What do you use to weigh down dry hop/fruit bags?

[Sleepy_D]

What do you put in a bag of dry hops or fruit to weigh it down and ensure it is submerged in the brew? Glass marbles? Stainless balls? Old spoons? Or do you not even worry about this? I’m about to do a cucumber addition and I was going to tie it into a bag but I figured they will float and wanted them to stay completely submerged.

 

[Biggz1313]

Yeah marbles are probably your cheapest/safest bet as far as weight that won't impart and potential flavors. I worry about using any sort of budget metal these days as I spend so much time brewing my beer I'd hate to have something as simple as using marbles instead of metal ruin a batch.

 

[Sleepy_D]

Yeah marbles are probably your cheapest/safest bet as far as weight that won't impart and potential flavors. I worry about using any sort of budget metal these days as I spend so much time brewing my beer I'd hate to have something as simple as using marbles instead of metal ruin a batch.

I was thinking the same. Any idea if I should even be bothering with this? Just don’t want to open my fermenter 3 days later to find a moldy cucumber sitting on the beer. Guess I could just shake it up every 12 hrs or so instead of weighing it down

 

[Biggz1313]

I was thinking the same. Any idea if I should even be bothering with this? Just don’t want to open my fermenter 3 days later to find a moldy cucumber sitting on the beer. Guess I could just shake it up every 12 hrs or so instead of weighing it down

I wouldn't shake due to potentially oxidizing the beer and bringing the trub/yeast back into solution only to have to wait for it to drop out again. I think the bag idea with marbles is fine and not overkill. As far as moldy cucumber goes I'm not sure how you would go about making sure the cucumber isn't going to introduce any bugs to your beer. I'd say maybe boil them but cucumber is such a subtle and light flavor that I'm not sure that's a good idea.

 

[Spartan1979]

A couple of large stainless steel nuts.

 

[Gorm]

Stainless bolts sanitized first

 

[Sleepy_D]

A couple of large stainless steel nuts.

Stainless bolts sanitized first

I thought of this but is there a risk of imparting a metallic taste? I would guess not as long as it is legit quality stainless?

 

[Gorm]

Not that I ever noticed.

 

[Spivey24]

I think I would stick with food grade stainless like spoons or glass over industrial metal nuts.
Watcha making that requires cucumber?

 

[Sleepy_D]

I think I would stick with food grade stainless like spoons or glass over industrial metal nuts.
Watcha making that requires cucumber?

I’m making an American Wheat with lemon and cucumber to hopefully be a light, refreshing, “tastes like summer” beer. I posted the recipe I started in this thread
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...-lemon-wheat-beer-recipe.698865/#post-9251736

 

[Sleepy_D]

i think I’m going to end up getting some glass marbles, is there any risk of getting some that would not be safe for the beer? I see northern brewer has some for sale for this purpose but are they actually different from anything I’d get at a hobby store or something? I mean glass is glass as long as it’s 100% glass

 

[AlexKay]

fermentation weights are nice, if a little pricey. And when you're not making beer, you can make pickles. With your cucumbers.

 

[superiorsat]

I boil triclamps and triclamp caps then toss in the starsan so they can be handled. They weigh the bag down perfectly. Been doing this for years.

 

[Biggz1313]

I boil triclamps and triclamp caps then toss in the starsan so they can be handled. They weigh the bag down perfectly. Been doing this for years.

This was going to be my other recommendation as well since I do the same thing, but I didn't say anything because not everyone has tri-clamps. Thanks for being braver than me, haha.

 

[Sleepy_D]

This was going to be my other recommendation as well since I do the same thing, but I didn't say anything because not everyone has tri-clamps. Thanks for being braver than me, haha.

Unfortunately I don’t have any equipment with sanitary fittings at home, plenty at work tho lol

 

[T Murph]

Just be cautious what you use that is made of stainless steel. Unless it is 100% food grade #304 stainless the acids in the wort will release metal ions that will impart metallic off flavors in your beer. Pure solid glass is the better option. Even with glass marbles be sure they are solid with no air bubble pockets or cracks as they may harbor critters that can ruin your prized beer.

 

[Deadalus]

I boil triclamps and triclamp caps then toss in the starsan so they can be handled. They weigh the bag down perfectly. Been doing this for years.

I was just looking at the price on the caps which isn't too bad, upwards of ~$3-4 for the smaller sizes. Would you be willing to weigh yours and provide the size used?

@AlexKay I really wanted to like those glass fermentation weights for fermenting but I've had 2 of them develop cracks while being used for fermenting pickles and such. Probably cheap manufacturing but I was disappointed. I didn't drop them either, I was being careful with them. It was suprising because they are really thick.

 

[Imhoppy]

@Deadalus I use a sanitized 1.5" tri-clamp end cap. Works great. 79 grams.

 

[Spivey24]

These work well too. Borrowed them from eh someone. Just clean them well.
https://www.pinkcherry.com/collecti...oducts/ouch-med-stainless-steel-silver-ben-wa

 

[Eddy Monsoon]

3 shot glasses in the bottom of the hop sock. Tie a knot, then the hops, then knot off

 

[JSmetalcraft]

I just went into my shop and cut 2" long pieces of 1" SS round bar. I could combat the nay Sayers by saying marbles are made of recycled glass. Carbide might be an answer as in it has much higher weight to mass ratio.

 

[superiorsat]

I was just looking at the price on the caps which isn't too bad, upwards of ~$3-4 for the smaller sizes. Would you be willing to weigh yours and provide the size used?

@AlexKay I really wanted to like those glass fermentation weights for fermenting but I've had 2 of them develop cracks while being used for fermenting pickles and such. Probably cheap manufacturing but I was disappointed. I didn't drop them either, I was being careful with them. It was suprising because they are really thick.

2.76 oz on a 1.5" tri-clamp cap.

Edit- Haha didn't even see @Imhoppy beat me to it. Read it, weighed it, posted it. As always weight will vary by manufacturer.

 

[Wuggly Ump]

I’ve used marbles but even 15-20 seemed unable to keep hop bags submerged. Now I’ve got sous vide magnets I saw on Homebrew 4 Life on YouTube, but I haven’t looked to see if they kept the 4 oz of hops down.

 

[Witherby]

fermentation weights are nice, if a little pricey. And when you're not making beer, you can make pickles. With your cucumbers.

I have a bunch of these that I use for small batch ferments. Biggest advantage is they are probably much easier to retrieve and clean compared to picking out all of those stupid glass marbles from the hop bag. Definitely going to do this.