Hop spider or not?

[SudzMaker]

Brewers,
I have been brewing for quite a few years and have been putting my hops (flowers and pellets) directly into the kettle.
I found out my wife has gotten me a BrewZilla 3.1.1 for Christmas.
I have a hop spider which I haven't used yet.
Just wondering if I should or shouldn't use the hop spider in the BrewZilla.
Why would you use one or not use one?

Cheers

 

[Velnerj]

I'm an on and off user of my hop spider... I usually use it for heavy hopped beers that have a good amount of kettle additions.

In my experience the hop spider reduces the hop bitterness and flavor so I usually compensate with around 10% extra in my measurements.

Even in whirlpooling, I run the whirlpooling arm straight through the spider but I find when I don't use it I get more bang for your buck with your hops...

The downside of not using it is hop matter and reduction of volume to the fermenter... The negative of using the spider is also adding another thing to clean.

So for me it's a take or leave it, depends on my mood on brew day.

 

[wepeeler]

I only used a hop spider 2x, and it clogged both times. Wasn't worth the hassle.

 

[shetc]

I go back and forth depending on how lazy I'm feeling. Lately I've been using an old BIAB bag as a hop sock. Floats around nicely during the boil.

 

[phbern]

I have a grainfather g30. I use a hop spider as the recirc outlet filter always got really clogged and gummed up the works.

 

[SBENCIV]

I no longer use a hop spider. As others have said, I've found that it mutes hop character. If I have a heavy hop schedule during a boil, then I just tilt my AIO back during cooling to help a majority of the particulate settle to the back of my AIO. Works great. I most recently also nixed using any hop bags during dry hopping as well. Again, I found it muted the hop aroma. Now it's all just straight into the keg fermenter. If I'm worried about O2 exposure, I just apply some CO2 right before opening the lid. I really love the results I've been getting.