Hops Bag?

[cutarecord]

Hey guys,

Done some Partial Mash brewing and I've done some reading about people's opinions of hops bags. I've only used pellets so far. (MY LHBS carries mostly pellets) My next few batches are planned for pellets and i was wondering if you guys have used hops bags with pellets? What are some pro/cons. I'm all for having a cleaner beer and less mess on brew day. I've also see some opinions that using the hops bag may take out a lot of goodies that you may want in your primary. Let me know where you guys stand


Mike

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Using a bag is fine, some will argue that you cannot get full utilization in a bag, however, if you don't pack them in the bag tight, and leave enough room for the hops to swell, and move freely throughout, then you shouldn't have any issues. The bag will reduce the amount of hop sludge after your boil, but in no way will it eliminate it.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I just throw the pellets into the boil and strain the wort to the fermenter after cooling. Never had a problem with hops utilization (although my tongue leans towards less hops taste) and never had one that didn't clear properly.

 

[bad67z]

I have used them for the last couple of years and plan to keep it part of my brewing process. I have not noticed any diminished hop profile while using the bag. I prefer using a pvc paint strainer bag from Lowes or HD, they clean up well and are cheep.

 

[Pappers_]

FWIW, add me to the list of those who use one. I made a hop spider (look in the DIY subforum for a tutorial) which has a large hop bag (paint strainer) hanging from it in the middle of the brew pot. Makes things easy for me.

 

[Polboy]

i made a hop spider too and used it once, im not going to use it again, i clearly got 20-30% less IBUs than expected, instead on next brewing day i will try to filter the wort when transferring to the carboy (after passing through CFC), bag in the carboy filtration

 

[kh54s10]

I use the paint strainer bags. I tie them as close to the opening as I can. With a couple of marbles to weigh them down and plenty of space for the hops to expand I have not noticed any difference over just dumping them in.

I will use one bag for each hop addition time.

Tie the strings to the handle of the pot and good to go.

 

[cutarecord]

To those of you using the hops bags.... Do you stil strain when racking? Do you see less grub and consequently loose less overall volume of your final?

 

[turkeyjerky214]

I use a separate hop bag for each addition. Never do more than 2 oz of pellets per bag so they have room to float. As I'm chilling, I squeeze the bags to get out all the wort. As I'm draining my kettle into my fermentors, I have a strainer on the end to catch any random bits that got out of the bags.

If you're not reusing your yeast, there's really no reason to worry as the hops will all fall out of suspension and into the cake at the bottom anyway.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

If you're not reusing your yeast, there's really no reason to worry as the hops will all fall out of suspension and into the cake at the bottom anyway.

+1 Great point.

 

[mccabedoug]

I use a hop spider since I started using a plate chiller last year. No way around it. I cannot really tell any taste/utilization differences. That said, I am not a hop head.

I also harvest and re-use yeast and I have found that I get around 1 - 2 quarts MORE beer after the fermentation since I started using the hop spider. I decreased my water volumes accordingly.

I also agree that if you don't use a plate chiller and/or harvest yeast there is no pressing need to use a bag.

 

[crackhead7]

I have tried all kinds of different various methods with this whole issue of getting hops out of the brew and I have settled on two differnet methods. 1) use hop pellets and throw them right in the pot, whirlpool when chilled, transfer via a side pick up tube. 2) if using any whole leaf hops, whirlpool then use a sanitized strainer to scoop them out of the kettle , whirlpool again to recondense trub and pellet hops, then transfer. This works for me.

 

[kh54s10]

I did a brew yesterday and since there were only 2 ounces of pellet hops I just threw them in the pot. It is amazing how thick the layer of gunk at the bottom gets with doing this. Going back to bagging my hops!

 

[cutarecord]

Yeah my only real issue is at about two ounces of hop pellets I get a layer of true so thick, when I siphon I'm leaving what has to be close to a half gallon in my carboy.