hop bag work for hop pellets?

[MattHollingsworth]

Never used to use a hop bag. But am looking at it now. I *might* buy a plate heat exchanger and want to keep it from getting clogged. But I would like to use pellets also for some stuff. Do those large hop bags for putting into the boil hold pellets well? Seems like they could go through the mesh and end up outside the bag. Thoughts?

 

[killian]

personally I would stick with an immersion chiller, but if you are set on the plate chiller then I would recommend using a 5 gallon paint straining bag

 

[jacksonbrown]

I've never had problems using the muslin hop bags in terms of get hop particles in my wort. But I did switch to the paint strainer method quite some time ago just to get better utilization from the hops.

 

[Flyin' Lion]

I've used grain bags for hop pellets with success. Just cut them up into individual "servings" and toss them into the boil at the requisite times.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

personally I would stick with an immersion chiller, but if you are set on the plate chiller then I would recommend using a 5 gallon paint straining bag

I don't like immersion chillers, think they're not very effective. If I don't use a plate heat exchanger, which I'm not settled on yet, I will use a counterflow chiller. In which case I wouldn't have to worry.

Are you recommending putting the hops into the paint strainer? Not sure those are safe for boiling. I won't strain the wort through it after boiling.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Thanks for the comments guys. For clarity's sake, I am talking about very large hop bags, but little dry hop bags.

Can't link directly to the specific page because of the way their site is set up. But I'm talking about the hop bags these guys sell. Maybe those ARE paint straining bags that they're reselling?

Brouwland - alles voor het maken van bier, wijn, likeur en kaas

 

[jacksonbrown]

Those are some big 'ol bags! But they're not paint strainers, which are simply 3 gal sized nylon bags. Perfectly safe for boiling. And they're reusable unlike the other bags, so more bang for the buck (or your Kuna in your case).

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Those are some big 'ol bags! But they're not paint strainers, which are simply 3 gal sized nylon bags. Perfectly safe for boiling. And they're reusable unlike the other bags, so more bang for the buck (or your Kuna in your case).

Ah cool. Guess I'll check the paint section of the local equivalent of Home Depot (here, it's Bauhaus, Baumax and Pevec). Are the paint strainer bags finer mesh though? These ones on the brew site are actually reusable. I used some like that in the past, but I was never a big pellet guy. The difficulty of getting hops may lead me to switch to pellets though as they store better from what I recall.

And yeah, it's Kuna, which is a marten (like a mink?). Money's named after that as the pelts of those animals used to be traded as currency long ago.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

How do ya'll close the bags? Do you tie a knot in them, or use string.

As far as immersion chillers, they work fine, if you feed them with COLD water. Problem is, my tap water is up to 70 now, which makes cooling take a lot longer.

Working on a ice and rock salt pre-chiller for the IC now...

 

[Orangevango]

you dont close the top, you keep the top above the wort with a rack, that way you can add more hops without fishing for the bag... Its a good system.

 

[DeuceK]

My first batch was a Cherry Wheat extract kit from Midwest. I steeped my grains in the grain bag that came with the kit, then re-used the bag to put my first addition of hops in. I tied a knot in the bag so the hop pellets were kind of tight in the bag with no extra room. Once I put them in to boil, they expanded quite a bit and the bag got very tight. I decided to loosen the knot and re-tie it further up the bag to give the hops room to expand and expose them to more water flow for the best flavor extraction. But, once I did this, the hop pellets pretty much turned to mush in the bag and seeped out into my wort. This wasn't a big problem because I strained it before pouring into the primary, but it made me wonder if I would get all the essential flavors and what not from the hops if they were tied tight and not allowed to fully expand/dissolve.

 

[kevmoron]

for coarse mesh bags such as the muslin bags sold by morebeer, NB, or AHB, you can double bag them for pellets to prevent most of the particles from escaping and floating around.

 

[backdeckbrewery]

The paint strainer bag has worked for me quite well.... I attached it to a 4" pvc coupler with a worm clamp and then drilled 2 holes through the sides to put a piece of threaded rod through so it sits on top of my keggle.... the bag doesnt touch the bottom and the wort flows freely around the hops....

try this thread

Hop Bag - Home Brewing Wiki

 

[MattHollingsworth]

The paint strainer bag has worked for me quite well.... I attached it to a 4" pvc coupler with a worm clamp and then drilled 2 holes through the sides to put a piece of threaded rod through so it sits on top of my keggle.... the bag doesnt touch the bottom and the wort flows freely around the hops....

try this thread

Hop Bag - Home Brewing Wiki

Nice one! Thanks! How's that for pellets?

 

[android]

It works quite well for pellets, but doesn't get out all the particles. I still end up with a bit of pellet crud in the fermenter, but i've put in a stainless scrubby in my dip tube to further strain the wort... not quite fine enough but it still gets a little more out and helps with the other trub.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

It works quite well for pellets, but doesn't get out all the particles. I still end up with a bit of pellet crud in the fermenter, but i've put in a stainless scrubby in my dip tube to further strain the wort... not quite fine enough but it still gets a little more out and helps with the other trub.

Yeah, I do that too and have good results with it. I might try this hop bag setup though. Looks pretty good.

 

[backdeckbrewery]

I didnt notice a lot of hop particles in the fermenter.....I am sure there were a few but for the most part they were in the bag..... it is easy to clean too.... just flip it inside out and rinse.....I think I made the whole thing for less than $10.... and most of that was because the paint strainers come in a 3 pack and were about $6 for the pack.... but I am sure you can get a few brews out of each one.... unless they get a hole in them wash and use again...

 

[brendanb]

this looks kind of cool. i usually just dump my pellets into my boil, but i hate straining it all a few cups at a time through my funnel into my primary.

i would imagine using a bag like this would HAVE to get less results than just pitching the hops directly into the boil...right?

do you guys notice a difference?

keep in mind that i mostly do ipas.

ugh...maybe i should just stick to my strainer/funnel crap.

The paint strainer bag has worked for me quite well.... I attached it to a 4" pvc coupler with a worm clamp and then drilled 2 holes through the sides to put a piece of threaded rod through so it sits on top of my keggle.... the bag doesnt touch the bottom and the wort flows freely around the hops....

try this thread

Hop Bag - Home Brewing Wiki