No Hop Sock Brewing

[joecast]

well that was a very interesting read. good points on both sides for sure.

the reason im thinking of going "the sock" was being tired of leaving two to three litres of wort in the kettle every brew. i've tried whirl pooling but think the uneven bottom of my kettle might unsettle things a bit.

anyway, one question i didnt see addressed was is a 500micron sock too big for pellets? will the small pellet particles just get washed right through the sock during the boil?
i would like to use flowers which is what made me think of getting a sock, but mainly use pellets so dont want it to be wasted then. thanks
joe

 

[Ross]

Joe,

The 500 micron will let a very small amount of the pellets through, but it's the sock i personally use these days.
If using a plate chiller I'd probably go the 250 micron.

cheers Ross

 

[razz]

Good morning boys. I'm using a 500 micron sock, with pellets, and I chill through a plate chiller no problems.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Finally got around to doing two batches without the hopsock and will probably continue without the sock moving forward

All the gunk dropped to the bottom of the kettle and was in a neat pile in the middle of the base - after whirlpooling

My pick up draws from the side of the kettle and while a little hop material was picked up when draining I don't think it'll be an issue

I may have left a bit more wort behind in the kettle - but not enough to worry about

I'm sold on continuing without the hopsock - I'll see if there is any perceptable change in utilisation

I can't really see the benefit in the sock other than being able to lift the spent hops out - but when contrasting this to having to clean out the sock / soaking it to clean the holes / and a small loss to trub - I'd recommend going without the sock

Cheers

 

[browndog]

I'm tempted to do my next brew without using a hop sock.

I would run my cooled wort through a steralised sock (250 Micron) at the end to filter out both hops and break.

Hardly a world beater I know, but I would like hear from the experience of other who may have done this.

Cheers

This is the way I brew, though I no-chill so I don't worry about sterilising the sock before filtering through it, I took a few pics on the weekend when I did an Aussie Ale.


Draining the kettle


Draining the sock


Left over trub

cheers

Browndog

 

[Steve]

This is the way I brew, though I no-chill so I don't worry about sterilising the sock before filtering through it, I took a few pics on the weekend when I did an Aussie Ale.

View attachment 17562
Draining the kettle

View attachment 17563
Draining the sock

View attachment 17564
Left over trub

cheers

Browndog

is that two pick up tubes in your kettle? :unsure:

 

[KoNG]

Steve, maybe for a bit of whirpool action ..?

 

[browndog]

Yep. Kong is right, the one on the left is the inlet to the kettle, however the way I have it plumbed at the moment I am not able to use it to whirlpool as I don't have a return from the kettle to the pump.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Kingy]

i dont use my hopsock in the boil no more either, unless im doing a double batch. (more hops to add) I tried using the hopsock as a filter.
After i no-chilled the beer in a cube, i poured the cold wort through the hopsock into the fermenter to catch all the trub and hop crap etc.etc. But it blocked up fairly quick and gave me the shits. So now the hopsock just sits there unless a double batch is done.

:icon_offtopic:
Ive went looking today to biuld a pick up tube and tap into my boiler.Whick im sure would reduce trub, And also a tap for the esky i have but couldnt find any anywhere, got the shits and came home. Im sure id get more wort out with a pick up tube and tap as opposed to suck and siphon.(as the lower the level of wort gets the more the hop/trub runs to the edge of the pot.) any ideas on where to source these from? (moving to a 3 vessel system) <_<