Boiling Hops In Hop Bags Or Just Chuck Them In?

[BjornJ]

Hi,
going to the ISB brew day some weeks ago, I got my first glimpse of non-BIAB brewing.
Only having done a handful of brews and then always BIAB, I have always added the hops to small bags and boiled them in these. The kind of netting gift bags that cost like $3 for 3-5 in those 1 dollar stores.
Like small grain bags,basically.

I have just been doing this without really thinking to much about it, then at Crozdog's (who have a way bigger, better setup) I noticed the hops were just floating around on the surface and still after draining the kettle they were all left in the kettle, not in the cubes.

What do others do, boil hops freely or in bags?

For the record, I make sure there is plenty of space in the bags for the hops to "expand" with the hot water thinking this makes sure I don't loose any good stuff, but letting them boil freely floating around still looked like it made more sense.

thanks
Bjorn

 

[mika]

Boil Free or Die !

 

[Tony]

mmm i tried many dag and hop restraint devices but they are better to go free willy IMO.

I have a false bottom in the kettle that catches them.

cheers

 

[big78sam]

mmm i tried many dag and hop restraint devices but they are better to go free willy IMO.

I have a false bottom in the kettle that catches them.

cheers

What about BIAB in an urn. Will they end up in the cube if using NC?

 

[Tony]

I have found i ger a higher bitterness from No chill... especiall when i use late hops so drop your IBU's a couple points and dont worry about them in the cube... that wont hurt.

cheers

 

[Bribie G]

I use a hopsock which sounds like a floppy woosy little thing but is actually very robust. I've got the coarser-mesh one and when boiling in the urn, you can see that the contents are getting a good boil and rousing. Even though it's coarse mesh it still traps hop pellet sludge very effectively. Best twenty bucks I've spent in the brewery.

 

[BjornJ]

BribieG,
yes, that looks like a good solution.


It looks like a bigger, more robust version of the ones I use.

The benefit of using any kind of bag is like what Tony mentioned, I can pick up the hop bags a couple of minutes after flame-out and know there will be no more bittering going on. (if doing No Chill)

Are there BIAB'ers brewing in an urn here who boil the hops freely and find that this is not a problem?


The ones I use look like this:



edit:

For the record, this is not my picture. Got it from Google.
It doesn't usually involve that many candles and stuff when I brew

 

[seemax]

I've added hops directly into the urn. No real problems and you can still do a decent whirlpool.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I tried a hop sock like BribieG's and did not like it. I just don't like it. Having said that, I will probably try it over what remains of the summer months to see if I still don't like it.

I expect that the compounds that will make more bitter in the no-chill cube have already left the hops by the time you're decanting into cube, so I don't think the hop sock changes much there.

I whirlpool manually (none of Thirsty Boy's power-drill madness for me) and leave a few litres behind, but only get hops in the cube if I put them in there on porpoise...

 

[peter.brandon]

BribieG,
yes, that looks like a good solution.


It looks like a bigger, more robust version of the ones I use.

The benefit of using any kind of bag is like what Tony mentioned, I can pick up the hop bags a couple of minutes after flame-out and know there will be no more bittering going on. (if doing No Chill)

Are there BIAB'ers brewing in an urn here who boil the hops freely and find that this is not a problem?


The ones I use look like this:
View attachment 34140


edit:

For the record, this is not my picture. Got it from Google.
It doesn't usually involve that many candles and stuff when I brew

Hey Bjorn,

I just leave them free in the kettle, i chill with a copper wort chiller and most drop to the bottom so dont transfer to the fermenter. I have though done many brews where through lasiness just transfered everything hops, trub and all to the fermenter. You and many in our brewclub have tried those beers and not resulted in any off tastes.

You are a purist my friend - hop bags, filtering etc etc !!!

Keep it up!!!

Cheers,
Plyers

 

[manticle]

I add them straight in. Usually I leave most behind in the kettle but occasionally I've thrown the lot in the fermenter. Mostly settles out, now harm done if I get a hop floatie in 1 glass out of 20.

but only get hops in the cube if I put them in there on porpoise...

I keep my porpoise in the swimming pool as I find he has a detrimental effect on head retention.

 

[raven19]

I no chill, and sometimes use the 'pseudo' hopsock, ususally I just throw the hops into the kettle.

All ends up in the no chill cube with no ill effects imo.

It all drops out as part of the trub when fermenting in any case.

 

[absinthe]

i wasn't using them but have been having trouble with my plate chiller bocking up .. soooooooo i will be using them shortly, just got my mum to bang me out 10, i have been thinking of weighting them and tyeing them to the side so they stay about 1/2 way down the kettle

 

[Fourstar]

Send your hops in commando, they will thank you for it.

As for hop sludge, a simple whirlpool at the end of the boil, rest for 10 and siphon to the cube yeilds minor amounts of hot break and hop sludge from the boil kettle. To counter-act the lack of hops in the cube, i usually add 40g or so to it! :lol:

Mmmmmm cube hop, soo much flavour! :icon_drool2:

 

[t2000kw]

I've read (don't remember where) that keeping the hops in a bag prevents them from rolling freely in the boil and reduces hop utilization somewhat. If it hasn't caused you problems using a hop boiling bag, then continue using one.

I grow my own hops so I use whole hops. I let them roll around freely since it's so easy to filter them out with a kitchen colander when pouring out the cooled wort from the kettle into the fermenter. (I use an immersion chiller.) I've used a hop bag before when using plug hops but I never did an A-B comparison to see if I could notice the difference in bittering from reduced utilization when using the bag.

I have noticed that there is some wort loss when using whole hops. The leaves soak up some wort. I don't know how to compensate for this so I just make up any difference by adding water to top up the fermenter.

 

[BjornJ]

Hey Bjorn,

I just leave them free in the kettle, i chill with a copper wort chiller and most drop to the bottom so dont transfer to the fermenter. I have though done many brews where through lasiness just transfered everything hops, trub and all to the fermenter. You and many in our brewclub have tried those beers and not resulted in any off tastes.

You are a purist my friend - hop bags, filtering etc etc !!!

Keep it up!!!

Cheers,
Plyers

Mate, nothing wrong with your beers, that's for sure.
The jury is stll out on this one, hop sock or not. I like the looks of the big one BribieG has, maybe I should get one of those. It looks big enough to allow the hops to have plenty of water around them and still get most of the sludge out of there.

Bought a new 40 litre Birko today so will brew something over Christmas,

thanks
Bjorn

 

[Jazzafish]

Pellets straight in, as mentioned whirlpool helps keep the trub (boil dregs) out of the cube/fermenter.

I tend to use a hop sock for plugs or whole hops as I don't have a false bottom in my kettle and they tend to clog up my tap despite a whirlpool. saves a little trouble I guess. Alternatively I use my mash tun as a hop back instead of big flame out additions... not much good to a BIAB urn though.

 

[brenjak]

Mate, nothing wrong with your beers, that's for sure.
The jury is stll out on this one, hop sock or not. I like the looks of the big one BribieG has, maybe I should get one of those. It looks big enough to allow the hops to have plenty of water around them and still get most of the sludge out of there.

Bought a new 40 litre Birko today so will brew something over Christmas,

thanks
Bjorn

Bribie can confirm but it looks like a craftbrewer hopsock. I have one but did not use it for my first AG. There is no 2nd AG yet....

 

[Bribie G]

Early on in the piece I just chucked the 60 grams additions of hop pellets into the urn to see what would happen, and ended up with a lot of hop sludge which just sat in a cloudy 'layer' filling about a quarter of the urn, and even though I had used whirlfloc and let everything sit before running off into the cube it was still murky and green into the cube. Normally I get crystal clear wort into the cube.
Maybe plugs or flowers (NZ) would turn out better, provided the spent flowers sink below the tap outlet level.

Another solution when using pellets might be to run the wort through a funnel packed with flowers or plugs that have been boiled to 'hydrate' them - in other words a hop back. However I find the hopsock is so easy why bother. Another good thing about the hopsock, if you are suspending it off a skyhook, is that several times during the boil you can hoist it for a few minutes and let all that hoppy worty goodness drain out into the boil, then dunk it again like a mega teabag.

Everybody jiggling

 

[Batz]

I have found I loose a heap of hop bitterness/flavour using a hopsock, I do have the fine one though. I now just increase the amount of hops if using my hopsock and find that fixes the problem, they are useful when chilling through my CCFC.
I really should give the bigger mesh bag a try, rather borrow one than buy one guys :lol: I suppose a hop stopper in the kettle would be the best all the same.

Batz