Hop Hanger

Since I use a plate chiller, I don't want any hop material to get out of the kettle when I'm draining it. I used to use a nylon hop bag that I tied off to one of the handles. It was inconvenient to add hops during the boil, because you had to reach into the steaminess, open the bag, and then add the hops.

I saw this on one of the homebrew forums. However, every one I've seen has been way over-engineered. Most have 4 legs bolted onto the PVC. Mine works perfectly well with two legs and I can easily slide the bar out for easy cleaning and storage.

It's simply a 4" (I think) PVC adapter, a hop/grain bag, a big hose clamp, and some aluminum rod.

It's very easy to dump the hops in because the opening of the bag is held open.

People have asked me if the bag affects the hop utilization at all. In my brewing software, I have it set to whole hops even though I use pellets. This reduces the utilization calculations somewhat, and I have no complaints regarding the bitterness levels in my beers.

Submitted by Steve Small