When to remove hops?

IkeKrizzule · May 23, 2012

Just did my first non-kit beer and I thought I had a process figured out by reading in here a bunch, but of course once it starts happening realized I still had questions. Some I figured out, but the one I haven't found an answer to is when do the hops come out?

I understand the 60/15/5/0 idea, but then do you take them out right at the end of the boil? After cooling? Do you just leave them in when you transfer to the fermenter?

Thanks in advance for any advice, this place is great.

BigB · May 23, 2012

Usually you take them out after cooling while transferring to the fermentor.

henryred · May 23, 2012

Most common is draining from kettle. Or let them sit tell you rack to bottling bucket

homebrewdad · May 23, 2012

You can filter when you transfer to the fermenter. If you don't (I don't), they will simply settle into the trub at the bottom, which you will leave behind when you rack to secondary/bottling bucket.

hombreman · May 23, 2012

Usually I remove the hops as I pour the wort from the brew pot into the fermenter. I use a sanitised sieve that fits across the top of my fermenting bucket.

I've also left hops in the wort right through fermentation without any adverse effects. (The hops settle very quickly to the bottom .) In fact some beers include hops in the fermenter to enhance the flavour e.g. IPA.

However, you may have trouble racking the beer out of the fermenter if you leave the hops in. Inevitably some hop debris gets sucked up and blocks the siphon.