[ultravista]

I use a 200 micron bag from Duda Diesel. Nothing worth worrying about gets through the 200 micron bag. I tried the paint strainers - too course. These "bags" are filters for bio-fuel processing. They are industrial strength and will last a lifetime. I bought 5 and still using the first 1 after three years.

[Stevie]

I have wanted a hop spider from stainless brewing for a while now. I can't decide if the rigid bottom is worth the additional cost. Only benefit I see is the ability for it to rest directly on the bottom of a shorter kettle.

[bigmoneymark]

LAWLS!  Yeah you're probably right.  Well the material should be the decider.. need to find out what it is..

[thatgeekguy]

I use a homemade hop spider with a reuseable skinny nylon bag from the LHBS, and drain my wort into the fermenter through a Duda Diesel bucket filter. Keeps most all the trub and hop crap out of the fermenter.

   

[blatz]

I have wanted a hop spider from stainless brewing for a while now. I can't decide if the rigid bottom is worth the additional cost. Only benefit I see is the ability for it to rest directly on the bottom of a shorter kettle.

i have 2 of them if you want to buy one - I have the small and bigger micron screens. 

I was not very happy with them - hot break and hop sludge tended to clog the 'pores' of the screen causing limited, if any, osmosis (i believe that's the correct term) between the wort outside and inside the basket.  it was so great that at the end of the boil, I could literally lift the basket out of the kettle, completely FULL of liquid and hops - only a small trickle would be draining off the sides. 

additionally, granted I boil with electric, the wort inside the basket was averaging 209-210df during the boil.

I've since decided that this apparatus, while a cool idea, is not for my system.

[kgs]

I flipped the coupler upside down so the neck keeps the bag "poofed" out during the boil. I think it does have a little impact on hoppiness, though with small-batch brewing the answer is... throw in more hops.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kgs/sets/72157630594736916/ (That's not me about to fire up my burner on the office carpet... it's just where I stored my burner and kettle until I got a nice big shelving unit.)

[HoosierBrew]

I actually took my hop spider apart and use just the 5 gallon paint strainer bag.  I feel that the coupler tube actually shrinks the usable section of the bag and therefore compresses the pellets closer together. So to minimize possible utilization losses( I notice none this way), I use small plastic clamps to attach the bag to my kettle, opening the clips to add each hop addition, and then re-clip. Especially for IPA and IIPAs this is my go-to method. Traps nearly all of the hop sludge.

[Three]

I have wanted a hop spider from stainless brewing for a while now. I can't decide if the rigid bottom is worth the additional cost. Only benefit I see is the ability for it to rest directly on the bottom of a shorter kettle.

i have 2 of them if you want to buy one - I have the small and bigger micron screens. 

I was not very happy with them - hot break and hop sludge tended to clog the 'pores' of the screen causing limited, if any, osmosis (i believe that's the correct term) between the wort outside and inside the basket.  it was so great that at the end of the boil, I could literally lift the basket out of the kettle, completely FULL of liquid and hops - only a small trickle would be draining off the sides. 

additionally, granted I boil with electric, the wort inside the basket was averaging 209-210df during the boil.

I've since decided that this apparatus, while a cool idea, is not for my system.

What is your method now?

I have gone back and forth on this many times.  My last brew I tried recirculating back through a straining bag after I cooled.  It didn't work anywhere near as well as a hop spider.  Not even close.  But I thought I would test out how much getting out the goo matters.  So I have 5 gallons of pretty clean wort in a carboy and 5 gallons with quite a bit bit of hop gunk/break in another.  I will do a taste test soon.

My gut feeling is that it would be better to get rid of the "most of" the goo.....

I flipped the coupler upside down so the neck keeps the bag "poofed" out during the boil. I think it does have a little impact on hoppiness, though with small-batch brewing the answer is... throw in more hops.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kgs/sets/72157630594736916/ (That's not me about to fire up my burner on the office carpet... it's just where I stored my burner and kettle until I got a nice big shelving unit.)

I'll have to give this a try......

I actually took my hop spider apart and use just the 5 gallon paint strainer bag.  I feel that the coupler tube actually shrinks the usable section of the bag, and so to minimize possible utilization losses( I notice none this way), I use small plastic clamps to attach the bag to my kettle, opening the clips to add each hop addition, and then re-clip. Especially for IPA and IIPAs this is my go-to method. Traps nearly all of the hop sludge.

I will try this on a brew as well....

[blatz]

What is your method now?

Three - I currently am going back and forth on two methods/equipment:

1). Commando - no screen or other filter, just whirlpool warm for 15 min, let settle another 15 min and then begin runoff.  Then I chill and transfer to fermentor.  When yeast is at high krausen, meaning all the good guys are in suspension, I do a valve dump (conical) and probably retrieve 3-4 quarts of muck for a 12 gal batch.

2). Blichmann Hop Blocker - this tends to leave about 1 gallon of hop, break and other sludge riddled wort in the kettle.  However, on my last run, I went to do a dump at high krausen to see how much gook was in there and it only took a cup before it ran clear. 

I guess I am still undecided.  there is also a method of using a hopback as a filter, that Tasty McDole promotes and while I have a hop blocker, I'm too lazy to hook yet another apparatus up during the most hectic stage of brewing (for me anyways). 

[thatgeekguy]

I flipped the coupler upside down so the neck keeps the bag "poofed" out during the boil. I think it does have a little impact on hoppiness, though with small-batch brewing the answer is... throw in more hops.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kgs/sets/72157630594736916/ (That's not me about to fire up my burner on the office carpet... it's just where I stored my burner and kettle until I got a nice big shelving unit.)

I may try flipping the coupler over next batch. Though the bag already 'poofs' out quite large in the section that in the wort. I haven't really noticed any impact on hop utilization using the bag versus just throwing in, and it makes for a much cleaner transfer and fermentation.

[Three]

What is your method now?

Three - I currently am going back and forth on two methods/equipment:

1). Commando - no screen or other filter, just whirlpool warm for 15 min, let settle another 15 min and then begin runoff.  Then I chill and transfer to fermentor.  When yeast is at high krausen, meaning all the good guys are in suspension, I do a valve dump (conical) and probably retrieve 3-4 quarts of muck for a 12 gal batch.

2). Blichmann Hop Blocker - this tends to leave about 1 gallon of hop, break and other sludge riddled wort in the kettle.  However, on my last run, I went to do a dump at high krausen to see how much gook was in there and it only took a cup before it ran clear. 

I guess I am still undecided.  there is also a method of using a hopback as a filter, that Tasty McDole promotes and while I have a hop blocker, I'm too lazy to hook yet another apparatus up during the most hectic stage of brewing (for me anyways).

All good stuff here blatz....

1)  Without a spider I have tried draining the BK into my bottling bucket with a huge straining bag in it.  Then I drain that into a carboy.  It still let's the break through so anymore I just use the spider and let the break and whatever hops get by it into my carboy.  I don't own a conical, but I did just get a ported BB to try out the racking adapter.  So I could give that a try.  Not quite the same as that nice cone on your conical though!!!  Hmmmmmmm.  What do you think I could screw up with that?

2) I just picked one of those up to try.  I am switching over to a cf chiller so on the brews I don't whirlpool I can give that a shot.  I'll try to post what I think of it.....

Yes, Tasty does something like after his cf chiller he has the hop rocket with a bagged rice hull filter in it.  He then uses his pump to pull the wort through them.   I think ultimately this thought process will be what I end up doing.  But like you said, it's just more stuff to connect and fuss with, and clean......