Bags for hops

[rightwingnut]

I tried adding the whole hops straight into the wort, but that's a pain when I have to siphon...clogs easily. The closest brew shop is an hour away...is there something I can use to bag the hops, that I can find easily, say in the supermarket? Cheesecloth maybe?

 

[Janx]

Hmm...yeah that would be a pain with siphoning...our kettle has a faucet at the bottom and a filter inside.

Cheesecloth or one of those nylon hop bags should help...

Or what about fastening a brillo/chore boy type mesh wire scrubbing pad to the bottom of your racking cane to filter them out?

Janx

 

[rightwingnut]

Thanks, Janx. Never thought of filtering the cane...although that could get clogged, too, I imagine, when the hops get sucked up to it. BTW, nice to see you...you haven't posted for 4 days...I was beginning to think we were on our own!

 

[smorris]

The chore boy on the end of the cane works great and is easy to clean. I bought a box of them just for that purpose, the wife knows not to touch my pads.

 

[Janx]

Well, the cane filter may get clogged, but you might be suprised. For some reason, that sort of setup works OK usually. Our filter on our kettle is just a little cylinder about 2 inches in diameter and 2 inches tall with a nipple on it that screws into the outlet inside the kettle. For some reason, smaller filters seem to clog a bit less.

In my setup before the current one, my buddies and I literally used a Chore Boy to filter the hops before going out the faucet on the kettle. The kettle we had had grooves that you could slide this sort of hat shaped thing into that made a little open chamber. We'd shove a Chore Boy in that and it usually worked well.

It was a frequent cause of "Doh!" when the wort was coming to a boil, and at 170 degrees or so, we'd look at one another and go "Where's the $#&&@!**$ Chore Boy?", because we had forgotten to put the filter in. Then one guy had to plunge his arm into 10 gallons of hot as hell wort to shove the filter "hat" into the grooves at the bottom of the pot. You'd think we would learn...

And thanks for the welcome back. I had some work meetings, then went diving yesterday, brewed today. It was in the 60s, sunny and no time to be in front of a computer. But you haven't gotten rid of me yet

Janx

 

[Rhoobarb]

Okay, maybe this is an idea from out in left field, but I'll throw it out there: Could panty hose be used as a hop bag? I'm serious! Before somebody cracks wise, I'm not talking used, but the el cheapo dollar store stuff.

Hmmm?

 

[rightwingnut]

They could melt, no? Maybe not, I dunno.

 

[Uncle Fat]

Okay, maybe this is an idea from out in left field, but I'll throw it out there: Could panty hose be used as a hop bag? I'm serious! Before somebody cracks wise, I'm not talking used, but the el cheapo dollar store stuff.

Hmmm?

I've heard of them being used for dry hopping, but I'd be a bit cautious about using them in the boil.... At what temp to panty hose melt???

 

[yodar]

Okay, maybe this is an idea from out in left field, but I'll throw it out there: Could panty hose be used as a hop bag? I'm serious! Before somebody cracks wise, I'm not talking used, but the el cheapo dollar store stuff.

Hmmm?

On other forums Panty hose are repeatedly referred to for successful hop boils.

I have even used clean men's sox and there IS a tubular gauze on a roll that can be got at a medical supply house and it works fine.

However I went to the dollar sale and got a package of two pillow cases and they can be cut up and re-sewn into smaller bags or used outa the box. The work fine and clean up well in the laundry.

I even sewed two together for a big*ss grain bag and did my first AG stovetop with it. THEN I got my Igloo.

Yodar

 

[rooftopbrew]

Cheesecloth works, but I'm a big fan of letting the hops loose simply for better utilization (through exposure). I also have a false bottom though, so the loose hops only help by contributing as a filter bed.

The old hop sack I have is nylon (and stained green) so I can't imagine why pantyhose wouldn't work. You might give it a try and share the results. I guess this falls into the "How would MacGyver Brew" line of esoteric questions.