Just got an email from this company. I have not used pellet hops in years, but I wonder how well these would work…
Interesting concept. I’v e come to usually prefer pellets. The packs look cool, but I’d feel better about using them if they were reusable.
You what?!? Prefer pellets? Easier to store 20lbs? 
If they seal with heat, I’d be a little worried that they’d unseal as well (i.e., in the boil). It’s curious that there’s no picture of the actual product on the site…
If you ask me, this is a dumb idea. Especially the fact that they are not reusable and that you may have to use as many as 4-5 which increases the batch cost by $ 2.50.
Kai
This page has a pic: http://www.pelletpacks.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1814
Kai
On IPAs and such I actually prefer to pull a little “Hop Trub” over into fermenter. I think it increases aroma and flavor. I also think these would adversely affect hop utilization. And why not just use a nylon hops sack and tue it and reuse it?
This was my exact though.
Teabagging your homebrew ;D
This was my first thought too, it increases the cost of your hops by $0.50 an ounce. They should make larger sizes, but still I’d rather use something reusable - like a stainless tea ball or - I don’t know - a muslin hop bag?
That’s the main reason why I buy pellets.
But back to the OT, I just use a Hop Stopper. Haven’t had hop debris in my fermenter in months.
Yep. And they stay good longer.
Yep. Those are my main problems with them, too.
Has someone already made a SS oversized tea-egg for hops?
Kai
Something like this?
yes, like that.
But many brewers already seem to use mulslin or other form of hop bags.
Kai
I just switched to thigh high hose this last weekend for all of my pellet additions as an experiment. They allow more room for the hops to expand than knee highs do. I clipped them to the top of the kettle, and they’re easily long enough to reach the kettle bottom. Easy removal.
I recently tried out this Jumbo Stainless Steel Locking Spice Mesh Ball (5.5")
Amazon.com . They are wide than then what the photo shows… It holds an 1 oz of whole hops perfectly. This weekend I will be trying them out with pellet hops.
This thread certainly has made me think about my own process. I just dump whole hops directly into my boil. I have a bazooka screen at the valve, and it seems to work great.
Why do folks use products like this, or nylons, or SS balls, or even muslin bags? Is that better than just free flowing?
I’ve been using paint strainer bags and they seem to work okay. They’re a little coarse though, and I get debris in the beer if I dry hop in the keg.
So what’s the best option for dry hopping? What has the finest mesh?