I finally got off my butt and built a hop spider. I gave it its inaugural run today on a double IPA and other than a seam failure on the first 5 gal paint strainer it worked flawlessly. Thankfully I found it on the fwh addition before it started to boil so it wasn't a biggie. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner.
Hop spider love
- Thread starter Glynn
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Bierliebhaber
Well-Known Member
Yeah, there are a lot of upgrades or changes to the equipment/process that you wonder afterwards why it took so long to do. I used to do hop spider, too. It made clean up a lot easier and was a lot better than other methods I'd tried. I also had a bazooka screen for quite a while that I wanted to install on the kettle. All I needed was the right sized adapter for the bulkhead. When I finally picked up the fitting and used the screen, I had the same reaction. Now, I just toss the hops in the kettle.
PRE66_6TART
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I totally thought it said "hot spider love" when I clicked on it. Wasn't sure what to expect.
Anyway ... Now that I'm here, what the heck is a hop spider?
Anyway ... Now that I'm here, what the heck is a hop spider?
ja09
Well-Known Member
I've also used the bazooka screen, but mine clogged instantly. Your's doesn't clog? Do you use pellet hops?
BYO: Build a Hop Spider.
I've been using one for a while now, and there are a few things I recommend. Use a metal collar instead of the PVC one. The PVC warps when it gets too hot and it can fall into your pot. If you decide to keep using the PVC, flip the hop spider over so that the skinny part is on top, then push the bag inside. This keeps the compression ring from slipping off and into the pot. Even when it's tight, things get crazy when you introduce heat and steam. Take a look at the strainer bag you use. If it is too fine, it will collect wort and fill up like a balloon...but only slowly release liquid. If you pick up the bag and the wort slowly trickles out, get a material that allows liquid to pass more freely.
I've been using one for a while now, and there are a few things I recommend. Use a metal collar instead of the PVC one. The PVC warps when it gets too hot and it can fall into your pot. If you decide to keep using the PVC, flip the hop spider over so that the skinny part is on top, then push the bag inside. This keeps the compression ring from slipping off and into the pot. Even when it's tight, things get crazy when you introduce heat and steam. Take a look at the strainer bag you use. If it is too fine, it will collect wort and fill up like a balloon...but only slowly release liquid. If you pick up the bag and the wort slowly trickles out, get a material that allows liquid to pass more freely.
I'm guessing that a Google search on that phrase (with the filters off) would find a dozen or more pages of Drow porn and Spiderman Rule #34 stuff. Frankly, I'm afraid to find out.
A hop spider is basically an open-ended filter or mesh that allows you to add hops to hot wort while keeping the hop leaves and/or hop pellet sludge out of the rest of the wort. The basic design is a collar with three or four 'legs' long enough to reach over the edge of the boiler, and a long mesh bag hanging down from the collar into the boiler. The idea is that you rest the legs on the rim of the boiler, and hang the bag down into the wort, such that the collar holds the bag open above the boiling wort. This lets you add hops to the bag without having to take it out of the wort.
There are more expensive models of hop spider which replace the mesh bag with a column of stainless steel mesh, but the idea is basically the same.
Bierliebhaber
Well-Known Member
Just brewed a IIPA with only whole leaf. Had no problem. I use a "whirlpool" at the end, so the hops collect in the center of the kettle. I have a large wide kettle, but if you're using a keggle or something more narrow like that, it might not work as well for you. Another option is to run an elbow of the bulkhead with a barbed fitting connected to braided ss that curves around the inside parameter of your kettle. I had problems with the Bazooka before, but I modified my system to resolve the issue.
Hey, if the hot spider love is working for you, who am I to judge? No, really, the hop spider is a great tool and i'm not dogging it. During cooling, I used to recirculate into the hop spider with the thought of trying to recoup as much lost transfer as I could. I also collected a lot of cold break in the spider, which left far less in the bottom of the kettle.
Mine is similar to that. I have a 90 degree elbow on my valve with a 12" piece of copper tube that curves around the inside with a 6" ss braided attached to it. its just long enough that it ends on the back side of my pot. The advantage to this is i can put a block under the back side of my pot and lift the tube up to the wort line and whirlpool. once everything has settled to the front of my kettle, i start draining my wort from the top of the kettle and then push the tube down as it gets lower. when i get close to the end i switch the block to the front. this allows me to drain my pot hassle free until i hit the bottom.
