pellet or whole leaf?

[sputnam]

so my bday is approaching and I'm gonna get my peeps to buy several 1# bags of hops and a vacuum sealer. I just recently made a screen to go over my dip tube and I am excited to use whole leaf hops in the keg. But what about in the boil? It seems the whole leaf would be easier to filter out but I don't know....what would you guys/gals ask for...whole leaf or pellet?

 

[Sailingeric]

I usually use whole leaf. I have a screen strainer I put over my bucket to pour my wort through to filter it and when the fermentation is done, it makes for easy yeast reuse. I have used pellets a few time but they break up and I just let it settle in with the trub so if you reuse the yeast you will need to wash it.

 

[pablosbrewing]

Pellets will stay fresh longer, and you will use less. Depending on your setup you could go with a hop bag/hop spider or just dump into the kettle. Dump in the kettle not recommended for plate chiller but fine for immersion chiller.

Don't skimp on bag size for a hop spider if you go that route, or you will lose some hop utilization.

 

[unionrdr]

Whole leaf makes a bigger mess to strain out going into the fermenter. But they do give a bit more depth of flavor to me. Pellets seem to give bittering easier, being crushed.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I prefer pellets pre-fermentation and whole leaf post. I don't filter the hops from the kettle to the fermenter and I use a bag for dry-hopping. I have dry-hopped with pellets, but I just prefer leaf for this to keep the sludge down and for faster clearing. It's all personal preference, though. If you use leaf in the kettle, just be sure to use a bag or something to contain them, as they will clog a pickup tube or drain valve. Same if dry-hopping in the keg, whether with leaf or pellet.

 

[ANewrBrewr]

Being a hop grower and a homebrewer, I would say whole cone hops out perform pellet hops any day! The main (and maybe only) advantages that pellets provide is more logistics than quality. Pellets can be stored longer, take up less storage space, be slightly more consistent, and many larger breweries simply aren't setup to brew with whole cones (no false bottoms, hop backs, etc.). However there are certain qualities in whole cones that just can't be obtained from pellets, this may be due to the extreme stress the cones go through to be heated, pulverized and formed into pellets. Breweries like Sierra Nevada only use whole cones, because they just can't get the hop profile they like out of pellets. On a more practical level hop pellets can really clog up your bazooka screen or false bottom causing a "stuck" situation when transferring to your primary. Pellets also tend to team up and stick to the side of your primary and kettle thus oxidizing. If that gets in your beer it tastes awful. Also with cones you are only pulling the oils from the cones and then the cones get tossed out as opposed to pellets which will just flow through and end up in your primary so now you have all of that leaf and plant parts of the hop sitting in your beer until you bottle and keg. We only sell our hops as whole cones and have convinced many brewers to retrofit their system to take on whole cones, and they have been more than pleased!

 

[brewcat]

Why I may start using hop bags with pellets again. I usually use pellets, but may have to do more whole. I've only used Cascade that I've grown so far.

 

[j1n]

Pellets are easier to deal with IMO. a lb of whole leaf will be 4-5x bigger than a lb of pellets. pellets plus hop spider for the boil is my method. Also cold crash after dry hopping and careful racking.

Also mason jars are easier for storage. I vacuum seal the jar and put it in the freezer to store my hops. With bags you have to cut it open and then reseal it after every time you need hops and the bag gets smaller every time you cut it.

 

[VVbrewery]

I've used both but lately mostly use pellets. Had a home made hop stopper that worked pretty good but I now use a hop spider and dry hop in a bag. That's the up side to cone hops, you can just toss them in the kettle. Down side, there are many varieties of hops that are only available in pellet form and I like to experiment.

 

[ANewrBrewr]

another point worth mentioning about whole cones is that they will soak up more wort meaning you will have to account for more wort loss during boil. I've done some big IPAs with 10oz of whole cone hops for a 5gallon batch and almost lost near a gallon!

 

[aprichman]

I use pellets, I think they're a lot easier and stay fresh longer. I was reassured of this choice when I found out one of my favorite breweries Block 15 only uses hop extract and pellets - and they make some of the best hop forward beers in the state of Oregon.