Is it just me, or do hop spiders just suck?

[ArcLight]

Just throw them into the BK. I would not put more than 2oz of pellets in the 4x4 inch ball. I see they have a 5 1/2" diameter ball now. Think ill get one
"

I looked this up and read the reviews.

- a homebrewer who reviewed this (not me) says the mesh is too wide for pellet hops.

Is the 4" infuser ok for pellet hops?

 

[rvklein]

My hop spider and a large PVC union with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. Never had it clob or hold too much wort. Even with a pound of pellet hops.

 

[krazydave]

My hop spider and a large PVC union with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. Never had it clob or hold too much wort. Even with a pound of pellet hops.

Are you using it from the start of the boil? And are you doing AG or Extract?
I don't think it's the hops that clog mine, I think it's all the break material.

 

[rvklein]

Are you using it from the start of the boil? And are you doing AG or Extract?
I don't think it's the hops that clog mine, I think it's all the break material.

All grain and from the start of the boil.

 

[krazydave]

Strange, that's exactly what I'm doing also. Different results obviously.
I think I got the 5gal paint strainer bags from Lowe's. Do you recall where you got yours?

 

[rvklein]

Home depot.

 

[allenH]

I skipped the spider and just draped my 5 gallon paint strainer bag over my bucket (if you are using a carboy, I guess you could line the funnel with it). The elastic top holds great, I do have to squeeze the last half gallon out, just be careful if you are filtering through a funnel. Nothing like leaving less than a pint in the bucket when racking.

 

[TheOnionKnight]

I looked this up and read the reviews.

- a homebrewer who reviewed this (not me) says the mesh is too wide for pellet hops.

Is the 4" infuser ok for pellet hops?

It will not stop all of the tiny hop particles from coming through, which is fine with me since I also whirlpool. It does stop about 95% of hop matter.

 

[eastoak]

I use a "standard" CPVC hop spider with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. I have seen some of the hot break material gather on the outside of the bag. I do usually throw a couple of stainless fittings in the bag to weigh it down.

At the end of boil, during the first part of whirlpool/chill, I do remove the spider and twist the bag, wearing thick brewing gloves, to get all the liquid out. I continue to whirlpool, turn off the pump and then let the wort settle for 10 minutes.

This allows any of the hot break along with the cold break to settle to the bottom of the keggle.

I have noticed that StainlessBrewing.com is now offering a fully stainless hop spider with a stainless mesh screen for a "bag" in different sizes. This might offer the ability to use pellets and still get a good wort flow through.

WOW! i've been looking for something like this for a long time, too bad i didn't see this before ordering a HopStopper which has been useless for me when using pellet hops.

 

[patrck17]

WOW! i've been looking for something like this for a long time, too bad i didn't see this before ordering a HopStopper which has been useless for me when using pellet hops.

Has anyone used one? Would be curious to read some reviews. Looks like it would work okay.

 

[Schumed]

WOW! i've been looking for something like this for a long time, too bad i didn't see this before ordering a HopStopper which has been useless for me when using pellet hops.

For the record I've been using a hop spider with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag for sometime and its worked great...really like it...but after seeing this I might have to make this with some stainless mesh..looks easy enough

 

[eastoak]

For the record I've been using a hop spider with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag for sometime and its worked great...really like it...but after seeing this I might have to make this with some stainless mesh..looks easy enough

i looked into doing that, one of the major stainless mesh vendors is right here in berkeley, but the material alone is more than an already made hop spider in the sizes sold by stainlessbrewing not to mention the time.