Pitch with hop bag

[kelty]

I've now done 3 brews where I've put hop additions during boil into a bag and then transferred the bag into the fermenter after pitching. There must be a reason not to have a hop bag in there during fermentation but they've come out great. Cloudy but great taste. Why can't I find a reason not to do this on the internet? Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[jMac]

Cloudy

For many home brewers this might be reason in itself.

It’s long been received wisdom to try and transfer as little of your boil trub to the fv for fermentation (and for all intents and purposes that’s what your hops are, albeit they’re in a bag). However, I think Brülosophy have done an exBEERiment that would suggest it doesn’t make a great deal of difference (at the home brew level at least) to the taste of your beer. Clarity may be a different issue - and the more non-wort particles you have in your beer at transfer to primary the more stuff will need to drop out. Plus, all that trub will take up space in your fermenter, which may or may not be an issue for you.

But those hops really aren’t doing anything useful post boil. Feel free to leave them in if you’re happy with how your beer is turning out, but there’s probably no benefit to leaving them there, and possibly a clarity improvement to taking them out.
x

 

[kelty]

Many thanks for taking the time to so clearly! explain. You're right in that I had an overflow the first time as not enough headroom but been more careful since. Sounds like I need to do some blind testing but pretty sure I had bigger hop flavours. Keeping the hops in a bag to transfer to FV and in a bag for dry hopping makes it no cloudier than say kneck oil. I guess I was also wondering about wether the chemistry of the fermentation can be affected by this approach.

Again many thanks and x

 

[jMac]

bigger hop flavours

I think perceived wisdom would suggest leaving hops for prolonged time in the fermenter would lead to more vegetal/grassy flavours. You might like these flavours.

Btw, here’s the link to the Brülosophy exBEERiment relating to the transfer of trub to primary:

http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/

Interestingly, the conclusion was the beer with all the trub had ‘more noticeable hop aroma and a perceptibly enjoyable crispness’.

x

 

[ACBEV]

It’s long been received wisdom to try and transfer as little of your boil trub to the fv for fermentation

I don't like to come over as rude... But! Me for one don't beleive that b*llsh*t...

I've always tipped everything from the boiler to the FV (including loose hops) without any negative effects, flavour, clarity or otherwise.

The two things that is essential for me are:to boil for at least 90 minutes and use protafloc near the end of the boil.

My beer is always super clear before I bottle... Generally I use yeast with high flocculation and some patience.

 

[jMac]

I don't like to come over as rude... But! Me for one don't beleive that b*llsh*t...

I've always tipped everything from the boiler to the FV (including loose hops) without any negative effects, flavour, clarity or otherwise.

The two things that is essential for me are:to boil for at least 90 minutes and use protafloc near the end of the boil.

My beer is always super clear before I bottle... Generally I use yeast with high flocculation and some patience.

Hey, no worries, you’re not being rude.

I don’t really have a horse in this race. I’m not particularly fussed myself about how much kettle trub gets into primary when I brew - I have a hop filter behind the tap of my kettle, but that’s about as far as I can be arsed. I’m happy to tip the kettle so as much valuable wort as possible ends up in the fv.

Was just trying to point out what the perceived wisdom (you can put that “wisdom” in air quotes if you like) seems to be, as is often trotted out on forums and brewing blogs. I think it’s very important to question these assumptions (and I did point out the Brülosophy link which supports the idea that transferring trub isn’t a big deal).

We’re all trying to make beer that we like. Everyone will have different processes to achieve that. And that’s... good.

x

 

[kelty]

That's really helpful guys. I was only concerned that there may be a disbebefit that I've overlooked and it sounds like I'm ok. The exBEERiments are great! Using a hop bag makes it easier to get it all into FV as pouring everything from machine is bit tricky. Many thanks! X