$99.95, ssbrewtech.com
We’ve all brewed with hop baskets, mesh bags, and strainers, trying to keep hop material and other hot-side additions from clogging our chiller. They work ... okay. Getting full contact with liquid through the bags takes some fussing; hanging them on the side of the kettle leaves them on the cooling side of the convective current; and often the mesh baskets still let some small plant residue through.
So, when Ss Brewtech announced the Hop Spider, we asked them to send us one right away—the adjustable arms position the basket in the middle of the kettle for optimal flow; the basket is easily removable from the bracket; and the photochemical-etched, 400-micron pores are the tightest we’ve seen in such an easy-to-clean device, helping hop flavors and aromas saturate your beer without saturating your heat ex.