So, this is my first post and tried to search but couldn’t find anything. Sorry, I may have just missed it.
I’m brewing my first beer where I add ingredients after primary fermentation. I’m looking at adding some diced habaneros and some cacao nibs. I’m supposed to steep for 3-5 days.
My questions is, should I just put the spices straight into the carboy or do I disinfect a steeping bag and place the entire bag in?
I’d say it depends on your racking skills. A bag will help separate the additions when you package, but isn’t fully needed IMO
Ok cool. I’ll try it without the bag this time and see if I don’t get too much in the bottles.
You could also make a tincture with high proof booze and add that.
I typically don’t bag the spices, but I usually bag the racking can. Some spices are really good at clogging bottle fillers.
Same here. I zip-tie a knee-high ladies stocking to my auto-siphon. You should see the look on the clerk’s face at CVS when I buy a pack of nylons and a pack of zip-ties together! 
Sweet. I’ll try it that way instead just for safe measure. Thanks for all the input. Much appreciated.
A 5 gallon paint strainer bag from the big box hardware store will fit over the cane and stick out the neck of the carboy. Those are cheap too.
So I bottled today. I had an extra steeping bag so I put it over my racking cane with a ziptie. Seemed to work really well. Not much at the bottom of the bottling bucket.