51 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

Has anyone tried one of THESE? Hook it onto the brewpot and place your hops inside the cylinder which is fine enough to trap debris but open enough to let hop goodness flow. Some have mentioned getting lower utilization (which I understand) but I wonder if this would be a good way to keep trub out of the primary. Thoughts?

[pkrone]

I was staring at one of those at my LHBS just the other day.   I decided it would be a challenge to hook onto my keggle, so I just got a bag to try first.  

[djinkc]

I bought one that is considerably bigger for 10 gallon batches - 300 micron.  I would guess I took a 70% hit on IBUs and maybe more.  And it was a pain to drain.   I quit using it and tried to sell it on a local FB homebrew buy/sell group.  No takers.

 

I have a repurposed sterilizer that I use as an electric kettle.  It just barely fits in it and works perfect for mashing AG starters.  So it found a second life here.

 

My 2 cents is don't bother for pellet hops.  I guess if you had one big enough for the whole brew kettle it might work

[HVB]

Bought one when they first came out and now it sits in the pile of unused stuff.

[Big Nake]

70% IBU hit? For real? I expected some but not that much. Hmm, I need a way to limit hop & break material in my kettle. Years ago I bought some sort of nylon hop bag that was a pain to use in the boil and at some point it would come open and just spill everything out anyway so I stopped using it. I suppose a hop device doesn't help with break material so maybe I should be looking at some of the other options like rehydrated IM, the PV10 stuff, etc.

[djinkc]

70% IBU hit? For real? I expected some but not that much. Hmm, I need a way to limit hop & break material in my kettle.

 

That was my perception.  I have tried every way possible to keep hop and break out of the fermenter using pellets.  I settled on a hot whirlpool, plate chiller and just take the system loss of wort volume.  Occasionally I'll use the IC to knock it down a bit for a whirlpool addition but the cone breaks down and my system loss is a bit more.

 

I made worse beer trying to keep sputz out of the fermenter.  Not anymore though. 

[StankDelicious]

Just got an email about one of THESE today. You wouldn't take the IBU hit but I'm not sure how effective it would be in straining the crud.

[matt6150]

70% IBU hit? For real? I expected some but not that much. Hmm, I need a way to limit hop & break material in my kettle. Years ago I bought some sort of nylon hop bag that was a pain to use in the boil and at some point it would come open and just spill everything out anyway so I stopped using it. I suppose a hop device doesn't help with break material so maybe I should be looking at some of the other options like rehydrated IM, the PV10 stuff, etc.

Whirlpool

[Big Nake]

Whirlpool

I do that but the cone is so fluffy that I still get all kinds of hop and break material into the primary. My results vary... sometimes I get 4.5 gallons of ultra-clear wort into the fermenter and other times I'm at 3.5 gallons and here comes the schputz.

[HVB]

Just got an email about one of THESE today. You wouldn't take the IBU hit but I'm not sure how effective it would be in straining the crud.

I have a DIY one like that I use for whole hops.  I think it would be a b!tch to drain the kettle with pellets, at least at the rates I hop at.

[Poptop]

I just can't see all of this inside the kettle especially when I add my IC to the mix. My simple yet very effective method of keeping at least 90% or better of pellet debris out of my fermenter is by racking into and through a double mesh strainer. I might have to rinse it once or twice depending on the hop load but it does work and it's simple.

I have a DIY one like that I use for whole hops.  I think it would be a b!tch to drain the kettle with pellets, at least at the rates I hop at.

Thought the same darn thing

[denny]

Hop bags here

[Big Nake]

Hop bags here

Do you have a link to the ones you use? Are they reusable bags, muslin bags or what? Maybe I'll give bags a try and see wha hapeens.

[Poptop]

No love for the mesh strainer. I don't get it

[Big Nake]

No love for the mesh strainer. I don't get it

I have a dual mesh strainer and I use it on every batch but it still lets hop and break material through. It catches quite a bit of stuff but not enough.

[denny]

Do you have a link to the ones you use? Are they reusable bags, muslin bags or what? Maybe I'll give bags a try and see wha hapeens.

 

They are reusable.  Maybe nylon?  I dunno exactly what they are.  I picked them up at the LHBS.  I use them for whole hops in the kettle.  Pellets I just let go through the pump into the fermenter.  I use disposable muslin bags for dry hopping.  I follow the ROT that bags decrease your utilization by 10% and use 10% more bittering hops.

[positiveContact]

Has anyone tried one of THESE? Hook it onto the brewpot and place your hops inside the cylinder which is fine enough to trap debris but open enough to let hop goodness flow. Some have mentioned getting lower utilization (which I understand) but I wonder if this would be a good way to keep trub out of the primary. Thoughts?

 

I use a larger version.  I've had good luck with it.  my beers seem to be plenty bitter.  a 70% IBU hit doesn't sound right.  even a 30% IBU hit doesn't sound right.    I wouldn't use it if I didn't need to but if I don't do something the pellet hops clog my pick up tube.

[shaggaroo]

Do you have a link to the ones you use? Are they reusable bags, muslin bags or what? Maybe I'll give bags a try and see wha hapeens.

Ken, I just use nylon paint strainer bags from any big box store, work well, cleanable, reusable...

[HVB]

Ken, I just use nylon paint strainer bags from any big box store, work well, cleanable, reusable...

I have used those as well. I find the 5g ones work best. I also have some hop bags from one of the biab vendors, nice quality.

[Big Nake]

Drez, when you transfer from BK to fermenter, are you using a port on your BK? If so, are you finding that the flowrate is directly related to how much trub you end up with in the primary? I'm just using an old-school racking cane & tubing and it's been mentioned that maybe my flowrate is strong enough to attract the trub and maybe I need one of those little plastic restrictors on the tubing so I can slow down the flow. That, plus this idea (from some brewers) that rehydrated irish moss works better than whirfloc to drop hop and break material in the BK (and also makes the trub layer more compact) may be enough for me to get more clear wort into the fermenter.