Hop spider temperature

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

rossbaker

Well-Known Member
Joined
21/5/13
Messages
254
Reaction score
24
Hi guys, I was brewing with two stainless (keg King) hop spiders in a friend's robo brew the other day. I noticed that the boil was much less vigorous in the spiders so I tested the temps and noted the the wort in the spiders was only about 95 deg c. I've also noticed that the wort drains really slowly when they are pulled out and there is a good amount of pellet hops in them.

Normally my hops just free ball.

How well utilised do you think the Hops in the spider will be?
 
There is some anecdotal evidence, compiled by Brulosophy - which some folks immediately reject and some consider, while fanboys worship beerfully - that hop flavour comes through more fully in freeballin' than it does through spiders. In terms of AA utilisation, there will be SFA noticeable difference between 95C and 100C. Hop flavour though, that may be affected. I've tried hop sacks and have used really large ones to ensure free movement of the hops. I imagine I can tell a difference, but haven't been able to put it to the test with a blind tasting. So, have a go and see what you think, eh? :)
 
I've bent the handle part of my hop spider so it sits in the middle of the robobrew when I jam it under the strap holding the blanky in place, it has bubbles rising in it similar to the boiling wort outside it, I also lift it up and down a bit to let the hoppy goodness flow out.
 
Back
Top