To hopsock or not(sock)?

[Shawn3997]

I've been using hopsocks for my hop additions because I'm worried all of the tiny hop particulates will hang around in my beers making them unduly bitter. However a discussion and a paper I just read said that hopsocks impair hop oil extraction.

How do I keep the hop additions free and still get a clean wort/beer? Does everyone just toss the hops in the boil and I've been doing it all wrong? I have noticed that most of my recent beers taste too sweet, so this might be the reason...

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I vote for toss it in. The only times I use a hop sock is when I use whole-leaf and enough of them that I fear they'll clog up my valve (2+ ounces). Regardless of the amount of pellets, I just toss 'em in.

 

[PhillyBrewDoug]

You could try a stainless steel mesh basket instead. That would help keep the hops loose enough to not impede extraction, but contained so no particulates get out. For example: http://arborfab.com/4-X-10-Craft-Beer-Brew-Filter-Stainless-Steel-Mesh_p_14.html

 

[porterpounder]

Hop oils don't cause bitterness. Hop oils are what cause hop flavors. Isomerized alpha acids (and to a lesser extent beta acids) cause bitterness and cease to do so once the wort is chilled below 170F or so after the boil. Hop socks, if the hops are too packed together can limit the utilization, i.e. bittering extraction of the hops. Using leaf hops in the sock or just dropping pellets in the boiling wort will increase your bittering potential. If you are worried about hop matter and protein break material clouding up your beer, take a sanitized spoon and swirl the wort after boiling a few times and let it settle in the kettle for about 30 mins. Most should settle in the middle of the bottom of the por. Syphon the cooled wort carefully from the edge of the kettle and the wort will be clearer. Either way, once the wort is cooled you will not longer be extracting more bitterness from the hops.

 

[BassElement]

I used to just toss pellets into the boil, but for my last 5 batches I've used a Wilser hop bag and it's really made the process much easier, plus I haven't noticed any loss of flavor. To each his/her own, but I prefer having a relatively debris-free wort at the end of the boil, makes the transfer into the carboy less complicated imho.

 

[kh54s10]

There is nothing wrong with just tossing hops into the boil. Or for that matter at any other point in the process. If you use a hop container of any type just make sure it is large enough so the wort/beer can flow through the hops freely.

Whether you contain the hops or not should make very little difference in the beer.

Sweetness in the beer is probably not due to the hopping process unless you are constricting the hops.

During the boil, I use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag clipped to the lip of my kettle. Open it and make the next addition, etc. I do this mostly so that I don't lose beer to the trub in the fermenter. By bagging I leave only about a quart of yeast, trub and beer in the fermenter after transfer.

 

[Shawn3997]

I'm using hopsocks from brewinabag.com which are made from the same material as my BIAB bag. I have no idea if I'm constricting the hops much or not. The bags kind of just float around in the wort until they finally sink a little bit at the end of the boil.

Would adding a Whirlfloc help clear out the hop particulates?

As to why my beers taste too sweet my guesses are that they are taking a very long time to carbonate and I'm drinking them before they are finished; or, that I'm not getting enough hops bitterness to balance the residual sugars after fermentation.

 

[MrBJones]

...If you are worried about hop matter and protein break material clouding up your beer, take a sanitized spoon and swirl the wort after boiling a few times and let it settle in the kettle for about 30 mins. Most should settle in the middle of the bottom of the por. Syphon the cooled wort carefully from the edge of the kettle and the wort will be clearer.....

I use one of THESE in conjunction with whirlpooling. It really works.

 

[kh54s10]

I'm using hopsocks from brewinabag.com which are made from the same material as my BIAB bag. I have no idea if I'm constricting the hops much or not. The bags kind of just float around in the wort until they finally sink a little bit at the end of the boil.

Would adding a Whirlfloc help clear out the hop particulates?

As to why my beers taste too sweet my guesses are that they are taking a very long time to carbonate and I'm drinking them before they are finished; or, that I'm not getting enough hops bitterness to balance the residual sugars after fermentation.

Swirl the bag around to make sure the hops are getting wet. Mine stays below the surface the entire time.

Whirlflock will help with the hop particles and with proteins etc. in the wort. Time will also help.

How long it too long to carbonate. 3 weeks is normal.

Process? Too sweet does not necessarily have anything to do with hop utilization. There could easily be other problems.

 

[Shawn3997]

I do single-vessel no-sparge BIAB:

I grind at 0.025" and add to strike water that is generally 7 F above my mash temperature. Stir very well and adjust pH to 5.2-5.4 as needed. Cover and sit 60 minutes (90 minutes if I mash lower than 150 F).

Take refractometer reading and if not there, mash for a bit longer. Raise bag and drain, then put bag on grate over pot and squeeze very well. Boil for recommended amount, adding hops (each in their own hopsock) as recipe says.

Cool with IC down to low 60's F and throw everything into the carboy (it seems to all settle out in the end and then I rack over it).

Oxygenate for 60 to 90 seconds with O2 stone. Add in my starter that I made a few days earlier and cold-crashed. I decant, swirl, and toss it in.

Cover with airlock and wait for life to happen.

Wait at least 3 weeks and then take hydrometer readings and then wait a few days and take another reading. If no change, then bottle, generally with one ounce of dextrose per gallon of beer. That seems to be my preferred carbonation level.

It seems to take at least 3 and preferably 4 weeks before the beers seem totally carbonated and have melded flavors. If I don't have anything else already bottled I'll generally drink them earlier than 4 weeks, which is why I thought that that might be my problem. Another might be that I made a few to-style that called for lower levels of carbonation and they seemed to sweet for me. I fixed those by carbonating at my preferred level, as the carbonation seems to counter the sweetness.

I've been getting super-good attentuation since I started using oxygen and make my starters on a stir-plate. I always come out with an F.G. that is lower than Beersmith predicts.

I find that hop bittering levels also counter sweetness, which is why we use hops for bittering. If I've been making my recipes thinking that I'm getting 40 IBUs and I'm really only getting 25 because of the hopsocks then that might also explain the sweetness. My beers are all decent but they all seem a tad too sweet.

My water here is almost RO-level. I have like 26 ppm carbonates and 16 ppm sulfites and less than 10 of everything else, so I just run tap water through a carbon filter and use it like that. We have so few minerals in the water that I can make a batch of Star-San and 2 months later it's still crystal clear. We use chlorine here rather than chloramines.

In any event I think I'll try making my next batch with no hopsocks and see what happens. The only bad thing about making beer is that you have to wait so long to see if what you changed makes a difference. That and cleaning. Someone should automate that.

 

[Jim311]

I used to try to be really concerned with the hops making it into the fermenter but I quit caring and it still makes great beer with less work ultimately. No hop particles in my beer because I rack the beer carefully off the cake.

 

[frozengator]

Ok, my question about a sock. Why not run hose through a doubled up santatized sock when placing the the wort into the fermintor?

 

[BassElement]

Ok, my question about a sock. Why not run hose through a doubled up santatized sock when placing the the wort into the fermintor?

I suppose you could do that but bear in mind it will clog up pretty quickly and could get messy. Before socking my hops I relied mostly on careful straining when transferring the wort. I do, however, like to use a sanitized hop bag as a filter when transferring from the fermenter to my bottling bucket - just to avoid any extra debris that might have gotten stirred up (or if I dry-hopped).

 

[frozengator]

I suppose you could do that but bear in mind it will clog up pretty quickly and could get messy. Before socking my hops I relied mostly on careful straining when transferring the wort. I do, however, like to use a sanitized hop bag as a filter when transferring from the fermenter to my bottling bucket - just to avoid any extra debris that might have gotten stirred up (or if I dry-hopped).

That is what I did on my first batch. Very happy with results. I was worried it would put O2 in it and it would be ruined. I kept seeing little bubbles in siphon hose. But must not have been enough to mess it up