Today I used hop pellets for the first time, and on the advice of multiple people I just tossed them straight in during the boil. The problem is... I'm pretty sure my filtration attempts did nothing and all of the dissipated pellet residue made it in to my fermenter. Will this cause extreme hop aroma / bitterness or cause off flavors? I don't usually rack to secondary but I may consider it this time if it's absolutely recommended...
Hop pellets making their way in to the fermenter?
- Thread starter skarz
- Start date
-
- Tags
- hop pellets pellets
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Perfectly normal. The hops will settle with the rest of the trub, then you can rack off of it at bottling time. Don't worry about a secondary; it's unnecessary.
I've only used pellets, and I tried to filter them out when racking to my fermenter on my first few brews. On the recommendation of others here, I started just dumping it all into my fermenter. No issues.
RDWHAHB.
I've only used pellets, and I tried to filter them out when racking to my fermenter on my first few brews. On the recommendation of others here, I started just dumping it all into my fermenter. No issues.
RDWHAHB.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2013
- Messages
- 3,887
- Reaction score
- 2,929
2nd this...I never filter...consider it some extra yeast food!
The simple answer is no. The more complicated answer is that it takes temperature over about 170 F. to isomerize the hop oils to cause bitterness. Boiling the hops should nearly completely isomerize these oils. Boiling also drives off the aromatic oils that give hop aroma. Hops added late in the boil may retain some of these but once cooled the aromas will stay about the same. If you want hop aroma, you add the hops after fermentation is complete (dry hopping for aroma). There will be no off flavors created by having the hop particles in the fermenter. I don't even try to filter, everything from the boil pot goes directly into the fermenter.
Like the others said it's all good and homebrewers with more experience than me have no issue dumping everything into the fermentor when they brew.
John Palmer's How to Brew recommends the more traditional (and I guess typical commercial) practice of working to limit trub transfer into primary:
"There will be a considerable amount of hot break, cold break and hops in the bottom of the boiling pot after cooling. It is a good idea to remove the hot break (or the break in general) from the wort before fermenting. The hot break consists of various proteins and fatty acids which can cause off-flavors, although a moderate amount of hot break can go unnoticed in most beers. The cold break is not considered to be much of a problem, in fact a small amount of cold break in the fermenter is good because it can provide the yeast with needed nutrients. The hops do not matter at all except that they take up room."
So even to someone who tries to limit transfer of hops and other break to the fermentor the only concern about the hops is the room they take in the fermentor. Personally I do whirlpool and leave most of the hops and hot break in the kettle but really don't worry about any that make it into the fermentor.
John Palmer's How to Brew recommends the more traditional (and I guess typical commercial) practice of working to limit trub transfer into primary:
"There will be a considerable amount of hot break, cold break and hops in the bottom of the boiling pot after cooling. It is a good idea to remove the hot break (or the break in general) from the wort before fermenting. The hot break consists of various proteins and fatty acids which can cause off-flavors, although a moderate amount of hot break can go unnoticed in most beers. The cold break is not considered to be much of a problem, in fact a small amount of cold break in the fermenter is good because it can provide the yeast with needed nutrients. The hops do not matter at all except that they take up room."
So even to someone who tries to limit transfer of hops and other break to the fermentor the only concern about the hops is the room they take in the fermentor. Personally I do whirlpool and leave most of the hops and hot break in the kettle but really don't worry about any that make it into the fermentor.
Aaron_3000
Member
Yeah I agree with everyone else that extra hop residue in the fermenter doesn't affect the beer much. However, I still try to filter out as much as I can after the boil just because it makes it easier when transferring to my bottling bucket.
I also use a fermenter with a spigot and less hop residue lowers the risk of it getting clogged
I also use a fermenter with a spigot and less hop residue lowers the risk of it getting clogged
Similar threads
