Dry Hopping - Whole leaf vs pellets

I've been using whole leaf hops for dry hopping, but I'm not getting much aroma/hop flavor. I used an ounce of Cascade in my last batch for 7 days. Will pellets impart more flavor or do I simply need to double up my hops?

I use pellets all the time but at a minimum of 3oz. I do not think 1 oz is going to a whole lot.

I get much better aroma out of pellets, which I attribute to the lupulin glands being crushed by the pelletization process (they are mostly intact in whole leaf hops).

I use pellets exclusively.

The recipe was for Bell's Two Hearted and only called for .5 oz dry hop and I doubled it to a full oz.

I think I will do a re-brew and change up a couple of things:

- Eliminate the 15, 5 and one minute hop additions
- Add two oz at flame out
- Dry hop with two oz
- All pellets, no whole leaf

I'll post back after I re-brew. Probably be about 6 weeks as I have a pretty full lineup at the moment.

Dave

What temp are you keeping your dry-hop at? Temps around 65F to 68F will pull more of the aroma/oils out faster. Another key is when... if you put the hops in with too much active fermentation, then the co2 production will push the aroma out. How fresh are your hops? If you rub the leaf between your fingers, do you get a nice aroma or nothing at all?

Pellets have a few advantages (easier oil extraction since they've already been pulverized, and suck up a bit less wort), but I don't think one could notice if a beer was dry-hopped with leaf vs. pellets

I may be wrong, but dry hopping shouldn't add much "hop flavor" it is more for aroma. I use pellets.

It won't add bitterness, but it can add flavors... depending on the hop... freshly dry-hopped beer can have a earthy, grassy, spicy, etc flavors. These flavors tend will fade as will the aroma though that tends to last longer than any immediate flavors you might extract.

Are you brewing an IPA?

If so, I typically go with the rate of 0.50 oz. dryhops per gallon of beer (higher if you have an Imperial IPA).

Pellet hops will give more aroma in a shorter time than leaf hops.

See link and below comment: http://beersensoryscience.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/myrcene/

"Whole hops can have as much as 70% more myrcene than pellets of the same variety, but that difference is flipped when the wort is hopped as only 5% of myrcene is extracted from whole hops compared to 17% from pellets."

Great info! Primary fermentation was complete and I dry hopped in secondary at 68 degrees.

If you Keg, have you tried dryhopping in the Keg?

I use whole leaf. I think the aroma is better than with pellets.

This is my first time dry hopping using whole leaf and I have some questions..

Last night I added all the hops and racked on top of them, 2 oz Amarillo pellet and 1 oz citra whole leaf. I know they are supposed to float on top and everything but I feel like the majority of the cones are sitting on top of other cones and pellet sludge, not even touching the beer. Should I poke them down or something? Like I said I know they should float but about .5 oz isnt even in solution, I feel like I'm not getting anything from it. Any advice?

Yes, mix them into the beer...I typically gently swirl the carboy to get them into the liquid. Don't do it too much or hard though, you don't want to oxidize it.

Thanks. I'll probably use a racking cane to just mix em in.

I did a head to head dry hop vs pellets (50/50 mix of Simcoe and Amarillo) at what would calculate to ~3 oz if it was a 5 gallon batch. It was a 1.066 OG/1.009 FG, 179 IBU IPA. IMO, leaf hops gave much more flavor, and other people who tried it said the same. Here is the thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/1-gallon-ipa-experiment-dry-hopping-whole-leaf-vs-pellets-387678/

The only way leaf hops give more flavor/aroma in a shorter or equal dryhop time frame is if they are fresher and of better quality than pellets of the same variety. This can easily be detected by rubbing the hops between your palm and sniffing the aroma, as well as examining the color and texture of the hops themselves. By sight, leaf hops are more easily detectable for quality than pellets since you can see the product in its natural form. Also, if you dryhop with loose leaf hops, 50% of them will continually float and not come in contact with the beer, whereas pellets will sink in 5-7 days. Freshness aside, pellet hops will offer better aroma on average. The typical American IPA pellet hops contain more available myrcene and exposed lupulin glands than leaf hops of the same variety. Late additions and dryhopping with pellets is key for that blast of intoxicating aroma we get in American IPAs. You can still brew quite the tasty IPA with leaf hops late and in the dryhop. But the pellet version will be better... At least that's what I've noticed in over 100 AIPA brew sessions, using both pellets and leaf hops.

I purchased both the leaf and pellet hops from morebeer.com at the same time with the intent that they should be as close to each other as possible, and I would say they were both very fresh. I used a mesh bag in a 1.5 L glass bottle. Since the bottle narrows at the top and I filled the bottles to within an inch from the top, the bags stayed submerged in the beer. I wish the pellet hops had given me more flavor because they stay fresher longer, don't suck up as much beer, and are easier to get out of the bottle at the end, but my experience with that first batch is that the leaf hops result in more flavor. I will say that if I sniff the hops, the pellets have more aroma, and maybe there isn't much of a difference in aroma in the finished beer, but I drink a beer, I don't just sit there are smell it. Aroma plays into flavor, and I personally only care about flavor, so I don't judge aroma outside of flavor. I also dry hop for 7 days. I've done 10 days and even 2 weeks in the past, but 7 days worked great, and I will say the dry hop flavor on this last IPA was beyond anything I have tasted out there, people thought it had citrus in it.

Now you all have me wondering. I made a Ruination IPA clone last weekend and used pellet hops in the boil, with 60, 20, 10 and 1 minute additions. I now have two ounces of Centennial leaf hops for dry hopping. Maybe I should have used the leaf in the boil and the pellet in the secondary?

I'm sure I'll end up with a killer beer either way, but maybe with more aroma the other way. The first taste from the hydrometer reading was really good. I can only improve with the dry-hopping. I did make a point of flame out and chiller on after about 50 seconds of my final addition.

And one other thing, I'll put my leaf hops in a bag with weights to keep them on the bottom. It looks like balloons suspended in the beer.