using hop bags

[madscientist451]

I only use hop bags when dry hopping; makes it easier to transfer the beer without clogging and if I'm feeling really frugal I can use the dry hops for bittering in another brew.

 

[bracconiere]

if I'm feeling really frugal I can use the dry hops for bittering in another brew.

you can do that? i was kinda wise cracking about getting more hop flavor from the trub.....

 

[faithie999]

I only use hop bags when dry hopping; makes it easier to transfer the beer without clogging and if I'm feeling really frugal I can use the dry hops for bittering in another brew.

I had always used hop bags for DH. In doing so I never thought there was enough flavor/aroma for whatever style I was brewing. I used large enough bags so the expanding hops didn't pack tightly, and if I remembered, I swirled the fermenter lightly a few times during the 3-day dry hopping.

the last few brews I have just tossed the hops into the fermenter, and I believe there is a perceptible increase in hop flavor/aroma. of course the tradeoff is enough hops that make it into in the keg to clog the beer out post, which can be solved with a floating dip tube.

now with all that out of the way, I assume you've brewed LOTS of batches. have you evaluated the hop bag vs commando approaches?

thanks

Ken

 

[madscientist451]

you can do that? i was kinda wise cracking about getting more hop flavor from the trub.....

Yeah you can do that, its been discussed here on HBT:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/recycle-dry-hops.212252/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/reusing-dry-hops-in-the-next-batch-for-bittering.430225/
https://beerandbrewing.com/elements-of-beer-recycling-hops-in-the-brewhouse/
I've only done it when I'm using a large amount of dry hops (usually different varieties) some are better for bittering than others, so I'll keep them in separate hop bags and mark the ones I want to re-use. Try it yourself by putting the used dry hops in some hot water and make a "hop tea", there's lots of bitterness left in those hops.

 

[bracconiere]

Yeah you can do that, its been discussed here on HBT:

i don't frequent many threads actually about brewing here...thanks for the links, i've been trying to figure out how to get back to my 99 cent twelve packs, and now that sugar costs $1/lb....thinking might have to give up on hard seltzer and go back to brewing to keep the cost down....

but the price of my barley has gone from $13 a 50lb sack, to now $25....so instead of 26 cents a pound, now it's 63 cents a pound...i haven't even looked to see what store bought is going for these days....

anyway thanks again i plan on purusing those links.....

 

[IslandLizard]

my barley has gone from $13 a 50lb sack, to now $25....so instead of 26 cents a pound, now it's 63 cents a pound...

Your calculator is broken (again). Or your proofreader quit on you, by lack of beer.

i don't frequent many threads actually about brewing here...

Yeah, it can be risky out here. You seem to be holding your own though, and quite well. Please, come in more often.

 

[bracconiere]

Or your proofreader quit on you, by lack of beer.

i was just in an actual brewing thread....

Yeah, it can be risky out here. You seem to be holding your own though, and quite well. Please, come in more often.

about molecules and volume loss mixing ethanol and water....same happens with mixing water with raw barley....once sprouted and dried, and deculmed a 50lb sack of barley only yields 40lbs malt...


edit: here it is schooled in "brew science" again....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/tool-to-measure-abv.679608/post-10220908

 

[Stormcrow]

I use a stainless spider that hangs on the side during the boil. Periodically I stir around inside it with my mash paddle. After the boil, I hold it sideways over the kettle and roll it around to allow the trapped hoppy liquid to run out through the clearer screen higher on the spider. For dry hopping I use one of those stainless canisters with the screw on lid (pretty cheap on Amazon). I feel like I get good hop utilization with these practices. I do know you can overload those dry hop canisters and have a "dry" center. Might want to split between two of you're using a metric ton of hops.

 

[bracconiere]

Auth my mash paddle

lol, just a wise crack...but i refuse to do that!


for now i'm going commando next batch, and pouring through the strainer, and tasting after the bubbles stop...

 

[Stormcrow]

lol, just a wise crack...but i refuse to do that!

You got to it before I could edit!

 

[thefigure5]

lol, just a wise crack...but i refuse to do that!


for now i'm going commando next batch, and pouring through the strainer, and tasting after the bubbles stop...

How did it turn out, hoppinesswise?

 

[bracconiere]

How did it turn out, hoppinesswise?

well i didn't get around to brewing it till last monday...it's in the fermenter, the strainer worked good, although time consuming....


the beer is fermenting under a spunding valve right now going to give it a couple more days...open it up and taste the gravity reading sample, then compare when it's kegged....


i know you wanted a hoppyness report, but that's where i'm at on that front...

 

[thefigure5]

well i didn't get around to brewing it till last monday...it's in the fermenter, the strainer worked good, although time consuming....


the beer is fermenting under a spunding valve right now going to give it a couple more days...open it up and taste the gravity reading sample, then compare when it's kegged....


i know you wanted a hoppyness report, but that's where i'm at on that front...

No problem, just checking in.

 

[bracconiere]

No problem, just checking in.

you got me wanting to crack my milk can open! but the test here is if it's O2 or the bags!

 

[faithie999]

the last few batches I've just dumped the dry hops into the fermenter. might just be my imagination but I believe there is a discernible difference in aroma and taste compared to my previous practice (for many years) of bagging the dry hops. the tradeoff is losing probably a couple of quarts of beer to the hops slurry. I have cold crashed the last two batches, and while the yeast cake is nice and compact, the hops "cake" is a thick slurry at best.

 

[NSMikeD]

I’ve used hop spiders, bags and nothing with pellets (the days of me using whole hops is a feint memory. This is my latest protocol Be advised this could change on a dime.

For bitttering I will use the hop spider in my anvil foundry. Word is that bags and spiders will still get your IBUs but it’s the flavor compounds that might get compromised. So they tell me. My nose and taste buds aren’t 5bat preside. I tried running recirculating pump through the spider but the spider clogged and the hops spilled over.

Flavor and late additions go direct. I use anvils whirlpool arm to help keep as much debris as possible in the foundry. I account for about 3/4 inch loss (I’d have to look up what I put in my equipment profile) rotating the spigot pick up tube to limit solids going into the fermentor.

Dry hops go in a bag with food grade sous vide magnets so I can lower them in (or raise them] to prevent O2 exposure by keeping the fermentor lid closed until a pressure transfer to the keg. I have a floating dip tube in the fermentor to limit trub getting in the keg, especially by keeping the trub undisturbed during the transfer.

Fwiw, before my anvils I did drill and install a spigot in my stainless steel pot. Watching it being done on YouTube help convince me I could do it. Afterwards I realized it was very easy. Add transferring to the fermenter super easy.

If you aren’t kegging, inexpensive plastic fermentors with spigots make bottle way easier than a siphon wand.


One last note, since I added the stainless steel head to the anvil pump and a ball valve with quick connects I may just put all the hops in the spider and dial down the flow to a trickle to slow down the clogging while permitting flow as the level inside the spider rises.

 

[faithie999]

I tried something new (to me) today. for years I had been siphoning wort from the kettle to the fermenter after vigorously whirlpooling the wort to collect the hops and trub in the center of the kettle (I dump my hops directly into the kettle).

the last few batches I've experimented unsuccessfully with the Anvil Kettle Strainer. Anvil's claim is right that it filters out the hops, but at least when using pelleted hops, the kettle strainer blinds over quickly with hops. into the trash bin for that device.

today I did two things differently. first, an idea I saw here recently and don't remember if it was a commercial product or a DIY. Some time ago I installed a weldless fitting and a 90 degree dip tube inside the kettle for use with the kettle strainer. today I replaced the 90 degree dip tube with one that resembles a numeral 7. I bent it back from where it attaches to the inside threads of the weldless fitting so the tip ended up right at the inside edge of the kettle with the end 1/2" or less from the bottom.

the second thing I did differently was to raise the front of the kettle (where the weldless fitting is) by putting a 1/2" block under the front of the kettle so that when I whirlpooled my hope was that the floor of the kettle under the outlet would be relatively free of hops. I vigorously whirlpooled, let it settle for an hour, then very gently removed the block and returned the kettle to level.

I attached my outlet tubing, opened the valve, and watched virtually no hops travel through the tubing. when the level in the kettle was low enough to see the perimeter of the floor of the kettle, sure enough virtually no hops were at the discharge point until the kettle was nearly empty and the hops had begun to move slowly toward the outlet. when the hops started into the outlet tube, I shut the valve.

so thanks to whoever it was that posted the picture of the "7-shaped" dip tube!

Ken

 

[bracconiere]

How did it turn out, hoppinesswise?

opened the fermenter and tasted it today... it has a musky strong hop flavor, maybe because of the old hops? and it has a film of hops on the surface....


so i guess the strainer only worked 'so' well.....but all in all, i'm cold crashing it, and think being 'i drink alone' should be quaffable for me....

 

[bracconiere]

well i kegged my brew, one keg is clogged, the other pours slow....soooo, i guess the strainer didn't work good enough..

still has hop flavor though!

 

[thefigure5]

well i kegged my brew, one keg is clogged, the other pours slow....soooo, i guess the strainer didn't work good enough..

still has hop flavor though!

Would you say that this time you got more flavor out of the hops compared to using muslin hop bags? The downside was, it seems, that the strainer you used let too much hop matter through. And from personal experience, fine strainers clog really easily. What's a beer-maker to do? - use more bags with more hops for more hop flavor?

 

[bracconiere]

Would you say that this time you got more flavor out of the hops compared to using muslin hop bags?

A LOT MORE! but i'm not sure if that was commando style, or the fact i used like 2.5lbs of hops to see how the strainer worked! lol

 

[BeerHolic]

When transferring wort from kettle to fermenter I use a sieve to collect hop material.
For dry and keg hopping I use a stainless steel 300 micron dry hopper.
Over the years of brewing I find this works best for me.

 

[bracconiere]

When transferring wort from kettle to fermenter I use a sieve to collect hop material.
For dry and keg hopping I use a stainless steel 300 micron dry hopper.
Over the years of brewing I find this works best for me.

what kind of sieve?

 

[BeerHolic]

Normal kitchen sieve typically used for sieving flower when baking a cake.

 

[balrog]

Normal kitchen sieve typically used for sieving flower when baking a cake.

You must be using whole flower hops.

 

[BeerHolic]

You must be using whole flower hops.

No hop pellets. It works been doing it for several years.

 

[mac_1103]

I use one of these. The wort that comes through isn't exactly crystal clear, but it does get most of the gunk. There are finer mesh ones available but they clog too easily.

 

[BeerHolic]

I use one of these. The wort that comes through isn't exactly crystal clear, but it does get most of the gunk. There are finer mesh ones available but they clog too easily.

Yip, that is what I use, I see it is called a mesh strainer, wife refers to it as a sieve.