Dry hop bag

[Tinlife]

Hi All,

Tinlife here!

A very basic question but one I hoped some good soul could help me with. I'm planning to add dry hops to my fermentation bucket in a few days. I've bought the hops and a few hop bags. My question is - how do people clean the bags before putting them in the bucket? I was planning to just soak them in boiling water for 10 mins and then dip in some non-rinse sanitiser. Is that ok?

 

[RGeats]

Yes that is fine, or just don't use the bags at all and chuck the hops in!

 

[Clint]

Yeah,sounds good. I used to boil the bag for a short while then soak in starsan of similar.
I don't bother with bags now I just sling em in!

 

[Tinlife]

When you just Chuck the hops in, how to you prevent then going into your bottles?

 

[The Baron]

Use one of the veg bags from the supermarket @ 25-30p then put some stainless steel dessert spoons in with the hops to weigh them down so the hops do not float.
Suspend the bag with a bit of fishing line so that they do not go to the bottom but are deep enough to be covered. The fishing line will help you to remove the bag and hops then you can cold crash to clear the beer before bottling/kegging

 

[Clint]

They'll sink eventually. It's better if you can chill the fv at the end as this really encourages everything to drop.

 

[RGeats]

If you aren't sure start with a bag, it won't be a problem. Then somewhere down the line you can change and just throw them in, up to you. Are the hops pellets or leaf? Pellets are much finer so seem to sink, especially when cold crashing. Leaf are quite a bit bigger so might be better in a bag.

 

[Tinlife]

Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated.
@RGeats I'm using hop pellets

 

[Pavalijo]

I tried an experiment using a hop bag - nylon veg bag sterilised as you say, weighted with a few teaspoons and suspended mid wort with fishing line which was secured through the bubbler bung.
Each day I lifted the bung and gently raised and lowered the bag to (I thought) get the wort sloshing through the hops.
When i retrieved the hop bag at the end I was really surprised to see how much the hop pellets had swelled into a fairly solid mass.
I don’t think that the wort could have sloshed through, and certainly the end result was less hoppy than I had anticipated.
I haven’t bothered since and just “chuck ‘em in”.
They settle and I have never had anything other than very clear beer.

If you decide to go ahead then I would suggest you use two or three bags rather than one to increase surface area contact.