National Homebrew Club Ireland

Brewing Discussions => Hops Board => Topic started by: fishjam45 (Colin) on January 07, 2014, 10:15:38 PM

Title: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: fishjam45 (Colin) on January 07, 2014, 10:15:38 PM
Evenin all, I'm going to brew a Coopers IPA kit soon. I was advised by LordEoin to "dry hop the hell out of it" so I looked into dry hopping. I stumbled across these little badboys as I was doing some research - http://www.homebrewwest.ie/better-brew-finishing-hop-pellet-teabags-207-c.asp (http://www.homebrewwest.ie/better-brew-finishing-hop-pellet-teabags-207-c.asp)

Has anybody any experience of using them?
If so, please share  ;)
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: Ciderhead on January 07, 2014, 10:23:53 PM
I used them to lose my dry hop cherry, only real issue not fresh.
LE has a great little wiki on DHing. Muslin bag, marbles and free hops from your local club members, what would you like?
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: Garry on January 07, 2014, 10:30:44 PM
They are very handy but they are too small. You'd want to be adding 3 or 4 of them to "dry hop the hell out of it".

You'd have a 100g bag of hops and a muslin bag bought for less.
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: Ciderhead on January 07, 2014, 10:34:03 PM
100g Garry ??? FO :P
FJ Garry is gonna donate 50g
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: irish_goat on January 07, 2014, 10:34:16 PM
And the varieties aren't the best. The Homebrew Company have a pretty decent selection, get yourself a good US or Australian/NZ hop e.g. Cascade, Amarillo, Centennial. A bit of googling will let you know what each hop is like.

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/hops-pellet-hops-c-77_99.html
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: Ciderhead on January 07, 2014, 10:36:19 PM
Or come to the meet in Hollands in a couple of weeks and taste for yourself!
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: LordEoin on January 07, 2014, 10:42:29 PM
Yup, I agree.
I think this is the page CH means: http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2732.0.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2732.0.html)

Those teabags are great for ease of use, but they're tiny, expensive and barely noticeable in the end beer.
Try get your hands on some cascade, motueka, bramling cross, willamette, or something similar and bang in about 40-80 grams ;)

You can also get good results in doing a hop steep.
Basically just put your hops in a bowl or saucepan, pour a liter of water in off the boil, leave it for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.
Strain the juice into your FV, leaving the hop matter behind.
It's very easy with hop cones (flowers) but can be a little fiddly with pellets as they break up in to mush.
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: fishjam45 (Colin) on January 09, 2014, 08:27:33 PM
cheers for the replys guys!!!
As i was reading this page  http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2732.0.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2732.0.html) a few thoughts/questions crossed my mind . . .

When Hop Steeping at what point exactly do you add in the Steeped Liquid to the FV?
Is Dry Hopping advisable over Hop Steeping or vice versa?
As I'm doing an IPA Kit, does it usually make a difference if I Dry Hop or Hop Steep?



Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: LordEoin on January 09, 2014, 09:00:47 PM
A hop steep is generally done on day 1 when putting all of the stuff in your FV.
It's an simple one-stop solution. convenient and easy. extra bang for your buck.
You could leave it until fermentation has slowed, but you have to open the FV and add something foreign then, so more chance of infection.
If some hop matter makes it into the FV, don't worry. it'll settle with the trub.

You could equally dryhop on day 1 too. Some say it'll wash a lot of the aroma out but in such small batches and in a bag I don't notice any difference.
Let's just say that it's good practice to wait until the bulk of fermentation is completed to dryhop.
But I'm a firm believer in doing whatever's the most convenient and safest and i've been known to repeatedly just dump leftover hops into the fv loose before pitching the yeast, then leatting it do its thing.

I'd go for the dryhop, however you choose to do it.
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: fishjam45 (Colin) on January 09, 2014, 09:16:57 PM
cheers for that so LordEoin, I'll go with that you say and DryHop. 
Now to choose my hops  :) :) :) spoilt for choice according to http://byo.com/resources/hops (http://byo.com/resources/hops) . . . pity homebrewest have feck all in stock!!!
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: LordEoin on January 09, 2014, 10:30:29 PM
They're doing stocktake at the moment, so maybe they're just not posted on the site yet.
From what's there I'd probably go for 40-50 grams cascade (http://www.homebrewwest.ie/hop-pellets-cascade-100-grams-2079-p.asp)
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: fishjam45 (Colin) on January 09, 2014, 10:33:13 PM
Thanks LordEoin, they should have their site updated over the weekend.
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: Ciderhead on January 10, 2014, 06:24:38 PM
In stock in Wicklow


Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: fishjam45 (Colin) on January 10, 2014, 08:42:46 PM
Where in Wicklow?
Title: Re: Hop Pellet Teabags?
Post by: Ciderhead on January 10, 2014, 08:51:44 PM
Ashford ;) pm me.