Filter out Hops or not??

[DSMbrewer]

Anyone have an opinion on removing hops from wort before fermentation begins? Do it or not? I seem to be loosing a lot of liquid to my trub when I leave hops in the primary ferment. Trub is THICK and takes up, what looks like, about 1/2 gallon of space after all is fermented. Your thoughts.....

 

[MalFet]

The general consensus in everything I've read is that it doesn't really make too much of a difference. Unless you're making some kind of preposterous IIPA, most of that isn't hops but break material and yeast. I've always got about that much sitting at the bottom of my fermentors, FWIW. Seems fine to me.

 

[EoinMag]

I don't get you, how do you have hops in the fermenter pre-fermentation? After your boil you are filtering the wort through a hop filter and running clear wort into your fermenter are you not?

Dry hopping is normally only done after the primary fermentation is complete, so I can only assume you are talking about hops that you have had in your boil, it does not make sense that they make it into the fermenter, can you maybe describe your process from flame out to chill to fermenter to better help you with your problem, cos it sounds like you are missing something there?

 

[MalFet]

cos it sounds like you are missing something there?

Not necessarily. He is definitely talking about boil hops here. If you see this thread, people are split somewhat 50/50 about whether they filter out hops or just dump them into primary.

I've heard both Jamil Zainascheff and Randy Mosher say that it's not a huge deal either way. My anecdotal experience fits with this. I used to just dump everything in, now I filter. I've not noticed any real difference.

 

[Gameface]

So do most people not use a hop bag?

 

[shaynm]

I would not worry about it. The first few batches I made I was stirring my immersion wort chiller to help the wort cool faster and I was not leaving much troob behind when I was siphoning into my primary fermenter. I had a lot of sediment in my primary but it did not effect the overall quality of the finished product.

When i don't stir the chiller i leave a lot more stuff behind in the brew pot and there is less in my primary fermenter. There is still a decent amount of troob in the primary but it is usually yeast and there are less noticeable hop particles left over.

It is simply a matter of preference.

 

[shaynm]

I always use a hop bag when I am using whole leaf hops, but I often just throw the pellet hops into the wort if i do not have a bag handy. It has not really made a difference in my beer.

 

[DSMbrewer]

Thanks gang! I am talking about boil hops. The past two batches I have made, I have passed cooled wort, post boil, through a strainer into the primary. The last 2 have had 6 and 8 oz of hops added to a 5 gal batch. I use pellets mostly and would def use a hop bag for whole leaf. If most of what I see is break material and yeast, does not seem to me to be worth the effort to strain. I could be loosing some of my flameout aroma.....right????

 

[stevedasleeve]

I used to painfully try to filter out all the break material and hops sludge until one day I didn't. I wrote in my notes, "Oh oh, I sure hope the beer will be OK...we'll see!"

Since then I dump it all in and my beer is always fantastic!

 

[kanzimonson]

I decided to stop caring about straining the wort before fermentation when I realized how much time I was spending. This was at a time when I had to dump from the BK into the fermentor, through a paint bag. Thanks to the hop matter and all the trub, I had to do like 5 dumpings, scraping the bag to get the stuff through. The whole time I would be cringing because it would take so long and I swear I could see the bacteria settling right in my wort. Now I just open the valve and let it flow right in.

I also like to think that it helps I use a highly flocculant yeast strain. I imagine the yeast grabbing onto floating hop debris as they settle out, like Wile E Coyote grabbing onto a rock as he falls off a cliff.

 

[sjwelna]

I usually just use a paint strainer bag and put the boil hops in there. I use one of those black pincher-paperclip things to hold it to the side of the brew kettle (60qt for me) so it doesn't slip in and get lost/dump everything out. I put my irish moss in there too. Works great, I squeeze it all out so I have a compact hops block that just dumps right into the trash.

-Steve

 

[downinit]

i used to painfully try to filter out all the break material and hops sludge until one day i didn't. I wrote in my notes, "oh oh, i sure hope the beer will be ok...we'll see!"

since then i dump it all in and my beer is always fantastic!

+1

 

[waldoar15]

One of the first things I quit using was a hops sock/bag. I found it to be almost devoid of hops after a long 90 minute boil. One less thing to buy/stock/worry about.

 

[Northcalais40]

My boil kettle has a slotted copper dip tube, like a small 4" version of a MLT. It strains out all the hops. But I can't use pellets, they clog it.

 

[Malticulous]

Not.

 

[IPA-Skud]

I just started brewing in January and I am on my fourth batch. I brew by my self and figured out easy ways to filter. I use a 5 gallon bucket as a primary and bought a 600 micron bucket filter (less than $10 from Amazon) and it sets in the top 4" of the bucket just above the 5 gal mark. When the wort has cooled I just pour the wort into the bucket which filters and adds air to the wort just like the screen on your faucet does with water.
When transferring I found that you put a wedge under fermenter or carboy and tie a hop sack to the bottom of the siphon, place the siphon to the lowest point, put your tube in the bottom of secondary or bottling bucket so not a lot of oxygen gets in the brew. Give siphon a few quick jerks and when it starts do not touch the siphon anymore until it is done. When it sucks air you will be surprised that not very much beer is visible, if any, and all you see is the trub.
So the only need for hop sack is on your siphon.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I use pellet hops almost exclusively, ferment all and let gravity sort it out...works for me!




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