Best type of hop

What are the best type of hops for boiling and then for dry hopping. By type I mean, pellet, whole, leaf, plug... I dont have much experience with anything other than pellets. For my next recipe Id like to try something different.

So what are youre preferences?

Leaf hops are recommended for dry hopping. I use pellets for the wort but thats just cause of ease of use.

I use whole/leaf hops mostly. They are easy to strain and look cool in the kettle. But they do take up a lot of room in the freezer.

In a pinch I am happy to use whatever is available.

Right now I've got quite a mix, since I'm buying whatever is available. I don't really have a preference for pellet or leaf hops, really. Right now, I've got a brew dryhopping with amarillo leaf hops, and simcoe and centennial pellet hops. Hey, I take what I can get! When I dry hop in the keg, though, I'll use a mesh bag or metal tea ball, and use leaf hops only, just to keep the sludge out of my kegs.

There are advantages and disadvantages for each. Pellets will keep longer and are more consistent for bittering so I tend to use them more in that role and use whole hops for flavour/aroma/dry hopping - especially since I grow my own.

GT

Got Trub? said:

There are advantages and disadvantages for each. Pellets will keep longer and are more consistent for bittering so I tend to use them more in that role and use whole hops for flavour/aroma/dry hopping - especially since I grow my own.

GT

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When dry hopping with whole hops, do they tend to stay whole? The thing about pellets is the sludge they create. I would like to avoid that with out having to use a hop bag, either with the hops in it or around the racking cane.

Say theoretically i have a choice to dry hop with Cascade pellets or flowers. In general it seems the flower would be the way to go, no?

Whole leaf hops do stay whole for dry hopping and for boiling. I've noticed that whole leaf hops tend to hold onto more of the wort if you boil with them then pellets do.

Yes they stay together and my preference for dry hopping is with whole.

GT

I'll be dry hopping an IPA for the first time with some Cascade cones. My question is what type of sanitary precautions do I need to take when adding them? Can I just add them to a hop bag and drop 'em in to the secondary?

Yep, just put em in a hop bag and dump them in. Hops have natural antibacterial properties, which is why they were used to make IPAs in the first place; they'd keep on the long voyage from Britain to India. Why they didn't just MAKE the frickin beer in India I'll never know.

EvilTOJ said:

Why they didn't just MAKE the frickin beer in India I'll never know.

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Like you would like to sail from Great Britian to India with NO BEER on the ship?

I really like plug hops but I don't see them at either LBHS any more. Are they out of vogue these days?

I can't say I've actually seen plug hops. It could have more to do with the hop shortage we got going on though, rather than them being unpopular as to why you haven't seen them lately.

Plug hops have some of the convenience and stability of pellet. They are pretty good for aroma hops since they are easy to introduce to the wort (or secondary for dry hopping) but they quickly expand. If somebody put a hop plug in their boiling wort 10 minutes before you arrived, you would be hard pressed to differentiate them from whole hops. Also, because they have less surface area exposed to the air, their oxidize much slower than pellet and whole hops.

So cones or whole leaf are the way to go for dry hopping. If you only can get pellets thought they are okay, just put them in a hop bag?

Don't you have to sanitize the bag before using it to dry hop?

EvilTOJ said:

Yep, just put em in a hop bag and dump them in. Hops have natural antibacterial properties, which is why they were used to make IPAs in the first place; they'd keep on the long voyage from Britain to India. Why they didn't just MAKE the frickin beer in India I'll never know.

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Great! Thanks much!!