When do you remove the hops on brew day?

[Knightshade]

So I've searched...and read and realize there is no definitive answer. Which leads me to ask, when do YOU remove the hops during your brew day session? Bagged, hop spider, free floating might make it a little more challenging but...??

Answers may vary by style of course...

At flame out?
After hop stand?
Prior to whirl pooling?
When you remove the IC..assuming you use one?
Don't bother?

 

[mcmeador]

I have only ever used hop pellets, so I don’t remove them at all.

 

[McKnuckle]

I use a hop canister, which I remove and let drain at flameout. If adding whirlpool hops, I’ll bag those separately then remove them after the alloted stand time.

 

[Nagorg]

If you bag them or use a hop spider, wait until after the wort has been chilled. You really dont even need to remove them at all.

I recently stopped using bags in favor of commando and have noticed a considerable positive difference in hop character; not going back to bags... When commando, they never leave the wort until transferred into the fermenter. And any that make it there find there way to the trub/yeast that settles at the bottom.

 

[z-bob]

I filter them out when I transfer the wort from the kettle to the fermenter. I start fermentation in a bucket, and I use a paint strainer bag to remove the hops and whatever hot break and cold break proteins I can a that point. The wort is usually about 80 degrees F because my immersion chiller sucks, and unless I'm pitching kveik yeast I chill it the rest of the way with a sanitized ice bottle or two.

 

[Knightshade]

I stopped using a hop basket, because it was one more thing to futz around with when I was adding my IC. Now I'm using bags, and I try to get them in the middle of the IC when I put it in so I can fish them out easier when I pull out the IC, but it isn't always a success. I also worry that I'm not making the bags big enough and not letting enough of the wort pull what they need from the hop pellets.

I don't think I can just let them go commando, because using an Anvil Foundry, I'm not certain there is a large enough area to form a cone of crap in the middle.

Think I'm just trying to weigh benefits/detriments while possibly removing extra steps.

 

[Sammy86]

I don't remove mine either...I started using a bag but once i finally get a whirlpool arm im gonna go commando like @Nagorg...it doesn't hurt the beer any so no big deal to leave them in the bag

 

[mcmeador]

I stopped using a hop basket, because it was one more thing to futz around with when I was adding my IC. Now I'm using bags, and I try to get them in the middle of the IC when I put it in so I can fish them out easier when I pull out the IC, but it isn't always a success. I also worry that I'm not making the bags big enough and not letting enough of the wort pull what they need from the hop pellets.

I don't think I can just let them go commando, because using an Anvil Foundry, I'm not certain there is a large enough area to form a cone of crap in the middle.

Think I'm just trying to weigh benefits/detriments while possibly removing extra steps.

I’m using the same. Two beers kegged that were brewed in the Foundry and one in the fermenter right now and no issues with just tossing in pellets. I’m sure I’m transferring a lot of hop particles to the fermenter, but that all settles out. Even dry hopped one in the fermenter by just dumping in hop pellets.

When I was brewing extract batches, I was just straight-up dumping the entire kettle into the fermenter, so every bit of the hops from the boil ended up in there.

 

[bobeer]

Besides the hops I grow during the summer I usually use pellet hops without a bag or a spider. I just toss em in. I do no chill brewing so I typically let the wort cool to 180 degrees, then whirlpool the hopstand hops for a few minutes, then give it 20 or 30 really good stirs and put the lid on to let it cool overnight. When I transfer to the fermenter I use a fine mesh strainer to get out anything that makes its way through the ball-valve. Usually the hops are in a nice pile in the middle of the bottom of the kettle so I can dump them out easily.