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We are going to brew a Maibock next weekend and would like to substitute the whirlpool with a a metallic tea bag that holds the hops (pellets) while boiling.
We tried a smaller metallic tea bag with boiling water and the finest parts of the hops mixed well, while the thickest parts were retained inside the tea bag.
Before the fermentation keg we have another filter in place anyways.
As long as the total volume of the "tea bag" thing is sufficiently large for the hops and wort to mix freely I am sure its fine.
Overall though its generally totally unnecessary to strip all the hop matter out. It will usually settle fine when fermentation is done.
It's hard to tell how fine the mesh is, but I think there'd be a good chance by the end of the boil, the metallic tea bag would be empty. In my experience, hop pellets end up dissolving into a sludge. The particulates are small enough that the tea bag may not contain them.
I'd instead go with a fine mesh bag. Re-usable, cheaper, easier to clean.
