hops: pellets or leaf?

[warwulf]

wondering the pros and cons of using pellets vs leaf hops. suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Hot P!$$]

I tend to favour pellets because it results in less trub, especially for dry hopping. Pellets can be quite dense and clog up a hop filter tho so I might use leaf for the boil in future.

 

[Bubba Wade]

I use pellets. I find them easier to use and a bit more precise when measuring for smaller batches. Also easy to store.

Nothing against while hops, I just don't find them as practical for my particular setup.

 

[BOB357]

Whole hops take up a lot more storage space, degrade faster and absorb a lot more beer.

 

[SabreSteve]

Not to hijack the OPs question but I just did my shopping for my first brew and it seems like the homebrewing stores in my area all only carry pellet hops. I'm assuming there's wider availability of them in other markets that it's really an option?

 

[BOB357]

That's mostly due to demand and storage space. If they don't store their hops frozen, shelf life is a bigger factor with whole leaf as well.

 

[Hawkbox]

Whole leaf hops are usually offered seasonally as group buys cause they don't last very well comparitively and they're difficult to store. They take up like 10x the space pellets do for the same outcome.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Not from personal experience but it seems one place whole cones are useful is a hopback canister situation where the finished wort is pumped through this hop filled canister.

One time I used whole cones in the kettle they clogged my pump.

What I do now when using my home grown hops is blend them nice and fine problem fixed

 

[BOB357]

I know some people that use false bottoms or bazooka screens in their kettles use some whole cones to help filter the wort when transferring.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Just conditioning my first whole hop batch. Just used them for the dry hop and bagged them. Didn't have any problems. Now to see what they taste like.

Ben, just to turn the tables, the wife is asking when we're getting the kegland hopback so she can play around with it for her IPAs.

 

[Craigerrr]

I have never used anything except pellets, that will change for one batch at least when I harvest and dry the mystery hops that I am growing.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Just conditioning my first whole hop batch. Just used them for the dry hop and bagged them. Didn't have any problems. Now to see what they taste like.

Ben, just to turn the tables, the wife is asking when we're getting the kegland hopback so she can play around with it for her IPAs.

You see Gash Slugs Clip on using it?

 

[Mark Farrall]

You see Gash Slugs Clip on using it?

Yep, that's what got her interested. The quote was, "Ooh, that wort is so clear".

 

[Group W]

I use both and prefer to dry hop in the fermenter with pellets only. If leaf gets in my fermenter it clogs when transferring to keg. So I’m careful to keep the leaf inside the SS strainer in my BK. Cheers

 

[warwulf]

thank you all for your time and replies! Looks like pellets then!

 

[Hawkbox]

For the first while I would say go pellets for sure. Once you're comfortable with everything else then decide if you want to mess with cones or not.

Remember, it's all about the cones.

 

[GFHomebrew]

For the first while I would say go pellets for sure. Once you're comfortable with everything else then decide if you want to mess with cones or not.

Remember, it's all about the cones.

Yeah don't get them mixed up no use smoking cascade it's just going to smell nice.

 

[SabreSteve]

For the first while I would say go pellets for sure. Once you're comfortable with everything else then decide if you want to mess with cones or not.

Remember, it's all about the cones.

 

[Tim Bulin]

I use both, but I prefer the whole hops. Bought the Mangrove Jack’s spider and the courser mesh flows really well but doesn’t contain pellets well.

 

[Hawkbox]

I see someone was paying attention.