Dry hopping equipment

[Cheshire Cat]

I put hops in a weighted muslin bag.

 

[Agentgonzo]

A sanitised teaspoon is apparently ideal for weighting down hop bags

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Spoons are not heavy enough I use the weight off an old pressure cooker.

 

[Nicks90]

If you want to add hops and don't want them loose, I can highly recommend the washing machine bags you can buy for washing bra's etc.
They are very fine so the hop debris won't escape and are designed to survive repeated use in a washing machine, so are very tough. Really easy to clean as well, turn them inside out and rinse under the tap.
Some even have little rings or tags you can attach alone to for easy extraction.
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/slibb-...pW9Pt_jUNrV3hidrbvwaAgDEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[hoppyscotty]

I’ve converted my kegs to floating dip tubes so I can use them free. I usually give the keg a swirl during the dry hop period thren a reall good cold crash at 1degree c for a good few days. No issues with picking up hop debris so far.

 

[periolus]

I have bought a couple of those washing machine bags from IKEA for £2. I’ll let you know how I get on with them

 

[MrJay83]

Muslin bag and a couple of marbles.
When I get FZ all rounder I'm hoping to do the same but with the help of a couple of sous vide magnets.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Make sure you don’t lose your marbles.

 

[The Baron]

Supermarket fruit and veg bags with SS dessert spoons as they are heavier than teaspoons, I use 2 or 3 depending on how big the dry hop is

 

[MrJay83]

Make sure you don’t lose your marbles.

I'd love to It's not nice cleaning out that muslin bag.
Only £1/1.50 in Savers for about 50 of them.

 

[Bzee]

I put pellets loose into fv, stir in the floating hops everyday till they sink ...mindful of oxidation. Then put sterile hop spider into fv. Then siphon tube inside hop spider. Can handle very high levels of dry hopping.

 

[Python15]

This is a bit of a n00b question but if using a muslin bag for dry hopping, how does one go about sterilising the bag? You wouldn't put it in the FV soaked in sterilising solution surely?

 

[hoppyscotty]

I would boil for a good 5 mins or so then soaking in starsan until needed.

I would use a plastic mesh bag as I don't like the idea of any cloth type of material being used as it absorbs contaminants so harder to completely sterilise. the veg mesh bags you get from Aldi and other supermarkets tend to be plastic mesh rather than a material.

Personally I much prefer stainless steel strainer type of hop tubes but they might not be suitable in every situation.

 

[Python15]

Thanks very much for the swift reply! I will take all your comments into genuine consideration when the time comes. Thanks again.

 

[The Baron]

I put mine in starsan and wring it with starsan clean hands before use to minimise the starsan even though it is safe

 

[Python15]

Thank you for your reply. I should have mentioned earlier that these are pelleted hops I'm using. Is a muslin bag best or are the plastic nets suitable from Asda, Lidl etc. for these hops. I'm sorry about all the daft questions but I'm new at this dry hopping malarky.

 

[Buffers brewery]

This is a bit of a n00b question but if using a muslin bag for dry hopping, how does one go about sterilising the bag? You wouldn't put it in the FV soaked in sterilising solution surely?

When I used bags I gave them a good wash in detergent and really hot water followed by a good rinse in clean cold water. After wringing out a quick soak in chemsan immediately before use with hops. Yes, used them still wet with chemsan.
Don't use bags with dry hop any more. I use loose pellets as they seam to settle easily during cold crash.

 

[Python15]

Thanks very much for all the sound advice you've all given me.