A couple of general technique questions...

[johnodon]

1. For those of you who use an immersion chiller AND a hop spider, do you take the hop spider out when you begin chilling or just leave it in for the duration?
   
   
2. I have been looking for a better way to orgaize my hops on brew day. I currently have 12 little plastic containers with 5 minute intervals written on them (i.e. 60, 55, 50, 45, etc.). This has worked OK but I have started to hate having so many containers and lids lying around. I would like to have a single container that has seperate compartments, each with its own lid/door. I keep thinking something like a pill organizer would work but I haven't found one with enough or compartments or large enough ones. Ideas??? This is the best I have come up with so far - 2 of these:
   
   http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/catalog/s...98&productId=460698&navAction=jump&navCount=3
   
   I know it is basically teh same as what I am doing right now but at least they are stackable.
   
   
3. Is it bad to do too much filtering? Lately I have been all about nice, clear beer so have been doing the following: I have been using my hop spider in place a vorlaufing; using a hop spider for its intended purpose (duh); I also have a braided water supply line as a filter in my boil kettle rather than just a diptube; and, once again, I use my hop spider when transferring from the kettle to the fermenter. Is this bad? I don't really care if it is overkill, but my question really is if you want "some" residue to make it into the fermenter (specifically hop residue)?

TIA for the advice!

John

 

[lostboysbrew]

your post about the hop layout made me think of this. parents measure off formula in each compartment. the top rotates and then pops at each one. only 4 compartments but this is what your looking for

[url="http://www.buy.com/prod/sassy-baby-powdered-formula-dispenser-multiple-colors/q/sellerid/25493921/loc/20269/204258075.html"]http://www.buy.com/prod/sassy-baby-powdered-formula-dispenser-multiple-colors/q/sellerid/25493921/loc/20269/204258075.html[/url]

 

[johnodon]

your post about the hop layout made me think of this. parents measure off formula in each compartment. the top rotates and then pops at each one. only 4 compartments but this is what your looking for

[url="http://www.buy.com/prod/sassy-baby-powdered-formula-dispenser-multiple-colors/q/sellerid/25493921/loc/20269/204258075.html"]http://www.buy.com/prod/sassy-baby-powdered-formula-dispenser-multiple-colors/q/sellerid/25493921/loc/20269/204258075.html[/url]

LMAO! I have 2 of those and didn't even think about it! I guess I would need 3 to cover a 60 minute schedule but that is fine by me.

Thx lostboy!

John

 

[joeldp144]

1. I pull my hops just before I begin chilling. My logic is that you are getting some hop utilization when your water is at an elevated temperature. If you have hops in for an additional 10 to 15 minutes before it is below 120 F, then that is further extraction, and you might overshoot your IBU's. I can't see it making a huge difference, but I do believe that it affects the IBU's.

3. I use a stainless strainer that I bought at Wal-mart.....think it was intended for sifting flour. I run all of my mash runnings through it (including my 1st gallon.....vorlauf). It manages to catch a few grain bits mainly when it first runs out. I then use that same strainer for my runnings from the kettle on the way to the fermenter. You would be amazed at how much hop residue that I catch. I am all for minimizing the particulate in the fermenter, and I have not seen any issues with my fermentations as a result of it. After all, there is still some stuff making its way through the strainer, so it is just catching the big stuff.

 

[samc]

1. I don't use IC anymore, but I would leave it in.
2. I avoid recipes that use crazy long complex hop additions so usually I have no more than 4 bowls of hops set up.
3. Break material in fermenter is fine with me, hop debris is not desirable IMO as I have had excess bitterness from it in the past.