Addition of Hop Pellets Q

[valherux]

I brewed my first 5 gallon batch last night, and had a quick question about using hop pellets.

The instructions for the kit I had, called for 2oz of hop pellets to be added at the start of the boil for bittering, and 1oz at the end for 3-8 minutes. The kit included specialty grains, which were brought to 155 and held there for 10 minutes, at which point the instructions clearly stated to REMOVE (obviously!).

However, the instructions never mentioned removing/straining the hops from the wort. The book that the kit came with stated that when using pellets, it's not a big deal if they are left in the fermenter, because they will settle out with the yeast. However, when reading this site, it appears that most people filter out the hops before transferring the wort to the fermenter.

Will leaving them in make a huge difference? Is it just recipe specific whether or not they should be filtered out?

Thanks in advance!

 

[c.n.budz]

You can strain them out if you want, but don't have to. Personally, I strain the hop sludge out by pouring the wort through a fine mesh colander. If you don't stain them out just be careful when racking to secondary or your bottling bucket so the hop sludge doesn't end up in your bottles

 

[anderj]

you will be fine and hopefully your first brew turns out well, in the future maybe try the whirlpool technique of use a funnel with a screen in it. It is all about developing your specific method.
-ander

 

[Weizenheimer]

I use the strainer when transfering from the kettle to the fermenter. And I also tie a fine sanitized nylon hopping bag around the bottom of the racking crane when racking. I get very little sludge after I use these steps and it doesn't seem to effect the brew a bit.

 

[valherux]

Thanks a lot for the info, I really appreciate it!

 

[Awfers]

I make a whirlpool using my immersion chiller, then simply leave the last 1cm of wort at the bottom of the kettle when I pour it into the fermenter.. small loss..

 

[solidghost]

Or you can use a hop bag when you are boiling the hops in the wort then take it out after you are done.