When I first started brewing 5-6 years ago, I always used a muslin bag. For the last 2-3 years, I have just thrown them in the boil. I figured I got better utilization and didn’t have to mess with using/remembering to buy the muslin bags.
Well, I just brewed an IPL and used about 6oz’s of hop pellets for a 5 gallon batch. I ended up yielding a little less then I would have hoped for and it just got me to thinking about trying to strain the hops again.
I know, I know…people are going to say, “just make a 6 or 6.5 gal batch instead of a 5”. And that’s what I kinda have been doing but recently, I’d like to be a little more efficient, for whatever reason…
So, what are you guys doing for your beers that have significant hop additions (>5oz per 5gal batch)?
I sometimes have a lot of hop trub at the bottom of the boiler after siphoning off the wort. I let some go through the siphon. If there’s a lot left, I pour it into a muslin-lined funnel over a jug (all sanitised). Over an hour or so the liquid drains out - usually enough for another couple of bottle of beer. Not a great deal, but it has a lot of hop flavour that would otherwise go to waste.
There are several different filter options available, from ones that go into your kettle to using a stainer over your FV. I personally whirlpool and adjust pre boil volume. I’m ok with that.
The 6x11 fits my 10G SS Brewtech kettle great. Before I had it, I was having trouble clogging my pump when whirlpooling/chilling. This solved the issue for me and I don’t have to mess with bags. I did find I had to increase my hop additions a touch, but around 10% difference based on my sensory evaluation (e.g. I felt like increasing hops by 10% gave me roughly the same beer).
He offers a 400 micron version as well if you want to let a little more stuff through.
Depending on whether I’m using leaf or pellet hops and the quantities involved, I use either bags (Muntons grain steeping bag, muslin bags), or large stainless steel tea balls.
When I add my IC I end up using my leather work gloves to lift the filter off the side, put the IC in place, and then drop the filter back in. The “hook” is long enough that the filter can hang down in the open center of the IC.
Based on pictures I’ve seen the Hydra is wider than my IC (I’m jealous). I don’t remember if it’s that wide from top to bottom or not.
Chad at Arbor Fabricating is really helpful. I bought my screen back in the early days of the product and he e-mailed back and forth with me to quickly choose an appropriate one for my kettle. I’m sure he has customers with Hydra chillers so if a mod is needed he probably knows and can probably do it for you.
I use 400-200-100-75 micron. It keeps the vast majority of the hop material from going through. It clogs really easy if you’re not careful pouring from a hop-heavy IPA.
I’m not fearful of hop matter getting into the fermentation vessel but I like to get some of the trub out of the wort. I go from kettle to fermentation vessel by pouring the wort so I pass it through a strainer. Eventually enough hop matter will get caught and form a loose filter that in turn will catch smaller particles. Works with both whole and pellet hops.
Are you whirlpooling using a pump or manual stirring? I ended up getting my filter because I was sometimes having trouble with my kettle valve clogging during whirlpooling. Even without the filter I was able to transfer without clogging – now I can just do it faster.
I pump now, but only for the last few months. No issue with pellets clogging the pump or valve. I do need to throttle the output to keep it from cavitating during the boil.
I use a hop spider wirh mesh paint straining bags from Lowe’s. Thought about ditching it and using a SS mesh for my bucket fermenter? I just can’t justify the $50 for what it does.
I have been using pellets for the last eight or so months after using whole cones and a false bottom for over two decades. I absolutely despise having to deal with pellet sludge. With whole hops and a false bottom, the cones settle on the false bottom and the break settles on the hops when using an immersion chiller. The result is clear wort. The only reason I switched to using pellets is because pellets are much cheaper to ship from the West Coast. I have decided to switch back to using whole cones and a false bottom after my current pellet supply has been exhausted.
Never did. I use an immersion chiller and stir while chilling so after the wort is cooled I allow some time to settle before transfering to the fermentor. I installed my ball valve about 2 inches off the bottom of my kettle so everything settles below that point and I transfer clear wort from above that. I often leave behind about 1 gal of wort that is filled with break material and hop sludge. After it settles more I might top off the fermeter before pitching the yeast but usually I end up with my 5 gals in a 6 gal carboy so thats good enough.
Interesting to hear that you used whole cones until recently. Ever come across anything that made you think that minimizing hop pellet sludge is or isn’t something to worry about when repitching?