Best hops for dry hopping an IPA?
 

What are the best hops for dry hopping an IPA? Is whole hops or pellet hops better? This is my first time dry hopping. Also should I use a sanitized hop sack or just throw them in? Thanks guys :mug:

I use only pellets myself for multiple reasons, and I throw them in loose.

For me pellets are easier to store. I can buy them in bulk from hopsdirect and store them in qt mason jars purged with CO2 in my freezer. One pound of pellets almost perfectly fits in a qt mason jar. Pellet also don't oxidize as easily and leaf, and will break up when you add them to the fermentor so that you get better oil extraction.

Others may disagree, but I exclusively use pellets now.

I use pellets because I am able to cold crash which makes them drop to the bottom of my carboy for kegging. No bags, no filters, just toss em in.

Pellets are definitely the way to go. Hop bags are not necessary, just pop them in, let them go 7-10 days, cold crash and package!

Most IPA lovers will agree that the best hops for dry hopping are the citrus tasting hops like Centennial, Citra, Cascade, Amarillo, Simcoe, Chinook and a perhaps a couple others.

Awesome thanks for the tips. My beer is in secondary now along with oak chips. I will get some pellet hops and throw them in for about a week. I don't have means to cold crash my 5gal carboy, will this be a problem when I rack to the bottling bucket? Will there be too much sediment for bottling?

If the hops don't settle out just rack from underneath them.

When I dry hop I always use a sanitized nylon grain bag or paint strainer bag around my racking cane end to keep hop residue from making it to the bottling bucket or keg. Works great I get no more gunk in my finished IPA's than any other style.

Another vote for pellets.

For American IPAs a few of my favs to dryhop with include some combo of:

Amarillo
Apollo
Cascade
Centennial
Chinook
Citra
Columbus (CTZ)
Falconer's Flight
Nugget
Simcoe
Summit

Without at least 75% of this list, brewing AIPA's would be extremely sad for me.

Good idea! Which end of the racking can do you attach the bag?

A mix of Amarillo and Cascade sounds good. How about 1oz of both?

I always dry hop with whole leaf, mostly out of habit. It is what I was taught when I started brewing. I have nothing against using pellet though I have just always used pellet in the boil only.

I love, love, love Citra as a dry hop. My favorite dry hop by far.