[cheba420]

"Bag taste"?  Nobody has ever told me my dry hopped beers tasted "baggy"! 

Its probably all in my head. I may have just let the dry hops go for too long in the past and got vegetal flavors. Either way, I've stopped using them and my beer is turning out better.

[denny]

If you want to find out for sure, split the next batch you're going to dry hop.  Use a bag for one half and put the hops in loose for the other.  Then do a blind triangle test.  Have someone else pour 2 samples of one beer and one of the other.  Try and pick out the one that's different, then try to identify which one it is.  You may be surprised.

[cheba420]

If you want to find out for sure, split the next batch you're going to dry hop.  Use a bag for one half and put the hops in loose for the other.  Then do a blind triangle test.  Have someone else pour 2 samples of one beer and one of the other.  Try and pick out the one that's different, then try to identify which one it is.  You may be surprised.

Good call, Denny. I've never split a batch nor have I gone about testing quality like that before. Sounds like a great way to identify the issue.

[tubercle]

"Bag taste"?  Nobody has ever told me my dry hopped beers tasted "baggy"! 

 Tubercle usually boils the bags before use. You know a taste test of the water is going to happen next time I now use paint strainer bags, hopefully the taste will be neutral so I can get some sleep between the black helicopters.

I use disposable muslin bags.  I pout them in a bowl of water in the miocrowave for a couple minutes to sanitize them.  Why taste the water?  That's not going into your beer...I hope!  And any flavor on the water no longer remains in the bag, anyway.  Bottom line is that I've dry hopped both with and without a bag and found no difference in taste.

  Got some muslin bags also. Why taste the water? Because its there...just got to know.