Hop Basket

Last brew I went to a 1/2" ID hose to drain from the Kettle to Fermenter faster. Worked great till the bazooka tube screen plugged up. Found these 3" diameter Stainless Steel "NORPRO Tea Infusers" for $5.50 each at the True Value kitchen section. I will be adding hops in these and it should solve the problem. Will also use for dry hop in the fermenter. They have a short chain. Picture is not too good

 

I wonder if all parts of this are really stainless (and what grade). I've seen several in the past where the ball/mesh was stainless, but the chain and hinge/pins were not.

definitely interested to see how these work for you. How many OZ of hops (pellet I assume) will fit in a 3" ball? (I'm so tired of using hop-bags)

 

Haven't used them, but those who have say that the 3 inch balls are only good for about a half ounce of pellet hops. Any more and the center stays dry while those on the outside expand

 

The package says Stainless but it also says China so who knows for sure. I thought the 3" would hold a lot of Hops but didn't consider the swelling keeping the center dry. I guess I need to use them for small additions first to see how it goes

 

yeah I wouldnt put more than an ounce in each of those. I usually use large muslin grain bags for anythign remotely hoppy since I need to be able to add up to 4oz at a time and have the necessary space for them to float around

 

My next beer has some small additions late so I will use it for that as a test and let you know what happens

 

Well I used them on a late addition about 1.1 Oz each in 2 of them (almost filled 1/2) 5 minutes before the end of the boil. it swelled to fill the whole 3" ball but all the hops were wet and looked like a 3" ball. 1 Oz is about max. Need to find something else.

 

Use a bag.

-BD

 

Thats what I did yesterday but I would rather have a SS screen with a weighted bottom. Best case is just under 1.5" dia so I can drop it thru my fermenter lid vent for dry hopping with out removing the lid.

 

This is a pretty cool idea:

http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/brewingfilters.php#betterbottledryhopper



300 micron Stainless Steel mesh

 

I wonder how much volume that has as compared to the stainless mesh balls from the OP

 

11 cubic inches

 

a 3 in diameter ball has 14.13 cubic inches.

 

Well, there you go...