Hop Stand

[redrocker652002]

Greetings to all, in my attempt to try something new, I am going to work a hop stand into my next brew. Having never done this before, I am curious about a few things. I use a hop bag for all my hops during the boil, as I am boiling on a propane burner with a 10 gallon kettle. I don't use a false bottom, although I have one and might give it a go this time because most every brew there has been crud at the bottom of the kettle to where I have had to sanitize my hand and run my hand up and down my bazooka screen to get the wort out. I am hoping maybe using a false bottom might help with this. But I digress, my question is really more about the Hop stand. I have extra hop bags and was thinking of using a different bag for this. My thought, as suggested by somebody here, was to cool the wort to about 175 and then stop the chiller, add the hops and steep for about 10 to 15 mins and then start the chiller again Also, with my kettle hops I just leave the bag in until I drain into my fermenter, is that the same with the hop stand hops?

Also, getting back to the false bottom, I use a BIAB setup and I don't know why I am getting so much crud in the bottom of the kettle. I have been toying with the idea of pulling the screen and using a fine mesh "collander" type screen over my fermenter bucket and trying to see how much that will catch. Any thoughts there? I have read that using a false bottom may affect efficiency so I am not sure I want to do that as I am doing pretty well in that aspect of the brewing.

Sorry for the long post, but I had my coffee this morning and I am feeling good. LOL

Also, in the effort of full disclosure, I posted this to another beer forum in the hopes of getting other opinions and input.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

For a hop stand, I often do what was suggested. I chill to around 180F, add in the hops, and give them a good stir. I often come back every 5 or 10 minutes to stir, but I don't know if that makes a difference. 20 minutes is my standard steep time. The temp usually drops about 10F over that time. I like the results I get, so I have not played with many variables (temps, duration, etc.).

I am not sure about your setup, but I often pass my wort through a kitchen strainer on the way into the fermenter. This filters out most of the hop particles.

 

[BongoYodeler]

My process is slightly different than what you're proposing @redrocker652002 , though not radically so.

General thoughts on your questions, with a "what I do" -
I also biab. I don't use a bazooka screen, I don't use a false bottom, and I almost always drop my kettle hops in commando, especially so with smaller amounts of hops. For extremely larger amounts of hot-side hops I would likely use a mesh bag, maybe two, plus maybe even my hop spider in addition to commando. The "crud" at the bottom of your kettle is likely made up of proteins and some of the hop matter that made it through the bag. Pretty much unavoidable. For a hopstand I usually stop cooling at around 175-180° and drop in the whirlpool hops and use a large 30 inch spoon to "whirlpool" around my IC or up to 20-30 minutes, and then resume cooling. Once I've gotten the wort as cool as I can with my warm ground water, I remove my IC and put the lid on the kettle. I let it sit for up to an hour to let all, or most, of the "crud" settle below the spigot line. I've recently begun using a fine mesh metal cone-shaped strainer between my spigot and my fermenter to catch some of the trub, (I know this isn't necessary, but I still do it).

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I use this mesh paint strainer on top of my fermenter during transfer. Catches a lot of the trub from the kettle.

https://a.co/d/81rtOTu

 

[redrocker652002]

I use this mesh paint strainer on top of my fermenter during transfer. Catches a lot of the trub from the kettle.

https://a.co/d/81rtOTu

Yep, that is the one I have I think. This time is plugged up so I had to rinse it out and resanitize. I have never done a hop stand and I just threw the hops in. First time and it got everything all plugged up. LOL.