Mangrove Jack Hop Spider Quality

[Mattpc]

Just got one of these today.. Have to say I'm thinking of sending it back. The mesh looks great but the stainless steel hoops that hold the shape of it together look dull and rough. It looks like it's been very badly filed at the factory. I'm not sure I'd be happy to presume that it's really good quality food grade stainless steel! I've never seen a piece of kitchen equipment with steel as rough and shoddy as this. Perhaps I should open my wallet and buy one of the £100+ hop spiders for my braumeister?

[BrannigansLove]

I bought a really cheap hop spider off ebay, and I've had to abandon it. The mesh was way too fine, and it was a bugger to clean. I use my old BIAB bag for hops these days.

[FUBAR]

I bought a really cheap hop spider off ebay, and I've had to abandon it. The mesh was way too fine, and it was a bugger to clean. I use my old BIAB bag for hops these days.

Yeah I have one of those and because the mesh is so fine the hop utilisation is crap and it is below boiling point inside of the mesh. Found it a doddle to clean though, a good blast with a hose pipe and was sparklingly clean.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

The £5 BIAB bags from mr lard look like they would make good hop spiders. I use the for mashing.

[alexlark]

Put your hops in loose then filter through a voile when transferring to FV. Job done.

1. Better hop utilisation.
2. Zero dead space.

[Mattpc]

Your ideas are all possibilities but I want to use a hop spider!

[alexlark]

If I was going to get one I would plump for one of these:

https://www.brewbuilder.co.uk/6-x-14-spider.html

They look the dogs!

[Mattpc]

Looks similar to the mangrove jack one. I've emailed them to ask about the quality of the metal hoops. Thanks for the link.

[Mattpc]

No reply from brewbuilder. The mangrove jack one has been returned. I've gone for a slightly different solution. Speidel offer a filter that goes over the tap opening. I've gone for that one as it should be good
Quality and avoids restricting the hops.