Question about hop pellets

[greg75]

I just went to a LHBS and bought one of their recipe kits, for an Irish Red Ale. This is the first batch where I'll be adding my own hops or specialty grains (the first batch was simply hopped extract with some unhopped extract).

I was looking at the ingedients tonight, and everything looked fine, except one of the packets of fuggle hops pellets looks like there's a pulverized pellet or two present. Should I avoid adding this dust to the wort, or is it o.k. to throw it in there? My inclination is to get it out, because it may be unable to be strained out later. Then again, being in the state it is, it very well may simply dissolve, I'm guessing...and I don't know whether that would be a good or bad thing.

Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks!

 

[MattD]

The hop pellets are going to dissolve into that same type of dust once they're in the water anyway, so just dump it all in. Of course, that's coming from someone who hasn't bottled a single batch yet, but I've boiled two and that's what I saw, so take it FWIW.... Have fun!!!

 

[user 4295]

Matt has it right. Just dump the package in there when the recipe calls for it. After you have cooled the wort just stir it up fast enough to create a whirlpool and leave it alone for 20 minutes, keeping it covered. The whirlpool will have created a large cone of junk in the center of the kettle. Now you can just carefully siphon the wort out from the side of the kettle, leaving the majority of the hops and break material in the center.

John

 

[greg75]

Matt has it right. Just dump the package in there when the recipe calls for it. After you have cooled the wort just stir it up fast enough to create a whirlpool and leave it alone for 20 minutes, keeping it covered. The whirlpool will have created a large cone of junk in the center of the kettle. Now you can just carefully siphon the wort out from the side of the kettle, leaving the majority of the hops and break material in the center.

John

That sounds like a good idea. However, I do have one question about siphoning concentrated wort out of the kettle. I'll be boiling two gallons of water with the wort in my kettle, and adding to three gallons of cold water in the primary. When adding, I was under the impression that splashing was desirable in an effort to add oxygen to the wort for fermentation. By siphoning, this obviously wouldn't be accomplished. What other methods of aeration are there? I've read about vigorously shaking the bucket for fifteen minutes, but to be quite honest with you, I don't know if I have the arms to do that! Secondly, my primary bucket has a grometted lid, so it could get somewhat messy as well.

Could I simply just stir up the wort with a big spoon before pitching?

EDIT: Duh, couldn't I just leave the hose near the top of the bucket when siphoning? If the concentrated wort had to fall a foot or more into the cold water, would that cause adequate splashing to achieve aeration? This seems like the way to go to me.

 

[Reverend JC]

Yes you could just let the wort fall the foot or so as you said, but what I do, and I have found no fault in this method yet, is when i have all the liquid in the primary i stir it so it is going in a circle then I take the spoon and reverse it while the wort is still spinning in the original direction. I find that doing this as well as my tap water, since I as well only do a 3 gallon boil, is enough to get air into the mixture so the little yeasties can do their job.

 

[greg75]

Yes you could just let the wort fall the foot or so as you said, but what I do, and I have found no fault in this method yet, is when i have all the liquid in the primary i stir it so it is going in a circle then I take the spoon and reverse it while the wort is still spinning in the original direction. I find that doing this as well as my tap water, since I as well only do a 3 gallon boil, is enough to get air into the mixture so the little yeasties can do their job.

That sounds simple and effective, which is just the way I like it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Blender]

You can also use a wire wisk to froth it up. I did that for a while and it worked out fairly well.

 

[brewie]

I've tried a couple of methods of aeration, like rocking the carboy, splashing the wort on the way in, etc. I just got an oxygenation system using a small oxy bottle from Home Depot and it rocks! Just stick the stone and hose down into the wort (after sanitizing of course) and turn it on for a couple of minutes. Tons of O2! The valve system was about $30 but no more worries about enough oxygen for the yeasties. Just an idea.

 

[SteveM]

Really, you can also leave everything there and simply dump the two gallons right into the three in the fermenter. It will do no harm and will all settle out later anyway. This is what I have always done, with good results.

 

[greg75]

Really, you can also leave everything there and simply dump the two gallons right into the three in the fermenter. It will do no harm and will all settle out later anyway. This is what I have always done, with good results.

Are you saying I don't have to filter out the hop pellets? That would be awesome, because I wasn't looking forward to going to the store tomorrow morning for the appropriate strainer.

 

[Walker]

Are you saying I don't have to filter out the hop pellets? That would be awesome, because I wasn't looking forward to going to the store tomorrow morning for the appropriate strainer.

Nope, you don't have to filter them out.

 

[Sean]

Are you saying I don't have to filter out the hop pellets? That would be awesome, because I wasn't looking forward to going to the store tomorrow morning for the appropriate strainer.

You do not have to filter out the hops. and if you are using tap water, you don't have to worry too mush about aeration. If you're not using tap, the whisk works great.

 

[EvilTOJ]

Last time I made a batch, I took of our our ghetto wire wisks, (dollar tree special) bent the handle straight so the loop was gone, and chucked it into my 1/2" drill. The results were actually about like I expected. It looked cool too.

 

[Spyk'd]

The siphon sprayer seems to work for me, but I'm not sure if it works better than the straight tube off my kettle spigot dropping into my carboy. Oh well, just another piece of equipment to add to the collection.

Check this out:
Aeration

 

[SteveM]

Not only do you not have to filter out the hops, you really don't have to sweat earation all that much either. Pouring out water into your fermenter may be enough. It always has been for me anyway.