Why Use a Hop Spider?

A hop spider is a mesh bag or mesh basket used in homebrewing to contain hops during the hot side of the brewing process. Hop spiders come in a variety of shapes and sizes and offer a handful of benefits with just a few drawbacks to consider. Hop spiders can be used during the boil and whirlpool, dramatically reducing the volume of hops that wind up sitting in the bottom of your kettle.

Metal hop spider for homebrewing

Hop Spider Benefits

  1. Consistency: Hop spiders help with achieving consistent flavor profiles in your beer, as the hops are contained in one place and can be easily removed at any time during the brewing process. This prevents the hops from over-extracting and producing unwanted bitter flavors.
  2. Reduced Sediment: A hop spider helps in reducing the amount of sediment carried over to your fermenter, resulting in a clearer beer with less debris.
  3. Easier Cleanup: Using a hop spider can simplify the cleanup process as it makes it easy to remove the spent hops from the brew kettle. If you brew indoors, you can simply discard rather than pouring down the drain.
  4. Versatility: Hop spiders can be used with different types of hops, including whole-leaf hops, pellet hops, and hop cones.
  5. Reduces the risk of clogged pumps and chillers: Depending on your setup, a hop spider can greatly reduce the risk of clogging tubing, chillers, pumps, and drains. This is especially useful for brewers using plate chillers.

Mesh Bag Versus Metal Basket

A hop spider can come in the form of a fine mesh bag or stainless container. I prefer the stainless basket for easier cleaning, longevity, and the ability to conveniently hook it to the side of my kettle. Mesh bags tend to twist around and collapse during the boil or whirlpool, preventing wort from flowing through the hops as freely.

If you have a taller kettle, MoreBeer offers an adjustable hop spider that can be raised or lowered depending on batch volume and kettle dimensions.

How to Use a Hop Spider

  1. Place your hop spider in your brew kettle. It can be used for all hot side hop additions.
  2. Place your hops in your spider, ensuring all hops are fully submerged in the wort.
  3. Gently stir the hops during the boil to improve hop utilization.
  4. Remove the hop spider from the wort and let any residual wort drain into the kettle.
  5. Discard the hops, rinse the unit, and hang it up to dry.

Hop Utilization with Hop Spiders

In terms of hop utilization, using a hop spider can actually decrease the utilization of hops, as the hops are not able to move freely in the wort. This puts a constraint on the release of hop oils and acids. However, this decrease in hop utilization can be offset by using extra hops, increasing the boil time, or occasionally stirring the hops in the spider.

I have not noticed a detectable difference in my beers while using a hop spider. The benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks since the majority of my hops are added on the cold side anyway.

Overall, using a hop spider is a matter of personal preference and brewing style. Some brewers swear by them, while others prefer to let their hops float freely in the wort. Experimenting with different brewing techniques can help you find the method that works best for you and your beer.

2 thoughts on “Why Use a Hop Spider?

  1. Hey Shawn – I have a Grainfather Hop Spider that I use in my Grainfather G30. I just started brewing with the G30 a few months back. First few brews the hop spider worked fine. The most recent brew I was using Yakima Valley Lupomax hops with which they claim ‘less vegetal matter’ and ‘more hop flavor’. I added 1.5oz each of Idaho 7 and Mosaic. I stirred to create a whirlpool but the whirlpool never seems to keep flowing well with the hop spider sitting in the G30. I stir occasionally but also use the pump and hose to keep some flow going. Upon pulling the basket out after ~20mins I was shocked to see absolutely ZERO hop matter left in the basket. Even after transferring the wort to my conical what was left at the bottom was a barely detectable extremely fine matter. No chunks at all. You ever seen this? I’ve reached out to Yakima for their input on this but have not heard back yet. Frankly, it just seems odd. I took a small hop pellet and put it in a small cup of water and it basically completely dissolved so now I understand why the 800 micron spider did essentially nothing. From what I can tell, you’d have to have something like a 100-200 micron mesh to capture the residual matter and I’m not even sure that would’ve done it. Btw, read your post on Untold Brewing. Will have to check it out sometime as I also live in MA but out in Western Mass Springfield area.

    1. Untold is awesome. Good question here and I’m not 100% sure what the answer is. I think your observations are pretty standard. Lupomax hops are much finer and don’t have the same plant matter as you suggested. To be honest I have not really experienced this as I don’t use lupo/cryo products in the whirlpool anymore. I mainly save those for dry hopping. I’ll be curious to see what YVH has to say about it. I wouldn’t be overly concerned with the lack of flow in your whirlpool. I think the major reason for this is to collect the trub in the center of the tank so less ends up in fermenters. Breweries started the whirlpool trend and homebrewers are now copying the process even though it’s not really necessary at our scale.

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