Who Uses a Hop Sock/Bag

[Fylp]

Hey All,

Just wondering who uses one during the boil and why. I started using one- just because- and stopped a while back.

Phil

 

[Dae Tripper]

I went away from it as well as I was using lots of hops but did a 60L batch of an American Wheat beer on the weekend and had both my hop socks out for the occasion just to keep the cubes a little clearer.

 

[fraser_john]

I used one, then stopped and have started using one again.

 

[glenwal]

I used one when I started out ag brewing in a 19l big w pot to maximise the wort I could get out of it, but haven't bothered since moving up to a larger system.

 

[mattlea266]

Just throw them in now. Used to use sock but felt I wasnt getting all the goodness out of my hops. I do 44l batches so quite a bit of hops. I like the idea of the hops swimming around getting full contact with wort. Just whirlpool at end of boil.

 

[Coalminer]

Good to let your boys swim free :lol:

 

[Crusty]

I prefer boxer shorts over undies.

 

[Matplat]

For the couple of (extract with grain) brews that I did without a hop sock, I found my beers came out exceptionally bitter.

Since using a hop sock and actually being able to remove the hops after 60 mins, beers have been on point. I have not strayed since!

 

[RobW]

I use a hopsock because I have a counterflow chiller and I like to be able to pull the sock out at the end of the boil.
This means the hops aren't in the wort during the whirlpool and then for the 15 minutes or so it takes to run through the chiller.

 

[razz]

I've dusted my Craftbrewer hop sock off since using a Braumeister. A couple of reasons why.
I put a pickup on the back of the tap to leave a small amount of trub in the kettle and run the wort through a plate chiller.
Cleaning up the kettle is a lot easier with just some trub to wash out.

 

[wildwhitty]

I use Skimmer socks. About $8 for 5. Woolies or Coles. Put each addition in its own sock and tie with string.

 

[GABBA110360]

single hop addition 60 min i use a stocking thing from coles cheap as chips

 

[BJB]

I've dusted my Craftbrewer hop sock off since using a Braumeister. A couple of reasons why.
I put a pickup on the back of the tap to leave a small amount of trub in the kettle and run the wort through a plate chiller.
Cleaning up the kettle is a lot easier with just some trub to wash out.

Pool shops sell something remarkably similar, but much cheaper.

 

[fdsaasdf]

Used to use socks, picked up a Keg king hop spider, have never looked back!

 

[thylacine]

pic

 

[zeggie]

Used to use a hop bag, now use a KK hop spider.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Never used socks for boils. Throw them in to swim. Calculate in trub loss instead. (For chilled worts).
My keggle is 4lt trub with clear wort above that. So your boil needs to end at 4lt bigger than your final yield volume.

I only use hop socks for dry hopping in the keg. Its still restricted. You have to use a hop bag much bigger than the hop pellet so they are loose.
Hop pellets expand to (my guess) 5 times their size. If you fill a bag to more than 1/5 it will just swell into a hard block, or pillow and you will waste the potential of the hops. They wont disperse their full glory.

 

[sp0rk]

I only use them when I'm using whole flowers, otherwise my pickup tube gets blocked

 

[spog]

I use the large " tea balls " from the cheap shop they are the 50 mm ones , I must get more as I have found that the become compacted if you bung too many pellets in them so I've decided to split the hops into more of them to get the best from the hop pellets.
Using the tea balls helps with not having to worry about the left overs clogging the pump etc.
I use an immersion coil so a hop sock is out of the question due to space restrictions and the tea balls are easy to clean.

 

[rude]

I use the large " tea balls " from the cheap shop they are the 50 mm ones , I must get more as I have found that the become compacted if you bung too many pellets in them so I've decided to split the hops into more of them to get the best from the hop pellets.
Using the tea balls helps with not having to worry about the left overs clogging the pump etc.
I use an immersion coil so a hop sock is out of the question due to space restrictions and the tea balls are easy to clean.

I'm the same as Spog but have 75mm ones

Might try some smaller ones for the cube hop

 

[danestead]

I am free range at the moment however im buying 1 or 2 stainless hop spider type things to cage up my hops for the hoppier brews like ipa and iipas

 

[Alchomist]

Picked up a few of these http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/5CM-7CM-9CM-Sphere-Locking-Spice-Tea-Ball-Strainer-Mesh-Infuser-Filter-/151521842373?nav=SEARCH

The 90cm ones work well in the boil & also fit nicely into the converted cornies I use for secondary/dry hopping.

 

[Alchomist]

9cm that should read

 

[rehabs_for_quitters]

I was using a K K hop spider, **** of a thing struggled to get a good load of hops in it, anything more than 100g was too much for it, since I have stopped and gone nude my bittering charge is around 25% of what it used to be and get a better depth of bittering and flavour from the hops, put a strainer on your kettle outlet and let them swim free, a good whirlpool at the end of boil and they'll hang out in the middle of the kettle so you don't have to worry about too much crap getting to the strainer

 

[QldKev]

At home I let them go nude swimming, but at work I use hop bags for all except the flame out pellet addition.

 

[zarniwoop]

I use a plate chiller so I use them, easier than clearing a blocked chiller.

 

[technobabble66]

Mine swim free. I've also got a plate chiller, but I've got a large hops bazooka screen (30cm?) on my outlet. A little gets through but not too much for the pump or chiller. It's only really important when I recirc thru the chiller to drop the kettle temp below 70*C after flameout (~5 mins). After that I'll whirlpool (scrape the screen clear) and all the hops then stay in the cone.

One thing I have found my hops sock to be great for is when cleaning the plate chiller and pump. I recirc hot sodium perc to clean the pump and chiller. I tie a hops sock onto the outlet hose to capture and filter out hops debris so I don't just recirc that back into the gear, and I don't need truckloads of water/sod perc doing only a single pass. It's great! 2L of hot sod perc recirc'd for 20mims each way. Clean as a whistle!

 

[IsonAd]

Mine mostly swim free but if I'm doing something with a heap of hops I'll use a big biab bag - kind of a middle ground like barn laid eggs - not caged but not free range either.

 

[eMPTy]

Picked up a few of these http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/5CM-7CM-9CM-Sphere-Locking-Spice-Tea-Ball-Strainer-Mesh-Infuser-Filter-/151521842373?nav=SEARCH

The 90cm ones work well in the boil & also fit nicely into the converted cornies I use for secondary/dry hopping.

How many grams of hops do you reckon would fit in each mate? They look pretty useful.

 

[Coodgee]

I use bags since I started brewing again. I hang them over the outlet pipe of the grainfather and then they swirl around the top of the boil. I figure they pretty much float on the top anyway so it makes them easier to pick out. However doing this you need to be careful when you are chilling with the grainfather - if you put the counterflow chiller outlet pipe as far as it will go into the wort it will create a hot layer at the top of the wort. I only figured this out after the digital display read 65 degrees but I nearly burnt my hand on the side of the grainfather because the top was so hot. Now I make sure the outlet pipe of the CFC is right at the surface and creates a weak whirlpool.

I also remove the bags at flame out and put them back in once the wort gets to 80 degrees now. The brew I am doing right now has 90 grams of simcoe at 2 minutes so I need to control the bittering from that amount of high alpha hops.