Dry Hop Filters

[Thagomizer]

Why are we using Dry Hop Filters?  I have brewed several BrewPrints using the filter and found nothing trapped in the screen.  The screen seems very coarse for the pulverized dry hops provided in the BrewPrints. 

I appreciate the effort of the BrewArt organization to remove the dregs of these leftover hops, but the screen is too coarse to be effective.  I have no problems with the resulting brews; the minimal hop dregs apparently subside well with cold crashing.

Like masks for COVID, the coarse screen is like using a chain-link fence to exclude mosquitos.

[Captain 3 Droids]

21 minutes ago, Thagomizer said:

Why are we using Dry Hop Filters?  I have brewed several BrewPrints using the filter and found nothing trapped in the screen.  The screen seems very coarse for the pulverized dry hops provided in the BrewPrints. 

I appreciate the effort of the BrewArt organization to remove the dregs of these leftover hops, but the screen is too coarse to be effective.  I have no problems with the resulting brews; the minimal hop dregs apparently subside well with cold crashing.

Like masks for COVID, the coarse screen is like using a chain-link fence to exclude mosquitos.

Will refer you over here

https://community.brewart.com/topic/840-brewdroid-to-stainless-keg-american-pale-ale/

 

[Dustin Frothman]

3 hours ago, Thagomizer said:

Why are we using Dry Hop Filters?  I have brewed several BrewPrints using the filter and found nothing trapped in the screen.  The screen seems very coarse for the pulverized dry hops provided in the BrewPrints. 

I appreciate the effort of the BrewArt organization to remove the dregs of these leftover hops, but the screen is too coarse to be effective.  I have no problems with the resulting brews; the minimal hop dregs apparently subside well with cold crashing.

Like masks for COVID, the coarse screen is like using a chain-link fence to exclude mosquitos.

I agree that the supplied filter is too coarse.

I swapped mine out for the filters made by Bouncer and get great results.

[Thagomizer]

Thanks to Dustin Frothman for the tip on Bouncer filter screens.  I've ordered a pair of them.  I prefer an effective filter to a hop bomb.

With reflection on my last trip to Alaska, a chain-link fence for mosquitoes may not be such a bad idea. 🙂

[Gillies Brewing]

I've found watching my dry hop filter at work that I was also surprised it didn't seem to catch much debris since not much remained in the filter, but watching closely I could see a lot of hop matter getting to the filter, then backflowing into the droid and getting caught on the trub as the level got low. As some ss keggers have noticed, it does seem to let a bit more fine stuff through than ideal, but for bottling it's sufficient. This size filter doesn't really prevent much yeast/sediment from getting in though if that's your goal, and it sounds like the blue bouncer would be the way to go for that purpose.

[Thagomizer]

This was very informative. I appreciate the details of your observations.  I agree that bottling is not compromised by the minimal filtering.  I have only recently resumed kegging: but I want the best quality going into my kegs.  Therefore, I will seek the better filtering methods suggested.

[Thagomizer]

My Bouncer filters arrived yesterday; and I just added the dry hops to my Golden Days of Summer Ale.  I know.  It's winter here in Texas, but this seems to be a year-round drink.  I hope to be kegging/bottling it this weekend.

Thanks to all for the info and suggestions.

[Captain 3 Droids]

1 minute ago, Thagomizer said:

My Bouncer filters arrived yesterday; and I just added the dry hops to my Golden Days of Summer Ale.  I know.  It's winter here in Texas, but this seems to be a year-round drink.  I hope to be kegging/bottling it this weekend.

Thanks to all for the info and suggestions.

Your right the Golden Days is an all round the year drinker, come to think of it they all are😂

[Thagomizer]

Just kegged 5 liters of the Golden Days of Summer Ale and bottled the rest.  The new filter pulled out some of the debris from hops.  It is still a little cloudy, but the taste is good.  In three weeks, I will know.

[Captain 3 Droids]

1 minute ago, Thagomizer said:

Just kegged 5 liters of the Golden Days of Summer Ale and bottled the rest.  The new filter pulled out some of the debris from hops.  It is still a little cloudy, but the taste is good.  In three weeks, I will know.

In three weeks plus sediment will have settled to the bottom of the keg and bottles, should be great.

[Thagomizer]

I just sampled the Golden Days from the keg.  It had a beautiful golden, clear appearance and had an excellent taste.  It will be on my repeat list.

[Maverick33]

@Captain 3 Droids  @Thagomizer Hey guys, I am getting a brewdroid for Xmas and have a full kegerator setup. I want to be prepared when the time comes. Did you use bouncer screens to put inside the BrewArt dry hop adapter or did you ditch the BrewArt adapter and use the full Bouncer assembly?

 

Can’t wait to start brewing again and interacting with you all on the forums!

 

Cheers!

[Captain 3 Droids]

1 hour ago, Geno Thompson said:

@Captain 3 Droids  @Thagomizer Hey guys, I am getting a brewdroid for Xmas and have a full kegerator setup. I want to be prepared when the time comes. Did you use bouncer screens to put inside the BrewArt dry hop adapter or did you ditch the BrewArt adapter and use the full Bouncer assembly?

 

Can’t wait to start brewing again and interacting with you all on the forums!

 

Cheers!

Welcome Geno, your going to love your first BrewArt beer. What are you brewing?

I don’t use the dry hop program nor just drop the hops in. I use a hop bag however there a a few here alternating bouncer screens.

[Maverick33]

Oh gotcha. I ordered the Tea Part Lager, Belgian Lager, American Pale Ale, Cooper’s Old Stout and GOAT Amber Ale. Probably going to start with one of the lagers.

 

I am looking into all-in-one all grain systems that can do 2.5-5 gallon batches. Until I decide on one, I’ll stick with the brewprints.

[Thagomizer]

Geno,

Welcome to the forum.

For filtering out the dry hops, I recommend the Bouncer filter with the full assembly as illustrated in the BrewArt video.  The filter cylinder sent by BrewArt (orange) is too coarse in my opinion, so I use the white filter.  Since most of us are using pelletized hops, the debris is very fine.  I found that the orange cylinder did not intercept very much of the debris.  The droid will cold crash for a few days at the end if dry hopping is set, so that will help settle the hops and other debris to the bottom. 

On dry hopping, the droid will automatically set the "dry hopping" option if your BrewPrint is programmed for dry hopping.  Otherwise, you would need to use the custom setting to invoke dry hopping.  The BrewArt videos explain this well.

Other dry hop filtering options are:

• Use a "hop bomb," a stainless-steel mesh cylinder to contain your hops.
• Use a muslin bag to hold your hops.  @Captain 3 Droids weighs down the muslin bag with a few stainless-steel ball bearings so it won't float.

All of these methods work, but I prefer the free-floating hops and use the Bouncer filtering system.

Happy brewing.  😀

[Maverick33]

@Thagomizer @Captain 3 Droids  Thanks guys! I’ll keep you updated on how my first brew turns out 🍻

[Anthony Dalton]

Hey Thagomizer, 

I have always used the stainless steel hop balls in the droid. I reckon for my first couple of brews I ustilised the hop filter, then woke up to it being superfluous. No debris from the hops ever escaped the fine mesh of the hop balls.

cheers!

Anthony

[Thagomizer]

21 hours ago, Anthony Dalton said:

Hey Thagomizer, 

I have always used the stainless steel hop balls in the droid. I reckon for my first couple of brews I ustilised the hop filter, then woke up to it being superfluous. No debris from the hops ever escaped the fine mesh of the hop balls.

cheers!

Anthony

Hi Anthony,

I ordered finer Bouncer filter screens than the orange one provided by BrewArt.  I use the white 178 micron / 80-mesh cylinder screen designed for the Classic Bouncer Inline Filter.  It fits the BrewArt dry hop filter and traps the few hop dregs remaining after cold crashing which settles most of the dregs to the bottom, anyway.

As you have noted, the stainless-steel hop bomb also screens very well.  I have three of them, myself.  In fact, they seem to be about the same grade of mesh as the white Bouncer filter.  I think I get more out of my hops if they are freely drifting until I strain them out at kegging.  I will admit that the inline filtering at kegging is a bit more tedious than just retrieving a hop bomb.

By whatever method, dry hopping is here to stay.

Happy brewing.  😀

[Eltham Brauhaus]

On 06/12/2022 at 12:42 PM, Anthony Dalton said:

Hey Thagomizer, 

I have always used the stainless steel hop balls in the droid. I reckon for my first couple of brews I ustilised the hop filter, then woke up to it being superfluous. No debris from the hops ever escaped the fine mesh of the hop balls.

cheers!

Anthony

I agree. My hop filter always leaked but never had any issues with the hop balls so kept with them, much simpler and in my opinion there is no discernible difference to the end product.

[Thagomizer]

Anthony,

Yes.  I agree.  Very little difference.  Whatever works to your satisfaction, is the right method.

Happy brewing.  😀

[Thagomizer]

On 16/12/2022 at 4:35 AM, Eltham Brewing House said:

I agree. My hop filter always leaked but never had any issues with the hop balls so kept with them, much simpler and in my opinion there is no discernible difference to the end product.

Oops.  I just remembered that I did have a leak the first time I used the dry hop filter.  I found that you have to push the tube firmly into the receptable.  There is an apparent "stop" but you need to shove it another few centimeters more.  Several people had this problem.

This is just to clarify the issue.  Our preferences are what matters.  I hope you enjoy your brews as much as I do mine. 

Happy brewing and pleasant holidays. 😀

[Eltham Brauhaus]

10 hours ago, Thagomizer said:

Oops.  I just remembered that I did have a leak the first time I used the dry hop filter.  I found that you have to push the tube firmly into the receptable.  There is an apparent "stop" but you need to shove it another few centimeters more.  Several people had this problem.

This is just to clarify the issue.  Our preferences are what matters.  I hope you enjoy your brews as much as I do mine. 

Happy brewing and pleasant holidays. 😀

I totally agree, its matter of preference and I do indeed enjoy the brews. I have gone through the whole range and have rated each out of 10. 20 of the brews have been rated 8 to 10 out of 10 and so now I just cycle through them. Most are Lagers and IPA's. Life is to short to be consuming inferior brews.

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Eltham Brewing House

[Thagomizer]

Coming back to an old topic, I have to agree with @Anthony Dalton and @Eltham Brauhaus about dry-hop filtering methods. I was an advocate of the freely drifting distribution by diffusion of dry hops and then filtering them out at bottling/kegging time.  For small doses (25g) of dry hops, the filter seemed to work - or not.  The orange filter caught nothing and the white filter was not much better, i.e., very little debris was trapped in the filter.  Then I met my Waterloo when I used a massive (75g) dry hop infusion to a brew.  Even the coarse orange filter clogged immediately.  It was a tedious process to get that batch bottled/kegged - and the results were underwhelming.

The lesson here seems to be that any advantage of free-drifting exposure of the hops is outweighed by the difficulty of filtering them out.  For the last several months, my dry-hopping methods have relied on my collection of fine-mesh cylindrical hop bombs.  They effectively trap the hop's dregs.

Happy brewing. 😀

[Rob Courtney]

I've found the dry hop filters adequate ( I ordered replacement ones on the suggestion of @Dustin Frothman) which work fine. I was always keen on using the hop balls but where i live seems to make it hard to put my hands on them when I want them as I could only get small versions and I'd end up throwing three in at once.

I think the only issue is every now and then when bottling, you'd get a blockage in the tap where there is a build up of hops stopping the beer getting through

[Steve Gyldenvand]

I admittedly don't have much experience with dry hopping, but for what it's worth, this is the hop bomb I've been using, and it does a great job. I ordered it from Amazon here in the U.S. for $11.99.