How Do I Get More Hop Flavour In My Esb 3kg Kit?

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Only problem I have with the large ball is if using pellets and more than 10g they swell so much you get a hard mass inside afterwards so probably not getting very good efficiency.

Perhaps need to use two balls with smaller amounts not sure with plugs how much they expand.

edit: I use the hop ball if I am hoping to harvest the yeast slurry otherwise just chucking the pellets into the primary.

Ideal for dry hopping a keg though with the chain to tie on to.
 
I've been using these hop balls for a few years and never had a problem.Craftbrewer sells the bigger "balls" Here and any homewares shop should also have them. I remove the chain from them and drop them into the keg where they sit at the bottom near the pickup tube and give a good "hit" of hoppy flavour to your beer
I usually only fill one half of the ball due to swelling of all the hoppy goodness



Franko

hopball.jpg
 
I've been shopping from CraftBrewer for about 15 months and completely missed the hop balls, must have been in my blind spot :p I note that they are currently unavailable, I'll be right opposite Robin's kitchen at Morayfield tomorrow, will check there.

On topic for the thread: these would be an ideal way of making your own 'hop tea bag' for a quarter of the price of the prepacked variety, and less gunk in the fermenter especially if re-using yeast cake.
 
Another easy (cheap) way is to cut out swiss voile circles ('bout 15cm diameter) and make hop swags with a little bit of string or a twist tie.
 
There's a tea chain store called T2 where you can get big balls if you don't already have some. They're a lot bigger than the one's you can get at House or other homewares retailers. Specifically designed for loose leaves ie. Hops to swish around inside of.

I would have posted the product link but their website is in Flash. www.t2tea.com
 
I talked to Ross about them and he told me he didn't sell them anymore because part of it was chrome plated and not stainless. The chrome comes off and customers complained.

I then got one from a tea supply website and discovered the part that is chrome plated is the chain (it came off my one when I used it).

So I'd suggest checking this out and remove the chain. Otherwise works really well.

Cheers

Mark
 
no one else has said it, so i will


i've got big balls.




he he he.
 
I bought two of the little ones from Robins Kitchen yesterday, five bucks each. They wouldn't hold a hop plug for sure but what I'll do with them is half fill one with Styrian Goldings pellets and half fill the other one with EKG pellets and chuck them both into the keg with UK bitters.

Back on the subject of Kits I did a Brewers Selection (AKA St Peters Brewery at Newtown/Camperdown) IPA Fresh Wort Kit. It's turned out a clean fairly malty beer but not much hops so I should have teaballed that one (only about a third of the keg left). Anyone doing FWKs should have great results with dry hopping them.
 
Back on topic...

What happened with the brew pikerinoz? I expect it would have been done by now?
Most people reckon that the CO2 expelled by the fermentation drives off most (or at least some) of the aroma from your hops, thats the reason for dry hopping late in the fermentation.
 

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