Hop bags - squeeze or no squeeze?

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2bluewagons

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So I just finished an amber ale that had 2 oz of hops in the last 10 minutes of the boil. I had read around here about hops stealing wort, but didn't expect to lose that much going into the fermentor!

I know that there are debates and experiments to weigh the effects of squeezing grain in bags, what about hops? Is there any reason to think that some "bad" flavors would come out of the hops when squeezed?
 
Did a side by side comparison of this a few months ago with a split batch of my neighbor and my brew. I drew off the first 5 gallons (my equipment so I go first) and he drew off 3+ gallons and said what the #@$%. The other 2 gallons were in the hop bag and he squeezed the life out of that bag with some dirty hands as well. The beers tasted very similar - only difference I could see in our methods was I had a temperature controlled mid 60's ferment and he had a whatever my garage temp was at ferment. His beer had no detectable off flavors or extra bitterness.

Not scientifically controlled but good enough for me. I squeeze as much as I can - I do a quick starsan hand rinse first !
 
I'm a squeezer.

Sometimes I use these gloves.

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I squeeze with surgical gloves on after "scrubbing in" with a bunch of star san. I also rinse with boiled water from my HLT if I come up short on volume. I sometimes burn myself pretty good with the initial squeeze. some thicker gloves would probably be a good idea.
 
I use my huge spoon to pickup the bag by the string and then wrap the string around the bag and the spoon to do the squeeze I don't sanitize my hands but I don't touch anything that comes into contact with the wort (although sometimes it's hard to fish the spoon through the string loop)
 
The one time I used a hop bag, I use the BBQ tongs to squeeze out my hop sack. Not just at the end, but periodically through the boil to make sure I was getting everything I could out of it.
 
My local craft brewery brewed up a double IPA about a year ago, and they dry hopped a ridiculous amount of hops using hop bags in the bright tank. After the beer was packaged, the head brewer squeezed every drop of remaining liquid out of each bag of hops that was used (many, many pounds) and put it into a 5 gal corny keg. He brought it to a club party and let people try it.

It definitely was not a session beer, but given that the entire keg came from squeezed hop bags, I was amazed that there were none of the off flavours that people suggest (e.g., excessively tannic).

I won't bat an eye at squeezing a hop bag in my homebrew now. :tank:
 
It definitely was not a session beer, but given that the entire keg came from squeezed hop bags, I was amazed that there were none of the off flavours that people suggest (e.g., excessively tannic).

I won't bat an eye at squeezing a hop bag in my homebrew now. :tank:

Most people warn about squeezing the specialty grain bag because of tannin extraction, but I don't think I've ever heard of the same being true of the hop bag.
 
can you tell me what would happen if I leave hops inside the fermentor during fermentation? would that ruin my beer?
 
can you tell me what would happen if I leave hops inside the fermentor during fermentation? would that ruin my beer?

No, that's what I usually do. I don't use hops bags, so most of the "stuff" in my wort makes it into my beer. If I have a ton of leaf hops, I'll use a sanitized strainer and then pour the wort through it. Usually, I just pour most of it into the fermenter without straining, though.
 
No, that's what I usually do. I don't use hops bags, so most of the "stuff" in my wort makes it into my beer. If I have a ton of leaf hops, I'll use a sanitized strainer and then pour the wort through it. Usually, I just pour most of it into the fermenter without straining, though.

what about using hop pellets regarding this whole story?
 
what about using hop pellets regarding this whole story?

Into the fermenter? No worries! It is fine in there... it just settles into the trub. Leaf hops take up a greater volume and are really easy to strain, I think that is why Yoop noted straining it.

I have started using a hop sock during the boil. I didn't on my pumpkin ale because I already had so much crap to settle out, I figured it would be less work to not clean the hop sock!!

I just pour all the crap into the fermenter. It will be fine. It wants to be beer.
 
I wish I head read about the hop bag sqeeze earlier. My Pliny the Elder clone is sitting at three gallons in the secondary-with the other two gallons undoubtedly in the previously disgarded hopsacks:cross:
 
I strain (no hop bags), but then I use a sanitized spoon or spatula to squeeze the hell out of them. Once, in a RyePA, I forgot to add the sugar. I reclaimed the spent hops and boiled them with the sugar and added later, and I believe I extracted yet more hoppy goodness. I haven't done it since, but now that I've stabilized that recipe, I'm thinking of trying it again to see if it makes a real difference or if it's only an extra step.
 
+1 on the barbecue tongs. they work wonders at getting the goodness out of those hop bags.
 
thanks for all the answers. you helped me alot.

one more question though, can I use hop bags for hop pellets? what are pros and cons?
 
Of course you can. I use the 5 gallon paint strainer bags that are available at Lowes and similar stores for about 99 cents. The are fine enough to contain most of the hops, but a little does get out. I have used a much finer bag before but the wort didn't seem to flow through the bag very well. I also found the strainer bag didn't retain too much wort when I pulled it from the keggle at the end of the boil. It allowed the hops to drain freely. I was surprised how much the hops expanded, 3 oz. of pellets became 4 cups of packed mass.

I do have a stainless steel weight in the bag to hold it down in the boil. I also spend the first few minutes after the hop addition to stir in the hops and make sure they don't stay floating on the top. Once they get saturated they seem to stay in the boil pretty well.
 
As I'm draining the boiled wort through the chiller line after brewing I squeeze the hops bag against the side the kettle with the SS spoon I've sanitized and stirred with during the boil.
 
As I'm draining the boiled wort through the chiller line after brewing I squeeze the hops bag against the side the kettle with the SS spoon I've sanitized and stirred with during the boil.

+1 After chilling the wort with my immersion chiller I do the same thing, want all the hop flavor out.
 
Well, since we're resurrecting a 5-year old thread, I'll throw in that I have since been squeezing the crap out of hops at the end of the boil. When I upgraded my brewpot, I went to a bazooka screen that I use for hoppy beers and press down on the hops with the lid from my smaller pot that fits inside the larger pot.

Done a few fresh hop beers like this and no off flavors have resulted. So, 5 years later the message is the same - Squeeze away!
 
I had been struggling with volumes - boil off, then losing 1 or 2L on transfer to fermenter, losing 1 or 2L on bottling (if dry hopped) - so 23L has become 16L

today I strained both and difference was much more material than I expected - 100 or 200g hops plus some deadspace can hold a *lot* of juice

I've been reusing yeast cakes to see how far I can go before it goes wrong - this time I strained the dryhop/yeast and pitched that straight in to same'ish beer in a clean carboy - I'll see how that goes - it'll be useful if it works okay
 
I wish I head read about the hop bag sqeeze earlier. My Pliny the Elder clone is sitting at three gallons in the secondary-with the other two gallons undoubtedly in the previously disgarded hopsacks:cross:

That is why Vinnie uses extract when he makes Pliny...there are some pellet additions, but he gets most of his bittering from extract.
 
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