Cube Hopping

[manticle]

I do a similar stand time as you, Midnight Brew, so will be interesting. I always thought the temp would be a lot lower than that, but there you go.

Cheers.

probably depends on your kettle insulation properties and a bunch of other factors. I stand my wort for a similar amount of time with an alu lid across the top to keep out dust, low flying rats and stray Malaysian aircraft but it's a keggle with the handles still intact so heat would be escaping. I've measured my wort into the cube at about 80 - 85 deg C

 

[Samuel Adams]

Can you please point me to where this is as I cannot find it.,

Sorry I actually use Brewmate not Beersmith.

 

[Yob]

Ive been Really happy with cube hopped beers lately and has evolved to a default process.. Ive been unhappy with the losses to the cube though so I deceided to do this



Cube at 18'c ready to be pitched



If, like me, you keg hop, chances are you have stacks of panty hose with the legs cut off, tie up the cut off legs area with dental floss and fit to FV. Secure with rubber band



Pour Cube



Pull the "bag" out and squeeze like a BIABer...

Minimal losses and the cube is easier to clean as you have managed to get all the hops out and not into the FV. I dont like all the hops going into the FV as I may want to re-use the yeast or culture some of it off depending on the ferment and minimising the amount of hops in there helps with the rinsing process.

Beer Wort pictured above is for the Vic July Swap beer.

 

[TheWiggman]

Good post Yob, was looking for this advice. In my sole effort at it I used a small hop bag with a drawstring and held onto it for dear life as it quickly filled with 60g of Cascade. It needed a squeeze and purge midway, and became a very messy job.
Would have been hilarious to witness.

 

[LiquidGold]

I used a strainer to hold a square piece of swiss voile since i didn't have any stockings but still wanted to squeeze all the goodness out instead of dumping it. With 105g of hops it also got pretty messy and needed to squeeze midway as well as use a spoon to stir the hops in the strainer to allow the wort to flow through. Needless to say stockings are on the to-buy list.

First time cube hopping and first AG IPA so really looking forward to tasting it!

 

[Samuel Adams]

I tried a strainer when transferring my last cube hopped beer to the fermenter with some success.
I reckon I got almost 1L that I would've missed out on without straining.
It was a bit ridiculous though with 200g of hops, I had to keep scraping the bottom so there was room for the liquid to go through.

I will try stockings or swiss voile next time.

 

[Yob]

make sure the rubber band or whatever is holding the stocking is tight and as low on the neck of the FV as possible, if you pour too quickly it'll want to pop off and the stocking will end up in the FV...

several times.. yes..

 

[jc64]

I'm experimenting with no chill and cube hopping to supplement my chilled beers. How long have you been leaving the cube hopped worts before pitching? Noticing any vegetal tastes?

 

[Yob]

Months at times. No vegetal tastes, in fact, my last one had been that nice, I didn't even keg hop it

 

[Wolfman]

Why not just cube hop in a stocking? Then just pull the stocking out when pouring into the fermentor.

Apologies if already been suggested.

 

[RelaxedBrewer]

Why not just cube hop in a stocking? Then just pull the stocking out when pouring into the fermentor.

Apologies if already been suggested.

That is actually a pretty good idea. Might give it a go soon.

 

[jc64]

Any problem with the stocking and the heat of the wort? I've been putting them in loose and using my auto syphon to avoid taking them to the FV

 

[pedleyr]

That was my thought also. Without any science or evidence to back it up, I would be worried about a stocking at the temperature of near boiling wort.

Also, yob's way = 1 stocking. Hops in the stocking = 1 stocking for every cube you have.

 

[TheWiggman]

I thought about doing that and was going to use a hop bag. I had enough trouble feeding it through the hole empty. Figured if it were full of hops I might not be able to pull it back out as they do tend to swell a lot. This was for 60g though.

 

[LiquidGold]

Pulling it out full of wet hops might actually give it a good squeeze and get everything out (or it might just get stuck and cause a big mess). Getting it in full of hops might be hard but maybe by having the bag in the cube with the top open and filling it up with hops. Sorta like Yob has done with the stocking in the fermenting vessel but with a hop bag in the cube, fill with pellets and tie it off before pouring wort in.

 

[Wolfman]

Yes I would use a hop bag.

Done it several times. Hop bag goes in and comes out easy. Bit of the old in out in out my brothers.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I suppose it's the same argument for hops going in commando - more utilisation because there's more surface area to cover and the hops get to swim around freely and maximise exposure.

Same reason I don't hop bag in the kettle.

 

[Wolfman]

If you have a big enough bag it should be ok?

 

[jc64]

I'm glad to hear that no vegetal flavours are being noticed even after leaving the cube with hops for some time. I think I will be brewing a IPA next up, double batch, changing up the cube hops to see how they compare. I was going to leave any hops that go in to the boil with at least ten to go as is, cube hopping the rest. Anyone else done this? How has the bitterness been effected?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I'm cube hopping my 10 minute additions and treating them as 15 min additions in the software and that works very well for me.