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Probably a really silly question but I couldn't find an answer to it (yes I searched) - how do you clean a hop and/or grain bag after use when just rinsing isn't enough?

Won't soaking it in sanitiser damage the fabric? I can't imagine washing is in the washing machine or sink is a hot idea either.

Surely just rinsing is inadequate as some of the wort/hops would have leached into the material & I wouldn't think they are disposable.

help me o gurus of amber beverage

I use some dodgey home made muslin hopbags, I just rinse and throw in the washer with the next load, then give them an extra rinse after.

Cheers,
Greg

I rinse mine and when getting everything prepared for the next brew I soak it in bleach solution and rinse again. No problems with the material and it comes out whiter than white.

I use the super cheap auto polishing rag cheese cloth. Cut it to length - it is a long tube, soak in nappie san overnight, tie a knot and wala - grain bag, sparge bag - chuck it once your finnished. Costs about $7.00 for 6M of cloth.

Jub

rinse all the stuff off that you can, chuck it in the washing machine, then befor you use it just boil it for a couple of minutes to be on the safe side.

Think about it:

- Anything that goes in the grain bag goes in the wort BEFORE the boil (I'm assuming an extract batch here)

- A 15min boil will sufficiently kill the germs, you'll be boiling for at least 45mins

- the extra rinse/boil out of the washing machine is giving the grain bag a better cleaning treatment than most other stuff you'll be putting in.

Don't worry, relax and have a homebrew

I was worried about any left over washing detergent getting into the beer - but then the pot I boiled in was washed up with dish detergent anyway so really I'm just paranoid hey

I bought a hop bag from Ross @ Craftbrewer - a jumbo one!

After my first AG is was a bright yellow colour

I'm not gonna bother bleaching it - all I did was rinse it to wash out all the hop material

I figure its just gonna turn that colour in the next batch and it'll be sanitised during the 1 hour boil any how

Cheers

I've always used panty hose for hops.Chop legs until 3 sections each and
use cable ties.They do 8-10 vigorous 90min boils b4 disintergrating.
Just rinse and hang to dry.Hops are a natural antiseptic and as they will
be used in the boil should not need sanitising.

I've always used stockings for hops. Can't be stuffed trying to clean them, I just throw the lot out and use a new one next time. They are not that dear and depending on what style you buy you can get a few out of a pair. Cheers[color=darkred][/color]

I used pantyhose for a while and was concerned that I wasn't getting enough flow through the hops, so don't bother now. I do have to stir them back into the boil occassionally as they have a slight tendency to cling to the side of the pot when it tries to boil over.

I did my first full-volume boil on the weekend and poured the whole lot into the fermenter through a filter-bag. A surprising amount of solids did not make it in.

The cooks amongst us would suggest muslin cloth as an alternative to stockings. I personally use to use old stockings but now dont bother filtering out hops. Only use the stockings when using grains. All the crap sinks to the bottom and a simple rack clears it.....

SpillsMostOfIt wrote:I did my first full-volume boil on the weekend and poured the whole lot into the fermenter through a filter-bag. A surprising amount of solids did not make it in.

I do this too and is the only time I bleach/sanitize my grainbag.