Hop Boiling

[Dale]

Hey Guys,

Just a question on boiling my hops is there any advantage/disadvantage in boiling hops directly into the brew kettle over having the hops in a muslin bag? I've been using a muslin bag as easy to get ride of all the leftover's from the pellets. If boil direct what do you guys use toe get rid of the crap at the end?

Thanks again.

[James P]

How did you store it between the first and second brew? i.e. was it sanitary?

[MrC]

With a small amount of yeast like that you would definately need a starter.

When I start out with a small amount like that I build it up 2 or 3 times. I start with approx 500ml and let it "finish" then decant the clearish liquid and add another 500ml, and repeat untill there is a good layer of yeast on the bottom of the vessel (approx 1cm).

How much of that white sludge was there?

For yeast to grow they need oxygen. I don't use an airlock for starters beacuase I want the oxygen to get in and I shake it regularly (I don't have a stir plate).

What would I do from here?
leave it alone for now but if it hasn't started showing signs of fermentation after 36 hours I would pitch more yeast and give it a good shake.

[Dale]

I store the yeast in a little glass container I got from the chemist. Left it in boiling water then put metabisulphite in as didn't have starsan at that stage. Left in fridge till 3 days before brewing then made my starter. 3 cups water 2 tblsp a malt from lager kit i had a a couple of hop pellets then boiled for 15mins. Put into 5litre glass jar.

2 days later by time i pitched would have had 4mm of white sludge.

Thanks for all your help guys i'll wait and see what happens tomorrow

[James P]

My only bit of advise would be to sanitise with metabisulphate then rinse with boiling water then seal and allow to cool, then add yeast etc.

Alternatively if the vials are autoclavable / microwavable get yourself a baby bottle steriliser and go nuts. (5 mins in there and all sterilised!).

[Dale]

Well thanks for the advice guys did a gravity on it and yes it did start bit slower than what I had expected but away now. When I did pour off a bit of sample a lot of hops came out so the sieve must have only taken 1/2 out from the kettle so looks like i'll do a rack off into another fermenter for a week before putting into my keg.

Is that the norm?

[MrC]

Sounds like you need a finer meshed sieve, I don't get much (if any) hops into the fermenter.

I usually don't secondary, just two weeks in primary then straight to bottle/keg.