bag is a real benifit.

 

[Kidder]

I use a nylon bag almost all of the time. I am sure that I don't need to but I feel like it is in the long run less work.....which I am all for. I do think that the nylon bag is helpful when you dry hop. Any thing that you can pull out of the finished but non carbed beer in the bag is a real benifit.

I'm really thinking about using bags for dry hopping. Upon racking my last IPA to the keg, I must've transferred a TON of hops. I just cannot seem to get a foam-free dispense because of the hops clogging the dip tube and poppet valve. I've cleaned it out multiple times and the hops still keep coming back.

I've tried bottling it twice using the BMBF method but I get nothing but foam. As strange as it sounds, I'll be glad when I drink the last pint of that beer.

 

[ArcaneXor]

I use 1-gallon nylon bags for all forms of hopping except mash hopping, and use them for pellets and whole hops - 1 bag per addition. While I used to not care how much trub and hop matter got into my fermentor, I have since become more focused on getting a very clear wort into the Better Bottle - in part because I do not want to clog my chiller, but also because the beers seem to be more flavor-stable in the long term this way. With a 10-keg pipeline, maximizing flavor stability is, of course, a concern.

 

[Calder]

I let them swim. I used to use a bag, but thought it too restrictive.

I strain the wort as it goes into the fermenter.

 

[Malticulous]

I don't use a bag and I just let it all go into the fermenter. It's nothing worth worrying about.