Hop spider idea

[Blacklabelbrewer]

Hear me out...

Who here brews with a hop spider? I plan on building one with my spare time out of a SS drain cover and prob some copper tubing rig to try to reduce hop trub in my primary. Anyway I always dump my hops from my boil into my primary, don't know why but I have always done this as well as tossing in my dry hop additions without any nylon or bags. I have noticed most people that use hop spiders rarely transfer the hop bag from the kettle to the primary after the boil. I plan to hop burst and it doesn't make sense to me to leave behind all of the late addition hops (15, 10, 5, flame out, and additions while chilling) in my hop spider after cooling and pitching the yeast.

So my question is.... Has anyone removed the hop bag from their hop spider, tie it off, and suspend in primary with a marble and dental floss? I will also add my dry hop additions in a nylon bag with floss and a marble as well

 

[day_trippr]

The relatively warm temperatures of primary fermentation, along with the time, would likely bring out a lot of grassy notes if you dump hops into the fermenter.

But you might want to give it a try and see what happens. Be sure to report back if you do

Cheers!

 

[brewingmeister]

What's the point in making something to contain the hops if you are just going to put them in there anyway?

 

[Blacklabelbrewer]

Keep in mind I haven't used a hop spider before, so I'm just being proactive in my thoughts ha. I was not saying to contain the hops and then add freely. I was saying keep the hops contained in the hop spider's nylon bag after the end of the boil, remove the bag with the contained hops from the spider, tie the bag off, and place into the primary. I will be hop bursting, so Iwill concentrate on late additions (5 to 7oz of hops). it seems wasteful to me to not have those hops make it the primary adding more flavor and aroma.

I have always added the hops from my boil into the primary and haven't detected any grassy notes, and i have never received any imput to suggest grassy notes. I was told by a very reputable homebrew club to pour everything so that's the way I was taught.

I just got an extra fridge for a fermentation chamber, so I wil plan on fermenting at 65°F so I'm not too worried about bringing out grassy notes.

 

[day_trippr]

So, you've always done this, but you're asking if anyone else does...why?

Sounds like you know what you're doing and like the results. So it isn't clear what the question actually is here...

Cheers!

 

[Blacklabelbrewer]

Perhaps I'm not wording it right.

I wanted to switch to using a hop spider. It seems a lot of hop spider users leave out the bag of hops after their boil. My question would be.....

Does anyone that uses a hop spider ever try what I mentioned above? (removing the nylon bag from the hop spider, tie it off, and add to the primary) I want to see if others have retired this method, or if I would be the first to try it this way

 

[brewingmeister]

I just don't see the difference with what you are proposing and what you do now. In both ways the hops go into the primary. Typically hop spiders sole purpose is to leave behind the hops so they aren't in the primary.

 

[Blacklabelbrewer]

The amount of trub would be the main difference. If I add 7 to 9oz of loose hops, it would result in a lot of trub. If they were contained in a nice nylon bag, it would result in less trub if my theory is correct.

I just find it really difficult to believe I can achieve my desired aroma and flavoring results without the flavor and aroma hops remaining with the wort. If you removed the hops from wort after flame out (being mostly late additions 15, 10, 5, flame out, post boil), it would basically be like steeping the hops for the required length of the hop addition (if you get what I mean).

 

[Blacklabelbrewer]

This is how my mind is working. If I am wrong about the last part with the hops not having enough time in the boil, just tell me I'm wrong ha. I just want tp understand it.