I hate squeezing a swollen hop bag out of the mouth of a carboy. Absolutely hate it. I toss them in loose, cold crash, and then rack over top of them. Usually brew 6 gallons, as I find it worth it to be able to rack a little higher up, lose some beer, and leave more trub. Also, get you a cage from a C&C bottle, pop out the little disc, and work the thing over the tip of your autosiphon (top of the cage goes on the autosiphon with the bottom, untwisted part of the cage extending beyond the tip). Then, when you put your hop bag or paint strainer on there, it gets held off of the tip and prevents it from getting sucked up against the siphon and causing a clog.
#9 Oct 31, 2012