Hop/Grain Sacks

[Uncle Joshua]

Does anyone use hop or grain sacks? what are the pros and cons to them?

[Rowang]

I buy sacks of 25kg pale malt from "the malt miller" site. The massive benefit, is its easy to store, is cheaper for the grain if bought in bulk, and its no more expensive to get 25kg posted than it is to get 1kg posted (i used to buy enough grain for each brew and pay postage each time - not economical!!)

Hops - Less useful by the sack, unless you brew lots, since they lose so much of their character unless they are stored really carefully. The most Il ever buy is a 1kg block of something I use a lot.. the problem with this though is you end up feeling you have to use them up and then get tied into certain styles.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

I buy my base Malts by the sack, but have only ever bought hops in 100g packs.

I'm not sure that's what you are asking though, I'm not really sure I understand you question.

[Horatio]

Do you mean a grain bag when mashing and a bag for the hops when boiling? I use neither but wasn't sure if this is what you mean?

[Kev888]

Assuming you mean in the mash and boil, then I've used both hop and grain bags in the past. The grain bag works well, but isn't quite as convenient as a false bottom/manifold etc when it comes to stirring and doughing in (I'd be hesitant to use my powered mixing paddle in one in case it got caught up or damaged the bag). I found that to drain properly you need to lift it clear of the MT's bottom to let the liquid out (if there's no other filter there) - easy enough with modest batch sizes, but sparging a suspended grain bill can be a little trickier and it gets more awkward as grain bills increase. They're very popular in BIAB, as they let you remove the grain very easily.

Hop bags also work, but the hops don't get quite such a good tossing around as loose ones do in the rolling boil, so you don't seem to get quite such good utilisation, and obviously you don't get them settling around the hop stopper to form a more effective filter. They do work though so if you don't have a hop stopper then its a quick, easy and still reasonably effective solution. They can also be useful if you want to use just pellet hops but don't have a hop stopper thats up to them - though again free pellets tend to be a bit better if you do. I beleieve some people also use bags for dry hopping in the FV but especially in kegs (to stop the hops blocking the tap) but I only really dry hop in the FV and I don't use a bag for that so I can't really say how well they work there.

Cheers
Kev

[EoinMag]

I use both, I use a BIAB bag made by my wife to mash in and I use hop socks to stop the hops from blocking my hop strainer when draining my boiler. I find it's made the whole process easier.

[Uncle Joshua]

Assuming you mean in the mash and boil
Kev

I did mean in the mash and boil, should have said.

Having read you post Kev, I don't think I'll bother. cheers.

[greenxpaddy]

Thumbs up for the Malt Miller. Cheaper than the rest again!

[mat69]

Thumbs up for the Malt Miller. Cheaper than the rest again!

really? 25kg of pale is £30 at malt miller,its £19.49 at worcester hop shop..hops are cheaper too..

[greenxpaddy]

Thumbs up for the Malt Miller. Cheaper than the rest again!

really? 25kg of pale is £30 at malt miller,its £19.49 at worcester hop shop..hops are cheaper too..

I wish you had told me before I placed my order this morning

[Kev888]

Yeah, theres a thread somewhere where Rob mentioned he had to register for tax (or something) so the prices went up - they now seem a bit more than some of the better competitors like Murpheyhomebrew and the w. hop shop. (EDIT: by better competitors I mean the better ones out of his competition, not necessarily implying better than Rob!)

But its worth doing the maths if you want a range of stuff because of his extensive stock list, too; I can usually get everything I need for an AG brew with one order and in the same postal charge from him. For example, his range of hops almost always includes what I want, and he does liquid yeast, AMS/CRS and most of the other staples.

Cheers
Kev

[greenxpaddy]

I wish he'd get some Whitbread Goldings in though!

[i_am_ed]

Rob also crushes the malt specifically to order, which I think is worth something.

[kane]

I wish he'd get some Whitbread Goldings in though!

+1