BeerBorg

Hey

Quick question for the Beer Borg. How do you keep pellet hops from turning into a complete ball of wet dust that leaks out of the hop sack. I even tried a nylon hop sack inside another one, and maybe got half the hops to stay in. The rest just ooze out and go commando. Is there a fix, or is this just the way hops are? Or is this a late in the year the hops are all dried out, and you basically get hop dust kind of thing?

Thanks
Monty

I have never had that problem. Hops I don't intend to go in f fermenter are taken out, still in hop sack and thrown away
Who packaged hops? Are they old?

I wouldn't worry about it. Hops that aren't the freshest or those not packaged as well can turn to dust but I throw all that in as well.
I've pretty much gone all commando all the time except for dry hopping and even then, as in my Pliny, it's all commando. I use a strainer from the kettle to the fermenter and when I have lots and lots of dry hops, I use a secondary to help a bit.

dbrowning wrote:I have never had that problem. Hops I don't intend to go in f fermenter are taken out, still in hop sack and thrown away
Who packaged hops? Are they old?

These are HopUnion and HopsDirect packaged hops that I am using. They aren't that old to me, maybe a couple of weeks, but I have no idea what year they were harvested. They seem to work fine, but I get hop dust, at least half of what I put in, stays in as dust. I guess I should be glad I got some of it to stay in the bag.

Monty

Have you tried going commando before? I have yet to talk to a professional brewer that doesn't just toss 'em in. Granted, they have filters, brite tanks, etc. but when I first started and worried about what it would do I took a leap of faith and just tossed them in. I've never looked back.

Yes I've done that and got a ton of trub etc. It does settle out, but I was trying to eliminat3e what I can. I think for now, since what I am experiencing is some what normal, I'll just do the bag, take what I can from it (whatever it does contain in the bag will come out) and not worry about the rest.

Monty

I've never seen hop pellets NOT disintergrate when tossed into a liquid, boiling or not...

I have gone commando, but I have not had a problem with hops coming through the bag. How much do you put in the bag? The most I have done is 1 Ozs., and most of the time it's 1/2 Ozs.

I found a very small weave hop bag today in my drawer, and managed to get about 80% or more to stay in this bag. Its great. I wonder where I got it?

Monty

I just toss the hops in with the boil. It all will settle in the fermenter. A kettle screen is great great option too. As long as you are not recirculating the wort. I did that once clogged and it the hell out of the screen rendering it a very effective plug!!! I know whirlpool the wort and it sits as a nice little pile in the center of the kettle.

I gave up using hop sacks and started using funnel that has a mesh screen to filter out the stuff I don't want in the fermenter.

I do make sure that the wort is cooled into the 70s Fahrenheit before I put it into the funnel so that I don't aerate the hot wort.

I go commando and pour from my kettle to my buckets through this

duff wrote:I gave up using hop sacks and started using funnel that has a mesh screen to filter out the stuff I don't want in the fermenter.

I do make sure that the wort is cooled into the 70s Fahrenheit before I put it into the funnel so that I don't aerate the hot wort.

Out of curiosity, have you ever actually gotten HSA to happen that makes you worry about it? For real as opposed to something we read on some web site as a theoretical problem? My impression is that real HSA simply isn't gonna happen for most folks. I've certainly never gotten it to happen and I've abused hot wort plenty of times, and I have aged some of those beers for a year or more. Anchor brewing actually uses a German brewing device of some sort to aerate their hot wort on purpose between their lauter tun and their fermenters, it's in the 140s-150s when they do this I believe. I think unless your keeping your beer around for more then a couple of years before you drink it it's probably a non-issue. I don't worry about it anymore.

EDIT: OT, I use muslin hop sacks for early additions, and usually go commando with late additions. I've not really had all the hops in a hop sack find their way out before. I never "fill" the hop sack, I always leave lots of space for the hops to expand.

mashani wrote:

duff wrote:I gave up using hop sacks and started using funnel that has a mesh screen to filter out the stuff I don't want in the fermenter.

I do make sure that the wort is cooled into the 70s Fahrenheit before I put it into the funnel so that I don't aerate the hot wort.

Out of curiosity, have you ever actually gotten HSA to happen that makes you worry about it? For real as opposed to something we read on some web site as a theoretical problem? My impression is that real HSA simply isn't gonna happen for most folks. I've certainly never gotten it to happen and I've abused hot wort plenty of times, and I have aged some of those beers for a year or more. Anchor brewing actually uses a German brewing device of some sort to aerate their hot wort on purpose between their lauter tun and their fermenters, it's in the 140s-150s when they do this I believe. I think unless your keeping your beer around for more then a couple of years before you drink it it's probably a non-issue. I don't worry about it anymore.

EDIT: OT, I use muslin hop sacks for early additions, and usually go commando with late additions. I've not really had all the hops in a hop sack find their way out before. I never "fill" the hop sack, I always leave lots of space for the hops to expand.

No I can't say I ever had an off flavor from hot side aeration and I had seen someone on the other community talking about Anchor's process. I guess I have just got set in my process and that's what I do.

I never even heard of hsa before. I never worried about aerating hot wort, not that I do that, but never knew to worry.

Well my problem is much better using the other hop sacks I found, Also they are a bit larger than the one I used that had all the hops sneak out, so maybe that extra room helps too.

Monty