Dry hop with grain bag

[brewdjoffe]

I'm going to rack to secondary and dry hop today. I don't like to put the pellets in free as I usually bottle straight from secondary. In the past I've used hop socks from my local store but they always end up getting really mangy by the end and arent really re-usable.

I was thinking of putting the hops into my nylon mesh grain bag. It is finer than the hop socks but I still think it will do the trick and will fare much better in terms of re-usability.

Any tips or comments as to what to use?

Thanks

 

[Coodgee]

Not sure about the grain bag but i soak my nylon hop bags in napisan and they come out white as the driven snow. Like new.

 

[Moog]

I don't think you'll get the flavour through a grain bag, I use muslin, nice loose weave, still traps hop matter. I does discolour though

 

[mtb]

I've bought myself some of these;
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/262491073949?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

In case that link doesn't work - you can pick up a 10pk of 9cm x 5.5cm tea bags from eBay for $3.50. I'm yet to find out how many grams a bag will hold but it appears to hold a fair bit, maybe 50g. For 35c a pop you can dry hop and throw the bag out afterwards.

 

[Bribie G]

Ladie's nylon pull up socks (new not used although maybe that's what you like).
Hot water wash first to remove any "dressings" chemicals.

 

[Gigantorus]

brewdjoffehttp://aussiehomebrewer.com/user/44733-brewdjoffe/,

After I've used my hop sock and/or grain bag, I soak in Napisan in a bucket with lid (soak in darkness the best) for 4 or so days, then run them in the washing machine on the "Rinse" cycle without any soap/detergent (just clean water) and dry. They come out clean as new and have no smell.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[supertonio]

Ladie's nylon pull up socks (new not used although maybe that's what you like).
Hot water wash first to remove any "dressings" chemicals.

I do this too.

Cheap enough to use once and then throw away

Good if you're lazy and can't be bothered with another brewing thing to clean

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Loose larger socks are the go. Hops need to be loose to release better. If they compact when they swell then its a waste of hops IMO.
Its a tricky one. I always have a stainless steel weight in the bag, in the keg, then rack in the beer. The soggy sock may settle around the draw of the dip tube. That got the best results but I've never mastered it and changed my ways to Hop Stands instead. That way the beer sanitary is never compromised. Clear wort fermentations and nothing thrown in afterwards.

 

[yoboseyo]

chux :super: :super: :super:

 

[manticle]

A grain bag is fine mate.
So is washed hosiery.

 

[Helles]

My hop socks are a grain bag cut into 4 and stitched up with braided fishing line
Had for about 4 years now still going strong
Used in the boil and in fermenter for dry hopping

 

[brewdjoffe]

Ended up using the grain bag. Have another similar batch that's conditioning in the bottle now. For that one I used a looser grain hop sock. Went pretty big on the dry hop for both batches - 100g in each 21L batch. Although they are different hops I'll let you know if there is any difference in the aroma profile between the two.

 

[Tex083]

Some online brewing shops have giant stainless tea balls. Easy to clean and sanitis and don't float

 

[Bribie G]

Some online brewing shops have giant stainless tea balls. Easy to clean and sanitis and don't float

Citation required B)

I couldn't find any in Australia and my only treasured example was kindly brought back to me from Vietnam by Fourstar.

Still using it mate.

cheers

 

[Lethaldog]

My local sells them $4.5 each I think but you can also get them on eBay etc I love them but just have to be careful not to overfill them!

 

[Lethaldog]

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/351259652284 cheaper than my local by far [emoji23][emoji23]

 

[Bribie G]

No size information listed ??

 

[SBOB]

No size information listed ??

"Diameter: 5cm, 7cm,9cm"

 

[barls]

here you go couldn't find the big tea balls they have
http://www.t2tea.com/en/au/teawares/brewing-tools/merrier-tea-infuser-black-D3.html?dwvar_D3_color=Orange

just found these
Extra Large Mesh Spice Tea Ball Stainless Steel 7.6 Cm 3" In Box Iced

 

[peteru]

I have the 9cm diameter version, which is the largest option available from the eBay seller.

If you are using pellets, you can't fill those things more than about 25%-33% full. If you do, the hops will just swell and not be very effective. If you fill to 50%, the swelling pellets will just force the contraption open and your hops will swim and sink.

I used two of these tea balls with Cascade pellets for dry hopping a keg of IPA and it wasn't prominent enough. Next time around I used a similar quantity of hops, but just tossed the pellets directly into keg. It seems to have worked a lot better in terms of adding character to the beer. I fitted a strainer/filter to the dip tubes of my kegs, so the hops in the keg are not an issue. If you don't do that, expect the poppet spring to clog up with hop material before you finish pouring the first beer.