Do you guys leave the hops in the wort while it is cooling down?

[Elysium]

I am wondering if you guys leave the hops in the wort while it is chilling..or it is a must to use hop bags?

I am asking because I am planning to leave the hops in the wort while it is chilling and I wonder if it will extract too much alpha-acid into the wort this way.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I do leave them in the wort.

And yes, you can get more bitterness from this process.

Good thread here discussing the topic:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/what-temperature-do-hops-add-bitterness-256406/

 

[Hammy71]

Yep, leave the hops in the whole time. No worries.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I do as well.

 

[Piratwolf]

I think it's wise to account for the hot stand in your recipe design. Flameout additions essentially become 5-10 min additions in terms of bittering, IME.

 

[Jipper]

Quick note on this - if you're using whole leaf hops, make sure you pull them out before transferring! Or use a hop bag and tie it to the side. I didn't have a hop bag and wasn't thinking clearly (3 beers in when it was time to add my first wort hops - whole leaf chinook). I threw them in, and when it came time to pump them out, my ball valve was packed with them. Needless to say, getting my 10 gallons of beer to my fermenter was a struggle...

 

[Elysium]

Quick note on this - if you're using whole leaf hops, make sure you pull them out before transferring! Or use a hop bag and tie it to the side. I didn't have a hop bag and wasn't thinking clearly (3 beers in when it was time to add my first wort hops - whole leaf chinook). I threw them in, and when it came time to pump them out, my ball valve was packed with them. Needless to say, getting my 10 gallons of beer to my fermenter was a struggle...

I'll use a large siphon to transfer the cooled wort to the fermenting bucket. I am planning on using a colander and that's it. Since I am using pellets....I think they wont get stuck in a large siphon. What do you think?

 

[RacingRam]

If you're siphoning from kettle to fermenter, do a whirlpool to keep hops and trub out of the fermenter. After chilling, stir vigorously in a circle for 1-2 min to get a good whirlpool in the middle. Then let it sit for 20 min with the lid on. Then siphon from any edge. All the hop gunk and cold break will form a cone in the middle of the kettle, so just stop the siphon before it gets sucked up. I had heard of this, but never tried it before about 3 brews ago...now I'll do it every time!

 

[dinnerstick]

definitely leave them in (for late hops. for 60 minute additions it basically doesn't matter), and definitely whirlpool! recipes are imprecise; they depend a lot on your system and technique. so if you always do the same thing on your system then you can fine tune the recipe a bit to suit your tastes. a bit too bitter? still leave the late hops in the kettle, and reduce the early hop addition by a few ibu

 

[Elysium]

If you're siphoning from kettle to fermenter, do a whirlpool to keep hops and trub out of the fermenter. After chilling, stir vigorously in a circle for 1-2 min to get a good whirlpool in the middle. Then let it sit for 20 min with the lid on. Then siphon from any edge. All the hop gunk and cold break will form a cone in the middle of the kettle, so just stop the siphon before it gets sucked up. I had heard of this, but never tried it before about 3 brews ago...now I'll do it every time!

Whirpool after the boiling or after the wort has already chilled to yeast pitching temperature?
By the way...thanks for the info.

 

[dinnerstick]

after it's chilled. so make sure the spoon is nice and sanitary. then let everything settle 20-30 min and then siphon from the edge without disturbing the trub pile in the middle.

 

[Elysium]

after it's chilled. so make sure the spoon is nice and sanitary. then let everything settle 20-30 min and then siphon from the edge without disturbing the trub pile in the middle.

I understand what you guys mean....but that extra 20-30 mins for me is a bit too much. I'd like to reduce the amount of time spent on brewing, but if there are no other ways to get the hops to the side of the pot.....then I'll guess I have to wait for 20 mins minimum.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Brewrifle]

I sanitize a giant strainer to filter out most of the big chunks of stuff for lagers and lighter ales. It doesn't get everything, but it helps nonetheless. I've also thought that it helps to aerate the wort as well.

 

[RacingRam]

I understand what you guys mean....but that extra 20-30 mins for me is a bit too much. I'd like to reduce the amount of time spent on brewing, but if there are no other ways to get the hops to the side of the pot.....then I'll guess I have to wait for 20 mins minimum.
Thanks for the info.

You could build a hop spider for under $30. It makes hop additions easy and keeps the hop gunk separate from the wort. Then you don't need to filter anything from the kettle to the fermenter...you'll just get break material. There are tons of builds on the forum for hop spiders. I would recommend using stainless steel as the center rather than PVC as PVC can melt. I use a sink flange for a garbage disposal.

 

[Beerbeque]

I use whole hops exclusively. I just throw them in to the boil and I always leave them in the wort until I rack into the fermenter.

 

[matt08wrx]

On the inside of my kettle I always use a bazooka screen that screws into my valve. Works great for filtering

 

[diS]

I am using SS hop basket and I leave them in BK until it is racked to primary.

 

[jotakah]

I always leave the hops in. Each addition gets its own hopsack. After wort has drained to fermenter I toss the hopsacks in the compost. The beer tastes great!