Hops

[triplehops]

When utilizing hops in the boil whether in the beginning or at the end, I am seeing people placing them into muslin bags. I've been just tossing them in without the bag. Whats right? (i am using pellets)

 

[COLObrewer]

Either way, bags are a little less messy and keep some of the larger particles out of the fermentor. A good vortex swirl after cooling does this as well.

 

[AVLbrewing]

I've been tossing mine straight into the kettle. I currently don't have a ball valve on my kettle so I end up siphoning the cool wort out, which leaves a nice layer of sludge in the bottom. If I had a valve/dip tube I'd use done sort of screen or bag though. I primarily use pellets.

 

[eric19312]

I use pellets direct in the boil. My understanding is that is good for about 10% increased utilization. I have a valve on bottom and strain the hop junk and trub on way to kettle with this strainer. I think this gets about an extra half gallon into the fermentor vs best I could do with whirl pooling and siphoning and saves about 30-45 min on brew day since I'm not waiting for the break to settle, just start transfer as soon as I hit pitching temp.

 

[RM-MN]

I pitch the hops right into the boil pot and dump the whole mess into the fermenter. It looks really ugly but when the ferment slows down, the hops sink to the bottom and get covered with the yeast. By the time I'm ready to bottle there is little evidence of hops in the fermenter as they are compacted on the bottom. I rack above the yeast.

 

[unionrdr]

I like to use muslin hop sacks in the boil & when dry hopping. I also strain going into the fermenter with a dual layer fine mesh strainer. With PM,I get about as much gunk out as the pic above. Less trub equals more clear beer going into the bottling bucket.

 

[COLObrewer]

. . . . . . strain the hop junk and trub on way to kettle with this strainer. . . . . . .

+1 This also helps to aerate the cooled wort.

 

[unionrdr]

True that. I noticed with the strainer perched on top of the fermenter,& pouring all through it in a circular pattern,the liquid comes out the bottom of the strainer like rain. Aerates it nicely,but still needs to be stirred roughly to mix the wort & top off water well. It also aerates a tad more.

 

[triplehops]

great! thank you all ^

 

[eric19312]

One more strainer advantage is I harvest the yeast from my primaries after racking to the bottling bucket. As near as I can tell, I am getting a super clean product. Will post a pic later.

 

[eric19312]

Here is half my harvest from a recent batch. My process is simple. Rack the beer off the cake into a bottling bucket. Add a little bottled water. Swirl it up. Pour into two mason jars (32oz). Chill. After a few days it looks like this. Before pitching I will pour off liquid on top of yeast, add some more water, swirl it up and pitch. For a big beer I pitch the whole thing. For a smaller beer I'd pitch half and save the rest for next batch.

Long story but here is what I'm trying to get to...there is no dark layer at the bottom of this jar. Therefore no hops and little or no trub are getting through my screen. If either were there you should be able to see a layer on the bottom of darker material, with the viable yeast cake above that.

 

[triplehops]

^ that is so awesome!!!!!! Do you weigh it? do you know exactly how much you are utilizing per 5 gallon? do you sterilize the mason jars etc..

 

[eric19312]

^ that is so awesome!!!!!! Do you weigh it? do you know exactly how much you are utilizing per 5 gallon? do you sterilize the mason jars etc..

It is about 2 cups.

I boil the mason jars.

You can use the Mr. Malty calculator to try to figure out how much exactly to pitch. It estimates viability based on harvest date. I don't, the amount I am pitching is a "comfortable overpitch" that works for me. YMMV...

Really was showing this as evidence of effectiveness of the strainer, there are better sources in here regarding yeast harvesting practices.

 

[unionrdr]

Someone tossed my large jars I was saving to wash my yeast with. so all I had left was a 1quart pickle jar I soaked in PBW,then starsan for a couple weeks. It didn't seperate in mine either. Being from a dark beer,it was a dark tan,more like the color of the trub layer. I can now see why a large jar is needed to get seperation of yeast & trub. It's a matter of density.