Just sitting here thinking and watching videos regarding brewing when a question came to my mind. I use a hop bag during my boil to add the hops at the scheduled time. Once I am done with the boil, I tend to pull the bag and start my cooling process with my IC and a large cooler full of ice and water. My question to you all is this: Do you pull the hop bag before the cooling process, or do you keep it in during the cooling and pull it once the wort is in the fermenter? I am thinking, that if I leave the hop bag in, I might get bit more flavor from the hops and might be a better outcome (not that the outcome has been bad, I have enjoyed just about all I have brewed so far). I have not tried whirlpooling yeat, as I have to figure out a way to get a paddle into the middle of my IC to get the wort moving. But that is another question to be asked. My question on this one is simple, when do you remove the hop bag or hop spider from the wort? Before, during or after the cooling process has started? Mods, if this is in the wrong place please feel free to move it. I was not sure where to go with it. Rock On!!!
I lift my hop bag out as I start chilling with the immersion chiller. My reasons for doing this are:
- To let the bag drain
- I don’t want to waste time cooling off a large mass of heat I’m just going to pull anyway
I don’t have any non-convenience reasons for doing it this way. It saves time is the big appeal of pulling it right away.
Paul
Consistent with hops free floating when added, then filtered by whole hops, I don’t pull the bag until all wort is in the fermenter.
I leave the hop bag(s) in the kettle until cleanup time. Whether you do or not, be consistent in your process.
I know that this won’t totally answer your question because we use different methods of chilling the wort.
To me it depends on whether I am using just pellets or a combination of pellets and whole cones. If I am just using pellets, I use a hop bag so I can minimize the possibility of clogging my inline screen and plate chiller and pull the bag at flame-out. Since I use a false bottom in the kettle and draw wort to be chilled from the center of the kettle, I can’t whirlpool. Someday I will get off my lazy ass and change the pickup in the kettle so I can whirlpool and eliminate the bag. I will then leave the pellets in the kettle until all the wort is drawn off. Plus, this way I can drain some of the wort out of the hop bag before cooling.
If I am using both cones and pellets, I just leave them in. the kettle because the cones will act as a filter bed for the pellet residue (as mentioned by ynotbrusum). Remember leaving hops in the kettle will increase the bitterness a bit but it should not be that noticeable to most beer drinkers. If you are a purist, you may want to compensate for the extra bitterness you will get by leaving the hops in the kettle a bit longer during the chilling process (brewing software will show you how much extra bitterness you will get with this method, or you can calculate it manually), but I just tend to ignore the difference.
Here is another thought. To make it easier to whirlpool, you might want to pull the immersion chiller out of the kettle, whirlpool and stick it back in, or put the immersion chiller in the kettle immediately after whirlpooling. The wort will still be hot enough to kill any nasties that might cling to the chiller.
I don’t use a bag, so the hops stay in the whole time. Depending on when you add the hops, you may or may not get more out of them.
I just toss my hops into the kettle without a bag.
The time you add the hops is what matters. Early addition hops won’t give you much aroma, mainly bitterness. Late addition hops extract aroma and less bitterness. During the boil, you lose a lot of the aromatic and flavorful oils though evaporation.
Isomerization (extracting bitterness from hops) happens at high temperatures like in the boil. So by removing hops after the boil, you’ll halt most of the isomerization process. One of the main reasons of why you want to chill quickly is to stop isomerization (as well as being able to pitch the yeast quickly).
BUT!
The hop oils tend to isomerize at temps above 180f. So, you could end up with more bitterness that you want if you take a long time to chill your wort.
When I add my whirlpool addition, I like to get my wort around 170f to 165f - I may extract a few IBUs but it’s negligible.
some people (or many, or all?) may have non-DIY or less DIY systems. one big thing i’ve learned about homebrewing is that in the end you have to understand your system and how it works in reality vs. theory/on the computer.
since using a hopspider, i find whatever hops i put in the hopspider, especially if its a large volume, i get a reduction in IBUs i perceive from them varying from about 7 to 15.
I just kind of adjust based on my perception of that.
^^^^ Very well said. ^^^^
I also use muslin bags in my process to protect my Plate Cooler. So, I pull the bags before pumping through the cooler and into the fermenter. I consider any hop addition(s) complete when I’m ready to start pumping, whenever that may be.
To compensate for any loss of perceived bitterness or flavor, I reduced the Hop Utilization setting in my BeerSmith software.
I also have been using muslin bags or a tea infuser. Now that I have grown my own hops I am thinking about just tossing in the whole hops. BTW, I am new to this site but long time home brewer.
Welcome!
Thanks.
I usually pull my hop spider, which I use for the bittering charge, but leave late additions in. I whirlpool whether or not the recipe calls for a whirlpool addition in order to increase the circulation of wort through the IC coils (I use a Hydra). My 5 gal batches cool in around 5 minutes (cold well water).
How cool is this. My first post that was deemed worthy to become a sticky. Awesome!!!