Hop Funnel

[Epos7]

I added dry hops to my Zombie Dust clone last night, and found that getting them through the neck of my fermentor (glass carboy) was much more difficult than anticipated. I ended up making a makeshift funnel from a piece of paper, but it was far from perfect and still ended up taking 10-15 minutes. I'd prefer not to leave the fermenter open for that long.

Has anyone found a good 'hop funnel' for adding dry hops? I have a few funnels of various sizes, but the neck on all of them is much too small for whole hops to fit through.

 

[kh54s10]

I put one ounce in a gallon paint strainer bag, sanitized, tie the top shut and shove it in. One bag for each one ounce of hops. Stuff them in. No worries. A bit of a chore to remove but not too bad.

Or I would just use the funnel that came with my original equipment kit.

OH, but I do use pellet hops...

 

[Epos7]

Ah, would be much less challenging with pellet hops I think

 

[Johow]

I think your paper funnel is probably your best bet. Tape it together, then cut the bottom off so it just extends into the opening but is wide enough not to restrict the flow of hops.

 

[Epos7]

The paper funnel was better than nothing, but degraded quickly when it absorbed some Star San. It also started to crumple because when hops got stuck and needed to be pushed through, it deformed the funnel. I'd like to find a more permanent solution, which could involve cutting part of the neck off an existing funnel.

 

[Epos7]

I think a powder funnel is what I'm looking for. They tend to have a wider neck.

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ES3UE3I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I'll have to measure the neck of my carboy to see what will fit.

 

[20grit]

Roll all the hops up in a tube (paper, plastic, whatever) that is smaller in diameter than the opening. Or if you just have a plastic tube of appropriate size, push them all into that tube. Then, use a plunger to ram them down in. All the prep can be done without opening the fermenter. Then open time is minimal while pushing them in.

 

[GHBWNY]

Ah, would be much less challenging with pellet hops I think

This^ With or without hop bag. So much easier and your beer will probably not know the difference.

 

[kh54s10]

This^ With or without hop bag. So much easier and your beer will probably not know the difference.

One day, I might try leaf hops. Just to say that I did. If I used them, I would probably ferment in a bucket, for the reason that this thread was started.....

 

[user 224599]

This fit in a plastic carboy mouth when I made my first carboy-fermented anything (Apfelwine from here.)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Giant-Funnel/17127130

 

[Epos7]

This^ With or without hop bag. So much easier and your beer will probably not know the difference.

In this case Citra hops were not available in pellet form. Even if they had been, they would be more expensive at my LHBS.

Convenience aside, I like working with whole hops. They smell great!

 

[Epos7]

Roll all the hops up in a tube (paper, plastic, whatever) that is smaller in diameter than the opening. Or if you just have a plastic tube of appropriate size, push them all into that tube. Then, use a plunger to ram them down in. All the prep can be done without opening the fermenter. Then open time is minimal while pushing them in.

This is a good idea. If I can't find a funnel that works, I'm going to try this.

 

[Dimax]

What you need is a canning funnel

 

[GHBWNY]

One day, I might try leaf hops. Just to say that I did. If I used them, I would probably ferment in a bucket, for the reason that this thread was started.....

So... maybe leaf hops in a bucket fermenter, pellets in a carboy?

There once was a brewer named Nate
Who thought that dry-hopping was great
'Til he ran out of luck when his leaf hops got stuck
'Cause he cleaned out his carboy too late!

 

[Epos7]

What you need is a canning funnel

Right idea, but the internal diameter of my carboy neck is 1.15". The canning funnels seem to be designed for jars and as such have a much larger neck.

 

[Jwin]

20 oz bottle cut in half
Cut the neck off if needed

 

[jddevinn]

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...cutting+board&sprefix=flexible+cuttin,aps,193

 

[GHBWNY]

Buy a funnel assortment for a buck at your dollar store. One of them with some modification will be the perfect funnel. Along with that, a sanitized dowel or rod to ram them through. The tough part comes when you try to get all that dried hop debris unstuck from the inside of your carboy. Did someone say Big Mouth Bubbler?

 

[Epos7]

I found the perfect funnel:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=38090

Used it to dry hop today and it made things so much easier.