No Hop Sock Brewing

[Gulpa]

Thanks for the pic Warren. My next goal was to address kettle losses to trub. This kills two birds with one stone.

Regards
Andrew.

 

[Tony]

I gravity feed from my kettle to the firmenter and it flows fine. Even through the massive amount of hop flowers in the pic above...... that was 400g of hop flowers in 45 liters.

I had no problems with it. Actually in that kettle (my larger one) i only use a bit of SS mesh that has half the furface area nad it ran through no worries.

cheers

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I think I've come in a bit late on this discussion, but I have never used a hopsock until just recently when I was convinced to buy one.

I've now used it twice and am not convinced. Beer #1 was kinda lacking, but I prefer to think it was me rather than the hopsock. Beer #2 is still fermenting, BUT in both cases the hops inside the sock retained a green colouring that they do not when they are allowed to roam freely around the kettle. To my mind, that means they are not releasing the same amount of *something* in the sock that they are when sans sock...

 

[Tony]

Im going sockless tommorrow

Brewing an Ameican style wheat beer.

Bittering with perle
3/4 g/L Hersbrucker and Spalt @ 10 min
1.5 g/L HErsbrucker and D-SAAZ flame out.

I have noticed a lack of hoppiness when using the sock but i love the convenience of being able to lift them out and drain em out before running off.

My Sheep Shagger hop schedule consumed 2 liters of wort that would have been drained out in a sock or my hop flowe basket.

Thinking of making a bugge basket to hold more hops

cheers

 

[dicko]

Hi all,

I use a hop sock most of the time and I agree that for a bittering addition it is not necessary IMO.
The whirlpool method works fine and I don't get much hop trub through to the fermenter.

However, I have found that for flavour and aroma additions they are great due to the fact that a 15 minute addition is just that.- a 15 minute addition.
I add my flavour and aroma hops at the required times in the hop sock and then at flame out I lift the sock to be just clear of the top of the wort so that the sock drains back into the kettle ( and yes I am careful not to cause HSA.)
By doing this I am avoiding the situation of the aroma addition becoming more of a flavour addition and the flavour addition increasing the bitterness.

Now I am not wanting to go into wether you may obtain better hop utilisation by not using the sock but by using it for the flavour and aroma additions I feel that you are able to more accurately reproduce the same beer ( hop wise) because those late additions are the same each time you brew that recipe.

So i believe the sock does have a place in my brewery and I am happy to use it as above. B)

Cheers

 

[Pumpy]

Im going sockless tommorrow

Brewing an Ameican style wheat beer.

Bittering with perle
3/4 g/L Hersbrucker and Spalt @ 10 min
1.5 g/L HErsbrucker and D-SAAZ flame out.

I have noticed a lack of hoppiness when using the sock but i love the convenience of being able to lift them out and drain em out before running off.

My Sheep Shagger hop schedule consumed 2 liters of wort that would have been drained out in a sock or my hop flowe basket.

Thinking of making a bugge basket to hold more hops

cheers

Tony after you were the person that 'inspired' the development of Hopsock !!!

For the reduction of trub in the kettle .

You have come around full circle to invent the 'Sockless' or dare I say it 'No Sock Method '

which is where we started :blink:

Pumpy

 

[Pumpy]

I am sure for many brewers there will always be a place in their brewery for the Hopsock.

Pumpy

 

[matti]

I've followed this post with interest and my conclusion is.

Get a giant hopsock!

Ensure you break flowers plugs up and stir them until disolved in sock.

as for plugs and pellet I have found lost nothing using a hopsock.
They like flower on acid.. %AA that is

 

[jimmyjack]

I find I get better utilisation using the hop sock <_< In fact I believe that it almost delivers more bitterness than calculated and I have formulated recipes to account for it

I like to get a big rapid boil going and got tired of scraping the hops off the sides of the boiler. I also like the clean up convienience of just pulling it out and dumping.

Cheers, JJ

 

[Ross]

I probably should keep out of this as I'm the seller of the said product & may appear to be biased.

But having said that, I use one with EVERY brew & since long before I started selling them.
I can't detect any difference, either way, using or not using, in terms of bitterness, flavour or aroma. If I were to notice a drop off, I'd personally be adding a little more for the convenience (in my set up) rather than not using. I can't tip my kettle, so cleaning out pellets or flowers is an absolute pita.
This year I entered 14 beers into club & State competetions. 8 scored silver & 6 scored bronze, which though not testament to using the hopsock (may have achieved better without it ), certainly gives creditability to my overall process.


Cheers Ross

 

[Pumpy]

Andrew

Set your kettle up like this and whole hops and plugs are a breeze and smell great to boot.

Warren -

Warren do you use gas to heat your kettle or an immersion heater ?

If so would the the False bottom work OK with gas fired kettle .

Pumpy

 

[Tony]

Tony after you were the person that 'inspired' the development of Hopsock !!!

For the reduction of trub in the kettle .

You have come around full circle to invent the 'Sockless' or dare I say it 'No Sock Method '

which is where we started :blink:

Pumpy

Ya.... ive been credited with inventing something. The Sockless method where you Just put them in the kettle and boil them :lol:

But seriously...... My Sockless brew day was very Very interesting.

I made lots of discoveries and took lots of pics so please excuse the long post but i like to share.

I did 2 brews today in 2 dtterent kettles..... and both had flase bottoms in them of different construction.

I havnt worked out how to add the pics into the post yet like you could with the old Skin (Dane?) so i will describe then post all the pics at the end and you can work it out. I just hope they are all in order.

I did a 26 liter batch Botubeer in my 50 lite kettle. It has a large SS perfitated plate false bottom that covers 2/3 to 3/4 of the bottom. I put it in for hop flowers but i thought i would try it out with pellets.

Well it worked great. I got a small bit of hop debri in the line for about 3 seconds to the cube then it was clear all the way to the end. You can see what was left. Nothing but hops!.

At the same time i was brewing a big 54 lite batch of American Wheat beer. So there was always going to be lots of cold break (50 something% Wheat). In the bottim of thin i had my small expreimental SS mesh false bottom that has proves itsself with flowers by the hundred but i thought i would give it a go with hop pellets instead of using the hop sock.

The recipe called for around the 200g mark so a good test it would be but i was confident it wiuld be OK.

I ran it to the kettle and filtered it through my 20 micon hop sock to see what would make it through.

I managed to run the full volume into the firmenter in one hit. I usually have to stop 3 or 4 times to clean out the sock as the break blocks it.

I have figured out that the hops sink faster and form a filter bed for the break. I got about 10to 15% in the sock (and the 20 micron catches everything)

On the hopsocks side......... It was a PITA claning all the hops out of the kettle. I jusr got it pumpin down the driveway to the gutter and some dickhead kid came and rode his scooter through the hops and break. He stopped and looked at his green feet and cried........."what sort of water is this" I said........ you dont want to know whats in that......... that will teach you to play in the gutter wont it. He rode off really fast flicking his feet as he went. that was fun anyway.

I didnt notice any real difference in the hop character to the similar beers i have made with hop socks. And I do love being able to lift them out of the kettle and drain them.

I lost maybe 500Ml to the break ect in the big kettle so thats not so bad. almost all the hops stayed in the kettle.

here are some pics. there is a pic of the small batck using the perfiated plate FB that lost no liquo at all but stopped almost all the hops

and some progressive photos of the draining of the big kettle with the little mesh FB. and a pic of the mesh.

cheers

 

[The King of Spain]

First no-hop sack brew today. Had a good brew day, beat my target gravities and even ran out of gas at flame out :lol: (must buy a quick pick in lotto).

To comment on my new 250 micron hop sock . As a strainer it does not catch trub very well. Good for hops though.

Having said that, a good cold break is a good cold break. I got down to 23C pretty quick and you could see great white snakes in the kettle. Its still break in the fermenter (hope). My theory is that that it may even benefit fermention, and the yeast never gets to attack it as I wind back temps to zero once done.

What micron bag do others (Tony) use?

Cheers

 

[Tony]

same 250 micron one as everyone else when boiling hops in it but i have a 20 micron one thats not available through ross for straining out the break. I got them from a place i used to work at.

the 250 micron ones wont catch break. it just "breaks" up and goes right through.

the 20 micron one catches it and holds it and lets the liquid fo through slowly untill there is this brown mud in the filter sock.

cheers

 

[warrenlw63]

Warren do you use gas to heat your kettle or an immersion heater ?

If so would the the False bottom work OK with gas fired kettle .

Pumpy

Hey Pumpy

I use a NASA. Never had a problem with any form of scorching in conjunction with the false bottom. Kettle is aluminium though with a reasonably thick bottom. No problems with hot spots.

That being said I won't light the burner until I start the second sparge.

Warren -

 

[Jye]

Tony, thats pretty cool that a FB can handle just pellets, I didnt think it would have a chance, either it would clog or let them through. How do you think it would go if you were to recirculate through it while chilling?

 

[Tony]

Jye I dont really know. I gravity feed out of my kettles. The flow was fast and a bit dirty for the first liter or so and then it slowed a bit and was clear as a bell to the end when i got a tad more crap through but you can see from the break in the big kettle with the wire mesh, the hops make a great filter.I got maybe a handfull of hops and break with most of it being break into the filter sock on its way to the firmenter. I really wanted to see what would get through.

The larger perfirated flase bottom worked better but it will take a bit to mould one like that to the bottom of the old 18 gallon keg that is like the grand canyon on the bottom.

Maybe you could give it a go and post your findings. I couldnt believe the FB held the hop pellets either. I just thought i would give it a go and if it was a disaster....well..... i wouldnt do it again.

3 things could happen i guess...... they will jusy go through and recirs as well, they will block it and stick the kettle of they could form a perfect break filterbed leaving nothing but clear wort to pump to the firmenter.

this could make you famous mate

cheers

 

[PistolPatch]

Howdy dicko!

You mentioned you pull your sock out so it's just above the wort at the end of the boil. I actually leave mine in. I figure that the flavour and aroma additions that most (maybe all?) recipes supply mean that the hops stay in the kettle whilst it chills. Does that make sense?

(Wonder if this affects no-chillers???)

I suppose a lot of the above really depends on your system and how that system works with flowers/plugs/pellets. I would imagine that with some systems a hop-sock would be a God-send.

The original question though proposed an alternative method of using the hop-sock as an after-filter. I syphon out of my kettle and went through a stage of not using the hop-sock. Unfortunately at the same time I also had a dodgy auto-syphon (the ones they sell now have too bigger an internal diameter and actually just don't work believe it or not ) which means you basically have to pump the wort out - ridiculous! This was the stage where I tried using the hop-sock as an after-filter.

It definitely doesn't work. As the other guys say, it will clog almost immediately. (And do not buy an auto-syphon now unless it has an internal diameter of x mm - will edit that x tomorrow evening.)

I've recently learned a few (in hindsight, very simple) ways of better handling an auto-syphon so as it only drains off the clear wort. Maybe down the track I'll have a bash at a side by side hopsock/no-hopsock to see if my new methods alleviate the need.

I've certainly had no worries using one so far though but, for me, the simpler the better.

Oh! And hold on! If it ends up not making a difference on my system, I think I have just thought of another use for it anyway!

Cheers,
Pat

 

[Batz]

Howdy dicko!

You mentioned you pull your sock out so it's just above the wort at the end of the boil. I actually leave mine in. I figure that the flavour and aroma additions that most (maybe all?) recipes supply mean that the hops stay in the kettle whilst it chills. Does that make sense?

(Wonder if this affects no-chillers???)

I suppose a lot of the above really depends on your system and how that system works with flowers/plugs/pellets. I would imagine that with some systems a hop-sock would be a God-send.

The original question though proposed an alternative method of using the hop-sock as an after-filter. I syphon out of my kettle and went through a stage of not using the hop-sock. Unfortunately at the same time I also had a dodgy auto-syphon (the ones they sell now have too bigger an internal diameter and actually just don't work believe it or not ) which means you basically have to pump the wort out - ridiculous! This was the stage where I tried using the hop-sock as an after-filter.

It definitely doesn't work. As the other guys say, it will clog almost immediately. (And do not buy an auto-syphon now unless it has an internal diameter of x mm - will edit that x tomorrow evening.)

I've recently learned a few (in hindsight, very simple) ways of better handling an auto-syphon so as it only drains off the clear wort. Maybe down the track I'll have a bash at a side by side hopsock/no-hopsock to see if my new methods alleviate the need.

I've certainly had no worries using one so far though but, for me, the simpler the better.

Oh! And hold on! If it ends up not making a difference on my system, I think I have just thought of another use for it anyway!

Cheers,
Pat

Too many rabbits Pat
Lots of rabbits in China

Batz

 

[PistolPatch]

Batz,

You are a moderator and should therefore be setting a good example to us plebs.

Anyway old thing (lol) will call you now and advise you on the necessary deletions such as this post.

LOL
Pat