Hop Bags for Boil, Clogging with Break Material

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petrolSpice

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I like using a bag to hold the hops in the boil especially for big IIPA's where there can be up to a pound of hops in the boil alone. This translates into a significant volume of trub and lost beer. However, I have tried both Wilserbrewer and Home Depot paint strainer bags and both seem to get clogged quickly with break material. This seems to prevent any wort from passing through the bag, which I cant help but think affects hop utilization.

It would be ideal to have a bag that holds 90% of hop pellet material but allows wort and break material to pass through. Does anyone use a non-typical (i.e. paint strainer) bag to hold hops in the boil?

There are some options on McMaster and they come in various micron mesh sizes from 100-1000. I was told the Wilser bags are around 300 micron, and the paint strainer bags seems coarser. I think 600 micron might be a good place to start.

Example: https://www.mcmaster.com/#51705k511/=14zc8q4
 
I like using a bag to hold the hops in the boil especially for big IIPA's where there can be up to a pound of hops in the boil alone. This translates into a significant volume of trub and lost beer. However, I have tried both Wilserbrewer and Home Depot paint strainer bags and both seem to get clogged quickly with break material. This seems to prevent any wort from passing through the bag, which I cant help but think affects hop utilization.

It would be ideal to have a bag that holds 90% of hop pellet material but allows wort and break material to pass through. Does anyone use a non-typical (i.e. paint strainer) bag to hold hops in the boil?

There are some options on McMaster and they come in various micron mesh sizes from 100-1000. I was told the Wilser bags are around 300 micron, and the paint strainer bags seems coarser. I think 600 micron might be a good place to start.

I'm interested in this as well. My hop spider weighed a few pounds due to trapped wort and caused the whole bag to fall into my kettle, releasing my hop pellets
 
I sewed a new bag this weekend which doesn't have a seam on the bottom, I hope this helps the wort drain freely
 
What's wrong with a muslin bag?

thumbnail.asp
 
Timely post! I have been just tossing the hops into the boil but went back to a bag this weekend due to a larger amount of hops and ended up squeezing the hop bag. I may try a muslin bag next brew...perhaps a happy medium between just tossing and using a finer mesh bag.
 
I have this same issue. Especially when i whirlpool for extended time with lots of hops. It works a little better if i use a second, fresh bag (less clogged with break) for the last additions and whirlpool. Does anyone have feedback on the stainless spiders and if they get clogged? Can you recirc through them during whirlpool and get enough flow through them to not overflow?
 
It would be ideal to have a bag that holds 90% of hop pellet material but allows wort and break material to pass through.

The hops pellets break down and can easily make their way through the muslin

I've made some pretty hoppy beers and never had issues with muslin bags. Only a little bit of the hops makes it into the wort.

They seem to meet to standard the OP is looking for in regards to holding 90% of the hop material.

Couple the muslin sack with one of these $10 kettlescreens and you should filter almost all of the hops out of the wort.

http://www.ritebrew.com/product-p/840847.htm

840847-2.jpg
 
For the record I use a separate muslin bag for each hop addition. I've had brews with 5-6 bags floating around!

I like to buy the big muslin bags so the pellets can really spread out inside the muslin.
 
I made my own hop spider that I use, and I never have any problems with hops floating around. And, because it's "open" and in the middle of my kettle, I get plenty of wort moving through there. Pretty simple and cheap solution for me.

20160814_154536.jpg
 
I guess I'm not understanding how, if the OP is using a bag, he is getting a bunch of trub...

I understand the paint strainer bags are getting clogged and he's concerned the wort isn't moving through there enough.

What bags did you use when you got a bunch of trub?
 
I made my own hop spider that I use, and I never have any problems with hops floating around. And, because it's "open" and in the middle of my kettle, I get plenty of wort moving through there. Pretty simple and cheap solution for me.

I use the same thing but when I lift the hop spider out of the wort there is at least a gallon maybe more of wort and material in the hopper, in addition to the hops :confused:
 
I guess I'm not understanding how, if the OP is using a bag, he is getting a bunch of trub...

I was only getting hop trub when not using any bag. Sorry for the confusion. Using paint strainer and the Wilserbrewer bags I got no hop trub, but the mesh material clogged quickly with break material (proteins) seemingly preventing little work from passing into or out of the bag. This is pretty evident when you lift the hop bag out and the wort takes awhile to drain out.

It does work!

I still don't get what the problem we are trying to resolve is... use muslin bags. Problem solved.

Ideally I'd have a re-usable bag and something that would fit more hops than a muslin bag. Although for solving the original problem I could see them working. Muslin bags are hard to clean and sometimes it's just easier to toss them.
 
I just used muslin bags for the first time and used multiple. I did have a little problem when I turned the pump up to recirculate but I just turned the output down and unclogged the bag from the bulkhead and didn't happen again. I even cut them in half. 2oz per bag seemed like the max I will use. They are .50/bag. That is $2 added onto your brew cost. I couldn't see reusing them.
 
Here is my issue with the zoile or paint strainer bags...they clog:

20161122_130509.jpg



For reference, that pot is 16" across and I have 1oz of leaf and 1 oz of pellets in the bag, the rest is junk
 
whats the problem with just chucking the pellet hops in the boil, i only ever use a muslin bag if i got leaf hops in there... after the boil i let the kettle sit for a bit and all that hot break and pellet junk sinks to the bottom and i pump my wort out 1" from the bottom leaving behind all that scuzz.
 
I use the same thing but when I lift the hop spider out of the wort there is at least a gallon maybe more of wort and material in the hopper, in addition to the hops :confused:

I put my spoon across the top of my kettle and balance the bag on top of the spoon when my boil is over, allowing the wort that is still in the bag to drain back in.
 
I put my spoon across the top of my kettle and balance the bag on top of the spoon when my boil is over, allowing the wort that is still in the bag to drain back in.

I guess my problem is worse because the bag keeps trapping more and more wort to the point the wort that is out of the bag is boiling rapidly because the volume is lower than normal :confused:
 
I guess my problem is worse because the bag keeps trapping more and more wort to the point the wort that is out of the bag is boiling rapidly because the volume is lower than normal :confused:

I have some questions:
1. What size kettle are you using?
2. What type of hops are you using? (pellets, whole leaf, etc...)
3. How much hops are you using?
4. What bag are you using?

I've never run into any problems nor have any of my friends had any problems that you're experiencing.
 
I have some questions:
1. What size kettle are you using?
2. What type of hops are you using? (pellets, whole leaf, etc...)
3. How much hops are you using?
4. What bag are you using?

I've never run into any problems nor have any of my friends had any problems that you're experiencing.

Yeah I am equally as confused...
16 gallon kettle
mixture of 1 oz leaf and 1 oz pellets (what I had in the freezer)
I am using a voile bag, but had the same problem with the paint strainer bag as well

Should I be skimming the break material from the wort before I put my hop bag in?
 
So the hop pellet particles don't fall through the holes in the muslin?

A very minimal amount of hop particulate makes it way through the muslin.

I use a plate chiller and have never clogged when using muslin bags.

I reused them and cleaning is super simple.

Flip inside out and rinse in the sink. Takes maybe 30 seconds to at the most a minute a bag.
 
A very minimal amount of hop particulate makes it way through the muslin.

I use a plate chiller and have never clogged when using muslin bags.

I reused them and cleaning is super simple.

Flip inside out and rinse in the sink. Takes maybe 30 seconds to at the most a minute a bag.

I guess another concern is the amount of break material floating at the beginning of the boil, if I skim this off I MAY reduce the clogging, but I also lose some wort

I will try the hop sock/muslin bag next brew, I have 4 laying around I occasionally use for whole hops, but I will try them for the pellets as well
 
I guess another concern is the amount of break material floating at the beginning of the boil, if I skim this off I MAY reduce the clogging, but I also lose some wort

The clogging you are referring to is the clogging of the paint strainer bag or?

I've only skimmed the break material once before determining I personally didn't think it made any difference and didn't feel like implementing it into my process.

I don't know if it has been clarified but was it the end goal here?

Are you trying to reduce the amount of hop particulate in the wort while at the same time allowing sufficient amount of wort to flow through the hops in the bag?

And are you concerned with hop particulate going through your chiller or are you just trying to keep as much out of your fermenter as possible?
 
The clogging you are referring to is the clogging of the paint strainer bag or?

I've only skimmed the break material once before determining I personally didn't think it made any difference and didn't feel like implementing it into my process.

I don't know if it has been clarified but was it the end goal here?

Are you trying to reduce the amount of hop particulate in the wort while at the same time allowing sufficient amount of wort to flow through the hops in the bag?

And are you concerned with hop particulate going through your chiller or are you just trying to keep as much out of your fermenter as possible?

I'm trying to reduce the amount of hop particles in the wort so it doesn't clog my pump while recirculating, and also concerned about the bag clogging and not letting the wort freely drain through.

It sounds like the muslin bag is my option next, the paint strainer bags don't seem to work for me
 
At the homebrew level. making extra wort is pretty cheap. The hops are the expensive ingredient. So if you are concerned with hop utilization (and the overall hop flavor and hop character) Try just throwing them in, then try to measure how much volume you are actually loosing.
The big breweries use centrifuges to separate the wort from the hops, but you aren't dealing with those kinds of volumes or costs, so just forget about it.
If you have extra kettle space, just make more wort to make up for the loss. You may have to add some more hops too, but the main goal is to make the beer that you really want. Just remember how much a six pack of hoppy beer costs if you are worried about using extra malt and hops.
 
+1 on the Muslim bags. Or a hop basket just got one of those seems to work well

IMG_4002.jpg


IMG_4033.jpg
 
I'm trying to reduce the amount of hop particles in the wort so it doesn't clog my pump while recirculating

What kind of pump are you running?

I've never clogged the pump, only once did I have a muslin bag get sucked into the diptube but just used the mash paddle to move it out of the way.

I could be wrong but I think you'd only be able to clog a pump with whole hops. The inlet/outlet on the pumps are pretty wide openings.

Clogging a wort chiller is much easier to do!
 
What kind of pump are you running?

I've never clogged the pump, only once did I have a muslin bag get sucked into the diptube but just used the mash paddle to move it out of the way.

I could be wrong but I think you'd only be able to clog a pump with whole hops. The inlet/outlet on the pumps are pretty wide openings.

Clogging a wort chiller is much easier to do!

I use the tan 24v ebay pumps...the output passage of the impeller is small prior to widening to 1/2" male pipe fitting, so if enough pellet particles get through it packs the passage full and stops the flow
 
Gotcha. I was going to say I don't think it would be possible to clog my march pump even if I threw hop pellets straight into the wort.

I'm not familiar with the ebay pumps but can see your concern if you have a smaller passage. I imagined cholesterol clogging arteries after I read your reply!
 
Anyone just considered using their BiaB bag and toss all the hop additions in that? Obviously have to empty the grains and give it a rinse first but the shear volume should make it impossible to clog. You can even hang it over the kettle to drain while you are chilling.

Personally never had this issue so just throwing it out there...
 
Anyone just considered using their BiaB bag and toss all the hop additions in that? Obviously have to empty the grains and give it a rinse first but the shear volume should make it impossible to clog. You can even hang it over the kettle to drain while you are chilling.

Personally never had this issue so just throwing it out there...

I have tried this and it doesn't work (at least for me) the voile clogs with break material and hop particles
 
I use an Arbor Fab 300 micron screen hop basket. It will take a few minutes to drain but I simply hook it to my BIAB hoist pulley and it takes maybe 10 minutes to drain while I am cleaning up or something similar. I have a 6" diameter basket but they make ones even bigger depending on the amount of hops you typically use.
 
I tried the hop socks today but also the voile in case the particles make their way through the muslin. I collected about a cup or two of hop particles that escaped the muslin. And the voile clogged again due to the hop particles and wort material

Back to the drawing board...
 
Combine the muslin with a bazooka tube like I said earlier in the thread. I think you'd take care of 95% of your concern.

The bazooka tubes looks like they have an even coarser mesh than the muslin bags. But I've never seen one in person.
 
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