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Hop spiders—sometimes called kettle spiders—allow you to add hops to your boil without clogging the system or getting into the fermenter.Commercial kettle spiders are usually steel mesh filters that hang off one side of your kettle. But you also have the option of making your own, and the easiest way to do that is to create a metal tripod that suspends a filter bag over your kettle.
After sixty minutes of boiling, your hops are going to turn into a mushy pile of green goo. Sure, you can strain it before moving to the chiller or whirlpool the wort after its been chilled, but you still have to worry about any solids you might’ve missed before moving to the fermenter.
Enter the hop spider. It allows you to add hops throughout the brew. No more fishing out soaking bags of boiling hot hops. No more fiddling with multiple bags or worrying whether you tied them tightly enough.
