Hop Bag

[evanvine]

What are the pros and cons with regard to using a hop bag?
I’ve always been lead to believe that the hops should be allowed to roll freely in the boil.
Filtering through the hop bed at the end of boil seems to hold back most of the hot break, or am I talking through my proverbial once again?

 

[prolix]

evan I am with you on that rolling and filtering.

But on occasion the hops have collected around the heating elements of my boiler and gotten rather blackened :shock:

 

[Vossy1]

I think you've covered the best pro's and cons for home brewers.

I’ve always been lead to believe that the hops should be allowed to roll freely in the boil.

That was/is the perceived norm (some complicated thought behind it too). Pellet users don't seem to have any problems though, be them bagged or otherwise. Having said that they have a larger surface area, not that that's a big consideration.

Filtering through the hop bed at the end of boil seems to hold back most of the hot break

That's another good reason for the use of hops as a filter bed. Unless you intend to filter the hot/cold break in some other way a hop bed is ideal.

 

[evanvine]

Thank you gentlemen, my mind is at rest!

 

[commsbiff]

Unless you intend to filter the hot/cold break in some other way a hop bed is ideal.

How could this be done?

 

[evanvine]

I'm easily pleased!

 

[Aleman]

Unless you intend to filter the hot/cold break in some other way a hop bed is ideal.

How could this be done?

Big commercial systems use a centrifuge . . . I guess you could do similar with a conical :whistle:

 

[tigertim]

I used a hop bag for the first time in my recent brew, purely because the temporary boiler I was using didn't have a strainer - on balance, I much prefer letting them roam freely. I think a fair amount of cold break was disturbed by the bags moving as the level dropped during draining into the fermenter.

 

[Wez]

I'm becoming a pellet fan but will always make sure I have a good amount of whole hops in for bittering too as I like having a hop bed to filter.