Need those of you who have tried this or have knowledge of this technique to give me your opinion. During the last 15 minutes of my boil last friday night I used a hop bag for .66 of a oz. of saaz in my Alasken Amber clone. I used the bag mainly because i do small batch all grain brewing in my kitchen and make 2.5 gallon batches. Beer has been good since i down sized. But i lose alot in trub around .20 to .30 of a gallon when i just throw my hops in and i thought well, why not use cloth bags i get from time to time from the brew shop. I am curious though as to hop utilization when putting them in a bag or hop ball. I left alot of room in the bag so the hops could expand. Wondered if the bag will take away any if at all from the flavoring hops i used.

The standard is to assume about -10% utilization with the use of a bag. YMMV

ok minus 10 percent, not to bad at all really then, thanks brewboy I appreciate the help

Thats interesting, I hadn't heard that before BB, although it makes prefect sense.

kjt1776, could I get your Alasksa Amber clone recipe?

I've started to throw my hops directly into the boil rather than use a bag as of late. I pnly use a bag when dry hopping any more. I built a trub brake into my kettle, and it workd perfectly.

jjjeff i will get the recipe for ya this weekend, sorry about a late response as i have not been on the internet nuch the last few days.