Broken Tea Bag In Fermenter

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ketonjo

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Hi All,

I was wondering if someone could help me. I've just made a Black Rock Export Pilsener and unfortunately the Cascade Finishing Hops teabag broke apart in the fermenter (while stirring, I forgot it was in there). Stupid thing to do I know, but now I'm concerned how this will affect my brew. I fished out the bag but obviously all it's contents are now swimming around in the fermenter.

Any advice would be great as to what will happen to my brew or what precautions I should perhaps take when bottling.

Goomeister
 
Hello dere,

Nothing drastic will happen. Leave it in the fermenter for 2 weeks to allow it to clear properly. Before bottling/kegging, take off 1/2 litre into a jug to get rid of any crap round the tap outlet.

cheers
Dave
 
+1
When I started ordering speciality stuff from CraftBrewer and discovered that you can get 90 grams of hop pellets for around $9 (which gives you the equivalent of over eight teabags) I just began to put em in as is, or brew up a hop pellet 'tea' with boiling water and tip the entire sludge in.

No problems and as BB said above just clear the tapway before bottling.
 
The vast majority should settle out, as bribie said. If not, its not a big deal, as long as the tap is cleared, you might get a few floaties coming through into the bottle. If that happens, they should sink out into the yeast bed by the time its carbed, anyway. Once the yeast in the bottle is nice and compacted, if you get some floaties out into the glass, its going to be few and far between....and with the american hops in particular, a coule of hop floaties is not the end of the world....as long as you like hops. ;)
 
As butters said, it will settle down and don't worry about it at all.

I dry hop with pellets straight into the primary fermenter (hardly ever rack) and when I am about to bulk prime / bottle I run off a little to get rid of any "sludge".
This ends up being maybe 300mL or so tops.
My fermentation times are normally 14 days or so and it seem so settle out.

Never had any floaties in any of my brews.
 
You could always rack to secondary to reduce the sludge even more?
 
Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. I'm now looking forward to the beer a lot more now.

Goomeister
 
Yeah its not a problem, but if you rack, either to secondary or to a bottling bucket, you do what QldKev does and put an irrigation filter in the line. I do that. Its great. Someone or other suggested it here on this forum.
 
I just bottled up a 3kg ESB kit about 4 days ago and it had hops inside the can, when i was looking at a bottle of it today it had green floaties suspended in the beer....Ohh well :chug:
 
ESB put hop pellets in the can, and they can transfer to the bottle. Don't worry they will settle out. Currently have a couple of bottles of ESB Czech Pilsener left from July and they are clear as a bell.
 
I have just bottled a farmland lager this afternoon which I broke the hop teabag in. ;)
No floaties that I could see,just nice clear beer. :D
It sat in the fermenter for four weeks.
No worries.

johnm
 
I have just bottled a farmland lager this afternoon which I broke the hop teabag in. ;)
No floaties that I could see,just nice clear beer. :D
It sat in the fermenter for four weeks.
No worries.

johnm
 
Yeah its not a problem, but if you rack, either to secondary or to a bottling bucket, you do what QldKev does and put an irrigation filter in the line. I do that. Its great. Someone or other suggested it here on this forum.
What is/where do you get an irrigation filter?
 
Just opened the first bottle of the Pilsener today and it tastes great! So the broken teabag was not an issue at all in the end. Just for the record, I got this from the local Brewcraft shop and it contains a can of Black Rock Export Pilsener and yeast, Beer Kit Converter Pale Ale #76 and Brewcraft Cascade finishing hops. This is only my 5th brew I've done (started beginning of this year) but it's by far the best brew I've done and quite easy. I'd recommend it.
 
If I knew then what I know now ( when I used two tea bags total ) I would of stabbed the bag to death to let the hops free....FREE I TELL YOU!



:party:
 
+1 on setting them free. I tilt my fermenter so the yeast cake settles away from the tap. It makes bottling/kegging/racking a whole lot easier. Don't be afraid to just throw loose hops into the fermenter.
 
Had a similar experience with pellets, left a green sludgy mess on the top of the brew, some went into the yeast cake later on and some just floated around.
A few bits transferred to the bottle but don't trouble the flavor at all. My advice? Don't sweat it, it's fine.
If you are fussy about the bottled product you could consider racking and using a strainer as you are racking or tying a hopsock with a rubber band on the racking hose.

Ditto for ESB kits, the bavarian wheat is choc full of hops, most of it settles out over 2 weeks. I actually pitched the old yeast cake from an ESB kit hops and all, worked fine.
 

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