Impact of Hopping in a Stainless Mesh Filter during boiling

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EddyB

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As a fan of hoppy beers, I tend to brew more recipes with rather large amounts of hops- and I don’t want to miss some taste due to the wrong method!

I wonder if there are some experiences about possible losses using stainless steel mesh filters instead of adding hops directly into the kettle. Brewing 5 gallons in a Speidel Brewmaster I either use a center mesh filter or one attached to the side wall.

The Brülosophy team has made a trial with two types of dry hopping (direct and mesh) in 2019-as a result, they found no difference in taste. I suppose that this could be an effect of the long duration of dry hopping. There is enough time for the hops to get in contact with liquid either way. The time of contact during the boil is much shorter but of course more intensive due to the temperature.

I wonder if anyone has tested out the effect of hop addition both ways. Should there be a difference- is there any kind of rule of thumbs like a certain addition of hops to the recipe if using a filter or what’s the maximum hop quantity per filter…

Thank You
 
Any loss will be nominal as long as wort is circulating through the mesh at a reasonable rate. The mesh will clog over time, so make sure to keep it clean,
 
I almost always use a hop spider and just add a bit more hops to account for any reduced isomerization. The thing about hops however is that what is just enough, too much or not enough bittering differs from person to person. Your best bet is just make a lot of beer, take a lot of notes, and find your own sweet spot.
 
Thanks for your replies. You are right about clogging, Bob - one of my hop spiders needs the high-pressure cleaner by now!

I also used hop spiders all along, Kevin- just recently I brewed a beer which needed 40 Ounces of hops in about 5 Gallons during Whirlpool at 176 Fahrenheit for 20” minutes and some people say that in such a case the hop spider should be avoided- which I did but regretted it during the transfer!

An addition of 10% is commonly recommended for the use of a hop spider but this seems a bit too much to me. Around 5% should do the job.
 
When I need to use a very large amount of hops I use a bag.
 
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