I love whole hops!

Man, I wish I had known long ago!

Don't get me wrong, hop pellets have served me well, but man I love me some whole hops.

The thing I loved so much was pouring the boil kettle into the fermenter. I can't believe how quick and easy it was! I was able to do it all myself through the strainer and funnel, because the strainer didn't keep clogging up with the hop pellets. No more pellets for me! Woohoo!

I used whoel hops a while back and lost ALOT of wort to them. I knew that was going to happen and I boiled all I could fit in my pot. Probably going to do pellets until I get a keggle with a false bottom.

Another thing that hops are good for are a chew substitute. I love letting one sit in my lip for a while till I start to get a little wonderfulness out of it. Don't keep in their too long with a sensitive mouth, might burn a hole through you cheek

Whole hops are the way! I switched years ago...actually I think I only used pellets a few times ever. Quality whole hops are easier to use and taste/smell way better.

After all, you don't crush up, grind, powder and compress a dozen roses for your special lady friend on Valentines day. Why would you do that to hops?

Cheers

my sabco has a bazooka tube in it, and all I use are whole hops in that. My 5 gallon setup doesnt have a hop strainer, so I use pellets in that one

Welcome to the darkside.

I think whole hops are far superior.

I agree with Dude. I love dry hopping with them. The only time I buy pellets is when it's the only form I can get for that variety. You will lose some liquid, but I always get at least 5.5 gallons after the boil so it works out fine.

I don't mind losing a little wort to whole hop absorption...I love the advantages! They never wind up in the fermenter, and they help build a "filter bed" to keep the hot break out, too! I dread resorting to pellets when I can't find what I want in whole hops.

I use both. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

I prefer pellets for bittering as you get about 10% more utilization of the alpha acids and easier to weigh out accurately. They are also more stable and keep longer. For flavour and aroma I prefer whole hops but will use pellets if they are the only type available for the variety I need. For dry hopping I only use whole hops.

I'm 100% with GT. Pellets can be a pain clogging a bazooka, but for high bittering levels they can't be beat.

I've never used anything but.
I like the seeds.

I use the cheapest of hop stoppers and never have a problem.

I have used and prb will continue to use both for my brewing.

Guys that are on the whole hops > pellets, what is your take on the craft brewers that brew with pellets? Lagunitas and Bear Republic were featured in BYO recently and both brewers said they roll pellets only IIRC. Both brew IPAs/hop bombs that folks love.

brewt00l said:

Guys that are on the whole hops > pellets, what is your take on the craft brewers that brew with pellets?

Click to expand...

They are scum of the earth - worse than bleachers!!!

If whole hops were available year-round in the varieties I needed, then I'd be an "only whole hops" kinda guy too.

But as it stands, that just h'aint the case. My strategery D) is as follows:

I keep certain varieties in whole leaf, bulk. Right now I have NB, Cascade and EKG. NB is a great all-purpose bittering hop, Cascade is great for both, and EKG is an excellent flavor/aroma hop. I keep them vacuum-sealed in the freezer.

When I need certain varieties for a recipe, I search first for the whole leaf, and if i can't find that (or a close sub), I'll buy the pellets. I don't care for pellets, but sometimes that's all I can find.

I'll also sometimes buy a variety of various hops in pellet form just to keep around...because they're a better selection. Try to find strisselspalt in whole leaf. Not too easy.

After my last clogged strainer debacle I have decided to move to whole hops myself.

But here is my question, I have a backlog of pelletized Target hops, any thoughts on using some pellet and some whole hops until I burn through them? I'm thinking, use the pelletized Target for bittering and then whole hops for any other additions.

Do you guys really like whole hops that much better?

I love whole hops for a few reasons. Firstly, I find the aromatic and flavor qualities far superior. Secondly, I often wonder how much stem material/etc is ground up in the processing of the pellets. Thirdly, they are the supreme filter in my method of pouring off the cooled wort into my cone strainer. It pretty much grabs all of the break material and I let them drain in there. Losses are very minimal like this.

I love whole hops. I'm getting far less sediment in my primary, secondary, and bottles. I love looking at the bottom of my brew pan and seeing the flowers instead of brown mud. I love the extra aroma I get as opposed to the pellets.

The only drawback I've run into is loosing about 1/2 a gallon of wort per oz. of hops. Its not bad if I'm only adding 1 oz. But when I've added 2 or 3 over the course of a 80 minute boil, I end up adding close to 2 gallons of make up water in the primary.

Oh the irony! After my conversion to whole hops, I could only find pellets for the recipe I want to make next (has warrior and centennial in it.) Oh well, I can take a step back if the payoff will be that delicious IPA!