Hop Pellets

[jacksbrewery]

I am planning on using hop pellets instead of leaf hops. Is it still possible to use a hop bag for pellets (ie; will they dissolve and leak into wort). Any pellet technique advice appreciated.

[steve_flack]

Many hop bags are too coarse to hold pellets. You need to use a very fine mesh.

[jacksbrewery]

Is this something that I can get from a homebrew shop?

[mysterio]

Some of use have been making hopstrainers with the use of some of this fine gauze

http://www.inoxia.co.uk/rw/product/137.aspx

Try a search for 'hopstopper' clone, which is a style of strainer which you can make that can deal with pellets. I just crimped some of that gauze around my existing strainer.

Even when you use pellets, it's much easier to run off using some leaf hop in conjunction to aid filtering out trub/pellet matter.

Or you could do what our US friends do, do away with a hop filter, create a whirlpool to make a cone of trub in the middle, then siphon off from the side.

[jacksbrewery]

That's great. Many thanks

[6470zzy]

I have taken to having my wife supply me with extra pairs of her knee-high nylon tights. These work remarkably well at containing the hop pellets. No more messy straining of the wort into the FV.

Cheers

[adm]

I have taken to having my wife supply me with extra pairs of her knee-high nylon tights. These work remarkably well at containing the hop pellets. No more messy straining of the wort into the FV.

Cheers

When I tried this, I had really poor hop utilisation. The tights kind of "clung" to the pellets and I think the flow of wort around them was severely restricted. i ended up with a beer with almost no hop flavour and had to dry hop it drastically.

I think it would work well though if you were to make a wire frame that the tights could be stretched over so the hop pellet particles could move around freely in the boiling wort. I might give that a try using some bits of wire coathanger.....

[6470zzy]

[/quote]I think it would work well though if you were to make a wire frame that the tights could be stretched over so the hop pellet particles could move around freely in the boiling wort. I might give that a try using some bits of wire coathanger.....[/quote]


That is a very interesting idea .....and one that I can tell I am going to dwell on today. Definitely thought provoking.

Cheers

[400d]

I think it would work well though if you were to make a wire frame that the tights could be stretched over so the hop pellet particles could move around freely in the boiling wort. I might give that a try using some bits of wire coathanger.....[/quote]


That is a very interesting idea .....and one that I can tell I am going to dwell on today. Definitely thought provoking.

Cheers[/quote]

you can buy this thing (it's used for fishing and it is corrosion free)

[flytact]

Having had a terrible time with pellet hops clogging everything I've tried several things:
Nylons - use a considerable length so the hops can move about. Never noticed a utilization loss. Kind of icky.

5 gallon paint strainer: This is my current and most successful method. Unfortunately I have no pictures. Here's the skinny, your big box hardware store should have large paint strainer bags. I cut a piece of wood to hold the bag. It looks like this }--0--{. The "0" is where I attach the bag with binder clips. The bag sits in the boiling wort and the hops flow freely inside the bag. When I insert the chiller I simply move the bag aside.

I'll try to get pics.

[6470zzy]

5 gallon paint strainer: This is my current and most successful method. Unfortunately I have no pictures. Here's the skinny, your big box hardware store should have large paint strainer bags. I cut a piece of wood to hold the bag. It looks like this }--0--{. The "0" is where I attach the bag with binder clips. The bag sits in the boiling wort and the hops flow freely inside the bag. When I insert the chiller I simply move the bag aside.

I think that I shall give this method a go myself. It will save me from having to use so many pairs of nylons, which can be a little disconcerting when there are 4-5 rolling about in the boil And as I already have a good supply of the paint straining bags that I use to do partial mashes, I believe that I am in business.

Cheers

[jacksbrewery]

Fantastic! Great advice, just ordered a pack of x6 5-gallon bags from ebay for £8.50, cant wait to get cracking!

[jacksbrewery]

Stupid question probably but do you re-use the bags after?!

[Scooby]

Sounds like a Hop Sock there is 2 sizes in 250micron and 500micron.

The 30 mesh Myst mentioned is 623microns, 40 is 411microns and 60 is 263microns so the 500micron will do the job but the 250micron will stop even more particles.

As I see it the hop pellets form a filter bed on the filter when used in the way Myst does, containing the hops means there is no filtering of the wort.

[flytact]

Stupid question probably but do you re-use the bags after?!

Turn them inside out, dump and give them a quick rinse.