To squeeze or not to squeeze. That is the question.

[Chris Craig]

I'm brewing the massive Hop Hammer on Monday, and as always, I'm using a hop spider.  Now, this recipe calls for 9 1/4 oz of hops during the 90 minute boil. (6 3/4 dry hop!)  That's a lot of hop matter in the hop bag.  I'm thinking that I'll want to squeeze the wort out of the hop bag before I drain the kettle.  Otherwise, I'll probably leave a lot of hop oils and wort behind.  

Any idea if this will cause any problems with the beer?

[Kyle]

When I used a hop sock, come the end of the boil, I would roll it over itself so that it would be dangling as high as possible above the wort level in the pot and to gently squeeze it.

[Chris Craig]

Gently squeeze my sac.  Got it.

[Richard]

Slightly OT, but brewing IIPA's with hop-sacks is putting yourself at a disadvantage. They really seem to screw with the hop utilisation.

[Chris Craig]

I have to.  I plan to put the bittering in one sock, and drop it in the kettle.  The rest will be in the hop spider.  I'll use a spoon to agitate it quite a lot.  I'm willing to bet this is going to be a monster in any case. Also, with almost a half a pound dryhop, you won't even notice.  Those aren't going in a sock.

[Richard]

Can't sing the praises of braided hose enough, as a replacement for a hop-sock. Strain when emptying from the boil-tun.

I just had real trouble hitting high IBUs (70+) with a hop-sock, and I was using a massive bag for it. Just seems to restrict their movement too much.