how to add hops?

[rglnz]

Hi guys,

Just about to have a go at adding hops to the boil for the first time and had a quick question. what is the best way to add them? do you just put them in loose? or put them in a grain bag/sanitised nylon stockings etc? if you put them in whole, can you just use a normal kitchen sieve to filter them out when adding the wort to the fermenter?

Cheers

 

[brouhaha]

I just chuck them straight in and give it a bit of a stir. Then I whirlpool after cooling, most of the trub gets left in the kettle when transferring to the fermenter. I tried using a sieve once, it was a real pain!

 

[Yob]

If you let them settle after the boil, pour off carefully and you'll leave most behind (if using a pot) likewise they will settle out in a kettle.

Enjoy the aromas

 

[Alex.Tas]

i've had different results to the above. I'm not saying they are wrong, just that i've encountered different outcomes.
I use a sieve. it doesn't do a great job, but it gets maybe 80% of the hops. it also helps oxygenate the wort once you add it to your fermenter which is an important step often overlooked by some new brewers (myself very much included).

By the time the brew gets finished, most of the hops have dropped to the bottom of the FV anyway, so it doesn't bother me.

 

[damoninja]

I dump my hops right in to the fermenter. Yum.

 

[menoetes]

I've been dumping the hops into the boil and fermenter loose ever since I started brewing without any trouble. As everyone says, if you leave it long enough they settle down into the trub on the bottom of your FV. Also it maximizes your hop flavors and aromas.

Mind you, I also crash cool and use finings which helps keep my beer super clean. In fact I've only just started using hop bags now that I'm looking at recycling my yeast and I'm just hoping that keeping the hops out of the trub will make yeast washing easier.

 

[Alex.Tas]

Hops are the easiest bit to remove when reusing yeast I find. However, keeping them separated from the cake does reduce the cake size, meaning it's easier to handle. Ie it only takes up 2-3 jars instead of 5

 

[burrster]

Straight in, or in a sock is fine. using a sieve gets most of them out after the boil, and aerates as mentioned above. There is no one answer. Try a few ways and do what you like best!

 

[rglnz]

great, thanks for all the help guys