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Janx · 03-10-2005, 09:27 PM

What form of hops do you like to use most?

Probably everyone knows I like whole hops (cause I'm such a loudmouth

) for their flavor and convenience. Downsides are they're harder to find and harder to find quality, and they're bigger to store and take up lots of room in the fridge.

**DesertBrew** · 03-10-2005, 09:35 PM

Hmm, I think I want to vote whole however I haven't used them so not sure... If the poll was what do you use I'd say pellets as its all I've used. So I must abstain from this poll

Janx · 03-10-2005, 09:39 PM

I should add...let's talk about varieties in this thread as well. List some of the hops you've used and liked or disliked. Hopefully we can get a really good resource thread going.

Cascade - The best flavor/aroma hop for American ales. A modern classic.

Columbus - The best bittering hop in the world, especially for American styles

Fuggles - a polite hop, perfect for Engils ales and bitters...not too bitter.

Saaz - great aroma hop for German, Belgian styles. Low alpha

Chinook - Pretty bitter. I'm not yet sure I'm a fan.

Centennial - AWESOME hop. Like a beefier Cascade. Great for bittering, aroma, flavor.

East Kent Goldings - THE hop for British beers. Polite like Fuggles.

zprime · 03-10-2005, 10:37 PM

Being the dweebs that me and my brew crew are after our first whole hop usage(to go along with the first all grain). We each grabbed a spoonful of spent whole hops (some fuggles) and chomped down on them.

I now have a greater appreciation for hops and the part that they play in beers.

Tony · 03-10-2005, 11:09 PM

My next batch will be with whole hops and I will not be using pellets any more. They are to messy, and not as god as the whole hops.

Hatzie · 03-11-2005, 12:04 PM

I use whole hops when I can get what I need from the LHBS, other wise I will use plugs and then pellets.

I am not the type of brewer that likes a couple of types of hops, I have used Centenial, Yakima, Saaz, Kent Goldings, Fuggles, Cascade, Willamette, Styrian Goldings, etc. I love throwing the whole hops into the boil and smell them as they change the character of the wort.

Tony · 03-13-2005, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatzie

I use whole hops when I can get what I need from the LHBS, other wise I will use plugs and then pellets...

I see that not too many people use plugs. Wouldnt these be better to use than pellets if you cant get whole hops?

BitterRat · 03-14-2005, 01:57 AM

Whole hops for me!! Plugs when I can't find whole, and pellets only when something I'm looking for is not available in any other form.

jhudson · 03-14-2005, 02:30 AM

I'm assuming that whole hops aren't quite as strong as pellets is that correct? I would assume that pellets are a little more concentrated than that of whole hops. However, I can see the advantages of using whole hops and how they can be better. How can you determine the freshness of whole hops? All I've ever used is pellet hops and I am EXTREMEMLY interested in trying whole hops on my next batch which I'm hoping is a stout.

Janx · 03-16-2005, 06:26 PM

Pellets aren't more concentrated. They just grind up the whole hops to make them. They may produce more bitterness because they are so finely ground and thus are more in contact with the wort, but they're not more concentrated per se.

In whole hops, look for vacuum sealed, oxygen barrier bags. Look for a good green color and a nice fresh smell (reminds me of buying something...can't recall...

) Also look for a minimum of yellowing, which is alpha acids oxidized.

Homebrew stores are often kind of bad places to look for whole hops because they have open bags stored improperly. Ordering from a place with good whole hops like hoptech.com or others is the way I go. Cheers!