How Best to Deal with Removing Hops from Wort

[Nysh]

Hey all - just brewed last night and at the end of the boil realized that I had not put any forethought into the removal of the hops from my wort as they went into primary. I ended up spending a long time pouring all of my wort through a filtered funnel to remove the hop matter, which took a very long time, as the filter was constantly getting gunked up with leaf hops. I was also slightly annoyed because I felt like I was losing a lot of wort in the hops themselves. I tried to squeeze the juice out of 'em as best as I could, but I'm still not happy with my procedures.

Because of this, I thought I'd inquire as to how other brewers remove their hops from the boil.

It seems to me now that the most straightforward way to do this would be to add the hops to a grain bag and simply remove that when finished brewing. I know it's silly to ask this question simply to give myself an answer here, but I thought I'd post this just to see if anybody had any other input that might be helpful to me.

Thanks for your time,
Nysh!

 

[JBrady]

I use a funnel on top of my better bottle, then I put a screen sifter on top of that. It does take awhile to transfer as the hops clog the screen but does a good enough job for me. I never remove the hops from the strainer until they are completely dry so I don't lose wort. It helps to use a sanitized spoon to stir the sifter around to help the wort drain.

 

[phatuna]

Well, there are a few answers to your question:
1) a lot of us just pour all of the matter into our primaries and let it settle to the bottom for a few weeks, then rack off of the top
2) I use tubing that runs out of my boiling pot and into my primary, I have used a hop bag between the outflow and the primary, this will collect a lot more hops without getting gunked up like your filtered funnel did.
3) use a hop bag in your boil like you mentioned above.

 

[jezter6]

Toss em in the bucket and be happy.

Whirlpool to move the hop sludge to the center of the kettle and then rack from the outside if you're concerned with it.

 

[Stormrider51]

I never worried about the hops. I would just pour the cooled wort into the primary. The hops, protein, etc would settle out by the time the fermentation was done.

John

 

[IncredibleMulk]

I usually don't worry about the hops...just pour them in with everything else. I have used hop socks with a couple of batches...didn't really see much of a difference, so I figure I'll save the $.50 or so per sock and keep leaving them in.

 

[Nysh]

Thanks for the input everyone! I think from now on I'll just pour 'em right into the bucket.

 

[BigB]

I use a nylon bucket filter bag. It has elastic that holds it in place on the bucket. Take your wort and dump it into the bucket and then remove the bag. It works fantastic and the dumping of the wort into the bucket and the draining of the bag add to the aeration. Now granted you have to clean the bag out, but it pays for itself after 10 batches of not buying a muslin bag. Another thing is that even if you are fermenting in a carboy, you won't have the hassle of the little strainer in the funnel clogging. Here is one that is similar to the one I use: Bucket Bag

Deathbrewer uses a similar bag in his thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/
Edit: THe bag DB uses is smaller and doesn't have elastic, but the concept is the same.

 

[Yambor44]

Toss em in the bucket and be happy.

Whirlpool to move the hop sludge to the center of the kettle and then rack from the outside if you're concerned with it.

A little off topic (maybe, maybe not) but I have not had much success with the whirlpool method. It moves it somewhat but never like the pictures I see of it. Maybe I'm doing it wrong??

 

[JBrady]

So the boiled hops don't add any extra/unwanted bitterness when left in the primary fermenter? What about the fact that you might get some in your bottles at bottling time since you know some of it is going to get in the bottling bucket? If these arent factors I think I'll just start pouring mine in the better bottles too. thanks for any info.

 

[maida7]

So the boiled hops don't add any extra/unwanted bitterness when left in the primary fermenter? What about the fact that you might get some in your bottles at bottling time since you know some of it is going to get in the bottling bucket? If these arent factors I think I'll just start pouring mine in the better bottles too. thanks for any info.

No the hops can only produce bitterness as they are boiled.

They will all fall to the bottom of the fermenter and then during fermentation the yeast will fall on top of them so that when it's time to rack to the bottle bucket or keg the hop matter will be trapped under a blanket of yeast and unless you really screw up the siphon none will end up in the bottles.

Hows that for a run on sentance?

Go ahead and pour it all. The only draw back is that in super hoppy beers it takes up some of the space in a fermenter. If your using the 6 gallon better bottles you need as much space as posible for the wort and krausen.

 

[jezter6]

A little off topic (maybe, maybe not) but I have not had much success with the whirlpool method. It moves it somewhat but never like the pictures I see of it. Maybe I'm doing it wrong??

Gotta stir the crap out of it and really get that whirlpool going like when you were a kid in a round pool. Then you need to wait for it to stop on it's own so you don't disturb the flow and send the undercurrent back to the center and tossing your nice hop sludge cone back into the mix.

So the boiled hops don't add any extra/unwanted bitterness when left in the primary fermenter? What about the fact that you might get some in your bottles at bottling time since you know some of it is going to get in the bottling bucket? If these arent factors I think I'll just start pouring mine in the better bottles too. thanks for any info.

Nope. It's going to drop out in primary, and if you rack it to a secondary, it'll drop out, and if you're careful when racking, you're not going to be picking up any of it into the bottles. If you are getting that much into the bottling bucket, you need to rethink your racking method.

 

[ArcLight]

How do you clean the Nylon filter / strainer bag?

How long doe sit last?

 

[osagedr]

Like someone else said, I used to use hop socks but at $0.75 each I started to ask myself why. Now I put all my hops loose in my boil, they drop 100% to the bottom during chill (especially since after using my immersion chiller I now wait a few hours before racking to my primary, sometimes even with my kettle in my freezer if I'm doing a lager) and I get none in my primary when I transfer, just a nice mess of cold break/hops/sludge that stays in my kettle.

Pouring through a strainer or grain bag like some peeps are doing would work great too; aerate your wort while getting rid of hops. Seems like lots of people transfer the hops to primary and I really don't see a problem with that either (although I've never done it).

 

[drathbone]

Like someone mentioned previously, I use the bag with the band, pour it all in, drain it, clean it and reuse it. If my only option was some $.50-$.75 one time use sock, I'd just pour it all in.

 

[RugerRedhawk]

I just dump the wort into the bucket. You don't need to remove the hops, it will not impact the flavor of your beer.

 

[AmandaK]

My set up has a counter-flow chiller that is attached to my boil kettle, which has a bazooka screen inside. If I use leaf hops, I just throw them in loose. But if I use pellet hops, I have several reusable bags that I put the hops in. If I don't do that, the pellet hops clog my bazooka screen. The bags were like, $4 at brewmasterswarehouse.

 

[diS]

I made hop drain holder, cheap and easy to make.

With all that I still filter wort trough sterile gaze before adding to primary.

I am not sure about this, could that affect to flavors?

 

[tpitman]

Just did my second brew today, using hop plugs for the first time, and some of the hop "mud" went into the fermentation pail before I could stop it. Already had water in there, and I didn't want to start pouring from one to another since the temp was right for pitching the yeast, so I left it rather than increase the chance of an infection. Got to wondering if I' screwed up, so needless to say, after reading this thread, I'm relieved.
The hop plugs really make that extract boil smell great.

 

[nefarious_1_]

I also use a hop bag, or paint strainer bag. Before pouring into the carboy, I just remove the bags and I'm good to go. I always get some residual hop particles that come through the bag when I use pellets, but they just go right into the carboy along with the wort and settle to the bottom as the beer ferments. When racking, I'm careful not to suck up any trub from the bottom. Occasionally I do get some particles but they clear out once the beer has been sitting in the bottle for a few weeks.

 

[ArcLight]

If you use a paint strainer bag to filter out your hops, how do you clean it? Dump out the hops, wash it with soap and water?

 

[BigB]

If you use a paint strainer bag to filter out your hops, how do you clean it? Dump out the hops, wash it with soap and water?

You simply spray it out with a hose or a sink sprayer. Or, some guys will just let it air dry and shake out the dust. They clean up really easily. Make sure you sanitize with the bucket before next use. I simply fill up my fermentor bucket with a star san solution and throw in my bag along with my other misc items like the airlock, lid, measuring cup (for drawing off hydrometer sample), and large spoon.

 

[cactussam]

I think one of the easier ways to do this is to go to a local grocery store (bigger the better) and go to the cooking section. There you can buy nice big strainers (mine was about $13 as I got a nice stainless steel one). From here, pour your wort out of your kettle, or whatever you use to boil, through the strainer, into the funnel, into the carboy. From here, everything goes as normal.

I did this on my last (first) brew, and will continue to do it for all my future brews. With all the other sediments and whatnot that settle out during fermentation, I'd rather not have to bother with the siphon having to try to avoid that stuff. Just my opinion though.

On that note, I did have to probably dump out the gunk that settled in the strainer a few times into the trash/sink while straining out of the boiling pot that I use. A minor inconvenience if you ask me.

 

[thezepster]

I just use a wire kitchen strainer and pour the wort through it. I never get any hop matter into the fermenter. I try to keep the hops out of the fermenter because you will get less hop resins stuck on the side, which are a b**ch to get off sometimes.

 

[Rivendell]

I use the nylon bag (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/nylon-boiling-bag-8-x-9-in.html), and when I am done just dump the hops in the trash, then take the bag inside and rinse it out in hot water. The bag comes clean, though is a little discolored now. Still works fine.

 

[dfc]

I use a nylon bucket filter bag. It has elastic that holds it in place on the bucket. Take your wort and dump it into the bucket and then remove the bag. It works fantastic and the dumping of the wort into the bucket and the draining of the bag add to the aeration. Now granted you have to clean the bag out, but it pays for itself after 10 batches of not buying a muslin bag. Another thing is that even if you are fermenting in a carboy, you won't have the hassle of the little strainer in the funnel clogging. Here is one that is similar to the one I use: Bucket Bag

Deathbrewer uses a similar bag in his thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/
Edit: THe bag DB uses is smaller and doesn't have elastic, but the concept is the same.

I do the same thing. I bought some nylon paint strainer bags from Home Depot. They work like a charm.

 

[BWN]

I use a metal strainer that fits perfectly onto my ale pail. It also helps aerate the wort as well. I might have to stop and clean it once or twice while transferring from my kettle though.

 

[phenry]

I use a big metal strainer whenever I use whole hops, mainly just so I don't have to deal with the whole cones if I'm washing the yeast or racking onto the yeast cake. Other than that, I'd probably leave them in there all other things considered.

 

[ArcLight]

While the metal strainer works, does its allow some particulate matter in (hops or some grain chunk)?
If you use hops pellets, they get mushy, will the strainer filter them?

 

[phenry]

While the metal strainer works, does its allow some particulate matter in (hops or some grain chunk)?
If you use hops pellets, they get mushy, will the strainer filter them?

Yes to tiny hop leaf bits, not sure about grain chunks since I have yet to try my hand at AG. And in my experience the pellets completely disintegrate, so there's not much use in using the strainer. I feel like it does aerate the wort a little better, so I'll probably just start straining my wort no matter what type of hops I use.

Honestly, I'm not very concerned about the clarity of my beer, but leaving it in the primary for 4-5 weeks, racking to bottling bucket semi-carefully and going straight to bottling (not let anything really have time to settle out), and decanting the bottled beer still gives me a lot clearer beer than I'm after.

Though I did read that it is (or was) practice for professional brewers when using leaf hops to utilize them as a sort of filter bed when transferring the boiled wort to separate out the hot break. When I have enough money for a sculpture, I'm probably going to look into this since I like whole hops just a little bit more.