hop ball

[jonbomb]

I bought this hop ball from midwest. Think its useful for me to use it??

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/hop-ball.html

 

[brewkrew]

Being new to brewing I have never seen anything like that, but it sounds like a cool idea... Keep the hops in, let the flavors out. Saves time with straining or siphoning into carboy...

 

[NyQuil_Driver]

Don't see why not. It should help strain *most* of the hops solids out of your wort when you're ready to transfer to your fermenter.

I like that better than the nylon mesh bag I used last time, just for the fact that it looks WAY easier to clean.

 

[chriswilkes33]

Looks like a win to me, dont know how well it work with pellet hops but a few of them for leaf additions may not be a bad idea. Seems like the hop sack idea is just as efficient though.

 

[Depot]

Yes, it is a handy thing to have. I haven't used it in the boil, but have used it to dry hop in the keg. Put 1 oz of pellet hops in there and left it in until the keg ran dry. When I pulled it out the hops had expanded to fill the entire ball all the way.

Beware trying to do more than 1 oz of pellets at a time!

 

[uwjester]

I have used those before. They don't hold as much as you would think. I tend to keep less than 1/2 oz of pellet hops in them otherwise the hops in the middle are kind of dry and I imagine underused. I'm currently trying to incorporate 3 or 4 of those into a hop-back though. Maybe once I finish it I'll put up a thread for it.

By the way, I think those are about half the cost at wal-mart, except they call them tea-balls there.

 

[djt17]

I have one (Walmart), I put about 1 oz of pellet hops in it once; I couldn't figure out why the ball was floating on the top. I opened it up & the hops were compacted in there very tight. I don't think I was getting much utilization. I had used it previously with .25 oz of pellets & it worked fine. Now I just throw my hops in naked!

 

[jonbomb]

Thanks yea i bought that and a nice floating thermometer! Now I plan on using it to boil my only problem might be that if i have to boil three different hops I would have to remove the hops every time before putting more hops in...

 

[Yooper]

Yes, it is a handy thing to have. I haven't used it in the boil, but have used it to dry hop in the keg. Put 1 oz of pellet hops in there and left it in until the keg ran dry. When I pulled it out the hops had expanded to fill the entire ball all the way.

Beware trying to do more than 1 oz of pellets at a time!

Yep, me too. I've used them to dryhop. It holds less than an ounce of leaf hops, though. You don't want to "pack" them in- fill it loosely.

They are actually made for tea leafs, so you might find then cheap at a kitchen gadgets store.

You will NOT fit more than about .75 ounces of hops in there. Don't even try! If you want to do more additions to it, either get another ball, or just toss them in. Once you open it, you'll have a hops sludge mess. Trust me.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I have one (Walmart), I put about 1 oz of pellet hops in it once; I couldn't figure out why the ball was floating on the top. I opened it up & the hops were compacted in there very tight. I don't think I was getting much utilization. I had used it previously with .25 oz of pellets & it worked fine.

I second those comments.

Putting too many hops in there is a waste because the hops can't expand.

I made a hop sock from netting. I made them about 2" wide and 10" long so I can insert them into the carboy for dry hopping with pellets. I weigh it down with a couple of glass marbles.

 

[Zamial]

I have 3 of these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001AMQQDM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 .
They are bigger than a baseball and can fit the infuser you bought inside it. I bought mine at a World Market store for the same price...I am planning on using them for 1oz hop infusions. I will post back on how they worked but it will be a few weeks.
My concern is that the mesh is not as fine as the ball you have.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Great for dry hopping. No more than 0.5 oz pellets.