Dry Hopping Vessel

[jkeysers]

I have recently done a K&K which is just about finished its time in the primary and is almost ready to rack into the secondary. I have some Saaz hops pellets I just bought that I was gonna drop in there inside this old little tea ball thingy I found. I don't know what its called, but it'd just a smallish metal ball (about 5cm in diameter) with holes in it that screws apart and you would put tea leaves in it I guess. Anyway, I showed it to the guy at my HBS, but he said I shouldn't use it to put hops into my secondary coz it is stainless and the alcohol in the beer will attack it. Is this true?

He reckons I would be better off just dropping the pellets in the secondary. I don't have a problem with this, except that i'd read on here that I will get little green floaties in my beer, which I don't want. He also suggested cold conditioning might help for the hops to drop out of the beer. It's 5pm on a saturday arvo so nothings open, i'm ready to rack, but don't have anything handy I can really use for these hop pellets, what should I do?

 

[browndog]

shouldn't use it to put hops into my secondary coz it is stainless and the alcohol in the beer will attack it. Is this true?

Sounds like a heap of crap to me, stainless is not affected by alcohol.

cheers

Browndog

 

[razz]

I've got a couple of ss tea balls ILC, drop em in, no probs.

 

[jkeysers]

I see. Well, that was simple. In goes the little tea ball thingy then. I'm sterilizing it right now.

Cheers fellas.

 

[braufrau]

I see. Well, that was simple. In goes the little tea ball thingy then. I'm sterilizing it right now.

Cheers fellas.

Does squeezing a couple of plugs into a tea ball thingie give the same result in aroma
as chucking them straight into the fermenter?

 

[tangent]

one plug will swell to fill the entire ball (and make everything extra delicious )

more great HBS info there :blink:

 

[braufrau]

one plug will swell to fill the entire ball (and make everything extra delicious )

more great HBS info there :blink:

Well then I'd need two balls. I was wondering if the yummy compounds would
dissipate into the beer as well if the plugs are enclosed rather than floating about?
Think I'll stick to chucking them in even if its a bit messier.

 

[mika]

Should do, just keeps it all together. I've heard of people using them in kegs...somewhere on here.

Alcohol attacking Stainless ? :huh:
I'm thinking your HBS is a bit of a d...

Stainless conicals, stainless kegs, stainless brew pots...starting to see a trend develop ?

If you can't put Alchol in contact with stainless I think just about every homebrewer and production brewery has got it wrong.

 

[tangent]

Well then I'd need two balls.

I'm not touching that one Samantha!

edit - i use a tea ball from Ross that's almost all sieve. It sits at the bottom of a keg and the beer gets drawn from the pickup tube right next to it.
I can't be arsed with secondary hopping when i get a good hit of hops from the keg hopping. The latest was a Tetts plug and quite sedate compared to a ball 1/2 full of Amarillo pellets. I think if you let them swell so they're not chockablock, there's room for beer to flow through it.

 

[jkeysers]

Re:- Plugs

I'm using pellets, are they the same as plugs? I thought they were different? Do they behave the same? Ie. they'll swell up in the ball? Coz this ball isn't that big. Probly a little larger than a golf ball. Also, its mostly steel, with holes drilled it it, it's not like a ultra fine mesh or anything. Will this still do?

As for the stainless thing, I wanted to ask him in the store about brewing vats and stuff like that, but didn't wanna be a smartass. I dunno, maybe it aint stainless. It's quite old (I found it in my Nans house while helping her move), but I figured that seeing as its used for tea anyway, it's safe to put in beer (ie. food grade).

 

[tangent]

i've used one of those as well. should be fine. pellets swell a bit as well. jam 1/2 of it full and check it out when you open it up as to how much it filled up.

 

[braufrau]

Re:- Plugs

I'm using pellets, are they the same as plugs? I thought they were different? Do they behave the same? Ie. they'll swell up in the ball?

plugs are squashed hop cones, so when you chuck 'em in wort they swell up into
cones. pellets are minced hops so when you chuck 'em in wort they look more like green tea.

Coz this ball isn't that big. Probly a little larger than a golf ball. Also, its mostly steel, with holes drilled it it, it's not like a ultra fine mesh or anything. Will this still do?

Does it look like this link to craftbrewer
This one is quite big though ... 6.5cm.

 

[Tyred]

Coz this ball isn't that big. Probly a little larger than a golf ball. Also, its mostly steel, with holes drilled it it, it's not like a ultra fine mesh or anything. Will this still do?

I think it'll be fine. You may get some of the finer hop particles getting out through the perforations tho. Nothing that shouldn't settle out in conditioning.

The newer ones appear to be mesh as you get a better flow through ability. The one you describe I think I've seen before; the holes in it are probably about a millimeter across.

 

[jkeysers]

The one you describe I think I've seen before; the holes in it are probably about a millimeter across.

Yeah thats the one. It's all in the secondary now, so i'm glad I didn't come back and one of you guys told me not to throw it in.

It smelled and tasted a treat coming out of the primary. With some dry hopping and cold conditioning, i'm really looking forward to trying this one. It's a brew of firsts for me, all thanks to advice from this site.

Was my first toucan brew, first time I ever racked (only just got my first secondary, thats why) and first time I have ever added hops. Yeah, i'm a bit of a noob. Fingers crossed it works out...

 

[robbo5253]

Hey,
I also am new to Hops, I added my first lot of pellets today to my primary and now I am reading about all these green bits in my beer.
Wil racking to secondary and then to keg get rid of these, or have I done it wrong?

Cheers and Beers

Robbo

 

[tangent]

most stuff sinks but bits of hops, especially bits of plug or leaf hops, seem to float in suspension easily. you might get a few small pieces of pellet hops bit nothing too unpalatable.

adding to primary is riskier than adding to kegs or secondary even. there's less alcohol to fight off nasty stuff.
i hope you were sanitary adding them.