EarthBound, I brewed an English IPA with just over 5 ounces of pellet hops in the boil, using my hop spider. I find that once my recirculation chill is done, I can simply use sanitized [metal] tongs to get the wort out of the spider's bag. From what I've seen, my hop spider would be good for at least 6-8oz of pellet hops in it.
Get the bag large and long enough (get your minds out of the gutter
) and you'll have enough room for the hops to move around in, as well as move them away from the mesh in order to drain the wort out of the bag area.
I was using hop bags before building the spider. One issue is securing the bag so that it doesn't roam free and possibly open up inside the kettle (thus negating the benefits from using it). Another is making sure the draw string is long enough to keep it in place, such as looped around the kettle handles. A single spider bag means you dump one bag, not several, after the wort is into the fermenter. It also means the pellets have more area to float around.
My hop spider bag, by itself, is 6" diameter and 18" long. I adjust the length via the ring and stainless hose clamp (with a thumb screw, so no tools needed).
I made my first spider for about $20, complete with threaded rod for the legs, hose clamp, acorn nuts for the inside end, and lock washers and nuts for outside the ring. Not counting tool use here, just raw parts. Depending on where you get your parts, the cost could be more, or less. The only tools I needed were a drill press and tap and die set. You could do away with the tap and die set, if you didn't want to thread the holes in the ring. I did that as an extra touch, but it's not necessary.
:rockin:
