Leaf hop supplies

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
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bitter_dave
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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by bitter_dave » Sun Jun 19, 2022 2:45 pm

JonA wrote:
Sun Jun 19, 2022 1:06 pm
Well I hope that whole hops will continue to be readily available, but what would I need to change in order to be able to use pellets? At the moment I have a stainless strainer which is basically like a large sieve that sits on the bottom of the boiler to catch the hops and the wort drain is in the bottom of the boiler. If I used pellets the fragments are much smaller so don't know if the setup would need to change.
I have a bazooka type filter probably made of similar material to yours (although obviously different in design). The only time I used some pellets (along with leaf hops) it clogged up a fair bit. I suspect this would happen to you. An alternative is to use a hop spider, but there seem to be debates about how good this is. I'm personally sticking with leaf hops

f00b4r
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Leaf hop supplies

Post by f00b4r » Sun Jun 19, 2022 4:10 pm

With pellets a lot of people seem to use either a hop spider/hopsocks or go with no filter and let it settle for 30 minutes after chilling to just let it settle and then transfer the clear wort from the top (you can also whirlpool to try and concentrate the unwanted trub and hop matter in the centre). Some people also use a mix in order to be able to use a filter or in some cases, if they use a CFC/plate chiller, they use a springer filter to drain the wort through (it doesn’t seem to work well if the wort is not hot though).
It might help if you could provide pictures of your particular setup, as I’m sure someone will have something similar and tried different ways.

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MashBag
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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by MashBag » Sun Jun 19, 2022 4:39 pm

I have an 800 micron mangrove jack spider which keeps 80% in. Any finer and I think you might suffer loss of utilisation. Today I drained the kettle (unfiltered) after a stand and externally trapped about a tablespoon of crud, which I think is OK.

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Eric
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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by Eric » Sun Jun 19, 2022 6:12 pm

With leaf hops I use a simple filter. When adding copper finings, wort is recycled which largely clears the filter ready for final runoff. After chilling, the boiled wort usually drops clear to a low level, needing a litre ot so to be recycled for bright wort. This will usually work when a modest amount of pellet hops are added after the boil.

For pellet hops no filter is used, the wort chilled as with leaf, but with the boiler tipped back to raise the tap above settling hops. Clear wort is decanted to the FV and the yeast pitched. The remaining wort is transferred to a narrower vessel and allowed more time to clear down before being added to the already fermenting wort.

More wort is lost to pellets than leaf, but think that might be reduced by feeding the last of the hopped wort through a hopback containing leaf hops.
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JonA
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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by JonA » Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:32 am

Interesting stuff - thanks guys. I might give pellets a go one day.

Learning all the time, which is one of the things I love about this hobby. If I tell my non-brewing mates that I'm getting a "Mangrove Jack Spider" I doubt they will ever come and visit me again :D

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a-slayer
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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by a-slayer » Mon Jun 20, 2022 2:47 pm

I find that using 40-50% leaf the rest can be pellets with no problems filtering, I leave to settle for 20 mins after boiling then chill through the plate cooler. My filter is a simple square of 15mm copper with slots and 3mm holes on the underside, covered in a medium coarse nylon bag.

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MashBag
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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by MashBag » Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:19 am

JonA wrote:
Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:32 am
If I tell my non-brewing mates that I'm getting a "Mangrove Jack Spider" I doubt they will ever come and visit me again :D
🤣🤣🤣

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MashBag
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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by MashBag » Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:21 am

a-slayer wrote:
Mon Jun 20, 2022 2:47 pm
I find that using 40-50% leaf the rest can be pellets with no problems filtering, I leave to settle for 20 mins after boiling then chill through the plate cooler. My filter is a simple square of 15mm copper with slots and 3mm holes on the underside, covered in a medium coarse nylon bag.
I like your design. I can see why that would work great. You could even just tie a supermarket veg bag around the copper. Nice one.

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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by Chris Brooks » Wed Jun 22, 2022 10:29 am

I've just been using some EK Goldings still vacuum packed that had a best before date in 2006 and they were just fine. Were in a carrier bag the wife put away for me, together with about another one and half kilo of other varieties including my favorite Fuggles. Amazing what you find having a clearout of the cupboard under the stairs.

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MashBag
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Re: Leaf hop supplies

Post by MashBag » Wed Jun 22, 2022 5:59 pm

We have a Winner 👏👏👏

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