Help with basic kit instructions :(

[rdavidw]

I am getting ready to make a Hop Head Double IPA kit from www.midwestsupplies.com. Here are the instructions: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/downloads/49/Hop Head Double IPA Instructions.pdf

This is my first time doing a boil kit and have a question about adding the hop pellets to the boil. Do I just pour the hops pellets directly into the pot or do I put them in a muslin bag first? If I am not supposed to use a muslin bag do I need to strain the wort before it goes into the fermenter or do the pellet hops just fall into the yeast cake? Thanks for your help.

David

 

[aiptasia]

It's personal preference. Using hops bags are fine. How I like to do partial mash and specialty grain beers is to use a BIAB bag (boil in the bag). They're a large mesh bag that can usually fit in a 5 gallon pot. I put it in the pot with the water, open it up and use metal file clips to clip it to the sides of the pot. Anything that goes into the bag will be strained out when I lift the bag out of the wort at the end. It makes adding hops and specialty grains a breeze. I just toss them in and then remove the bag after the wort cools down in an ice bath.

 

[emmdubb23]

If you don't use a muslin bag or a nylon hop bag, it does help to strain after cooking. However, if you don't it will eventually settle into the yeast cake. Really its a matter of preference. I strain, mostly because I sometimes make beers with 9-10 hop additions, and that many little bags would be silly.