hop pellets vs dried hop flowers

[mcblades]

Hi:

Just completed my second all-grain mash. This was an IPA with an OG of 1050ish. I used first gold hop pellets for the boil rather than the flowers I used in the first recipe I made. What a mess. Boiled over, loads of 'hop dust' stuck all over the lid of the boiler and when it came to filtering the brew into the primary the hop filter clogged after about a gallon had gone through. I had to blow up the outlet repeatedly to clear it and the last gallon and a half was ladled out and put through a sieve.

I expect to be racking this one of the crud quite early.

On the bright side, I got 5 gallons out at 1060 so the mash worked well and it smells yummy in the primary. Knowing my luck I'll get a beer volcano and be in the doghouse again with SWMBO.

Anyone else had experience of dried pellets clogging up their filters/inducing boilovers?

regards

Mark

[Rich]

Not used pellets myself, and this doesn't really turn me onto the idea.

One question though, how did they get on the lid of your boiler? The lid should be off for the boil to get rid of the dms I thought?

[mcblades]

Hmm. I left the lid half on (until it boiled over anyway) to reduce evaporative losses. Also, until I clear out the garage I have to brew in the kitchen. It'll be indoor rain if I don't keep a lid on the boiler. I only needed to add about 1.5 litres of water to make up for the loss to the boil.

I think that DMS was more of a problem in lagers as the malts haven't been roasted. Also, rapid chilling serves to prevent the release of DMS into the wort while it's still hot but not boiling so the DMS doesn't evaporate off.

For my first brew I left the lid on. This has just dropped to 1004 and I had a taste before it went in the bottling barrel. What a contrast to the kit brews, absolutely lovely, no homebrew twang and no off flavours that I could detect. Maybe once it's sat for a month in the bottle I'll have a better idea.

Thanks for the heads up though. Have you noticed a problem with DMS before?

regards

Mark

[Rich]

No, I've not had any problem with dms, only read up on the whole process lots before starting all grain.

Why have you a problem with evaporative losses and a feel a need to top up? Is it a small boiler?

Why not sparge with more, and start you boil with a greater quantity to account for the loss?

(I'm no real expert on this btw, I learnt it all from following Koomber, and his explanations, and using beersmith, also been drinking so it may not make sense..)

[mcblades]

Well, I am using the lidl boiler. For a 5 gallon brew length I could just about fit this in the boiler with about an inch to spare. The element in this boiler is quite weedy (under 2kw) and I found on my first brew that with the lid on I got a vigorous boil but with it off it was just rolling. I thought vigorous was better so left the lid on. Also, when I added the late hops I thought any aromatics that would have boiled off might be kept in by condensing on the lid (along with the DMS I suppose ).

What I did for the 5 gallon brew was to sparge enough second runnings to get about 3 litres spare and kept this last bit separate for topping up the boil (at a gravity of 1008 this was, to quote mony pyhton, a bit like making love in a canoo..... Fxxxing close to water. But waste not want not).

Anyway, with about a litre of topping up I got 5 gals at 1060 which was 10 points over what I expected so as long as it ferments OK i shall be happy.

I have as yet failed to imbibe as I am waiting for the OH to come back from work (having a busy on call this weekend) before hot footing it to get a takeaway as I've been too busy brewing to cook anything).

However, I have a 2.5L bottle of beer with my name on it for later (german swing top bottle that I filled with beer before xmas. Can't remember what I filled it with so it will be a hopefully pleasant surprise).

cheers

MArk

[Rich]

Sounds fine Mark, I've been using a lidl boiler too, The boil isn't too bad, I've not had a boil over. But I've insulated the outside with some foil type bubble wrap from B&Q, seems to work ok.

The element is 1800w whilst it works.. my newish hlt went pop, so it now is sporting a new element (it's sent the temp gauge to pot though!)

[mcblades]

I am marking time for mine to go twang. Having seen your pimping thread, I will be after a set of instructions if and when..

Since twisting the temp controller on mine to get a good boil I haven't relied on the temperature dial. I use a thermocouple linked to a PID controller. Works really well for the mash temperature, and I used it to cook my Xmas dinner (sous vide goose).

cheers

Mark