pellet Hops, or leaf?

I have been using pellet Hops for my brews and have been finding that when it comes time to bottle, not all the remnants of the hops fall to the bottom, and my siphon often gets clogged before I'm half way through bottling. I was wonder one of two things; Should I rack to a secondary before bottling, or should I use leaf hops in bag? Or any other ideas that you all might suggest. Thank You.




-Justin

I rack to secondary on my brews since I like clear beer. This allows anything that got sucked up out of the primary to fall out.

I've never used leaf hops, I've only used pellets, so can't respond to that part.

I think you need to strain your wort before adding it to the fermentor to keep the hops from getting in there. I use a large grain bag (sanitized of course) and just put it inside my primary bucket and pour the wort through it. It catches the vast majority of the residue fromt the pellet hops. A strainer would work also if you have one big enough. This will solve your problem with the hops, but I would still reccommend using a secondary. It clears the beer so much and in my opinion improves the flavor.

You could also whirlpool the trub in the brewpot and rack into your primary. Just be sure to siphon only cooled wort.
See this wiki post, it's very helpful. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Whirlpooling

I've used both whole hops and pellets, I don't find any difference in the finished product.
I use mostly pellets because they're much easier for me to store.

I take it you don't bulk prime?

I have used pellet and leaf. I prefer pellet for the simple fact that I do not need to strain them before adding them to the fermenter. I always rack to secondary though it helps to keep the beer clear.

I prefer whole hops and plugs. I'd rather use a different hop than have to use pellets again.

I autosiphon out of my brew pot into the primary. Occasionally I get 1 or 2 leafs sucked through to the primary. And looking at a bunch of hop cones sitting in the bottom of the brew pot is a lot nicer than looking at a bunch of muddy trub.

The only problem, whole hops suck up a lot of water. Between my 20 minute preboil, 60 minute wort boil, and the whole hops, I loose about a gallon of water.

Since I made the switch, I have almost no sediment in my bottles.

i like to use plugs especially when i use pellets as well. when poured thru my strainer the plugs all say behind and help to filter out out the messy pellet residue.

I do two things":

Use whole leaf hops...

And this contraption.

My beer runs clearer into the fermenter than when I eventually serve (chill haze).

BierMuncher said:

I do two things":

Use whole leaf hops...

And this contraption.

My beer runs clearer into the fermenter than when I eventually serve (chill haze).

Click to expand...

Would this work with pellet? I am planning on copying you and I use pellet.

Beerrific said:

Would this work with pellet? I am planning on copying you and I use pellet.

Click to expand...

Yes it will. Pellets were the reason I went this route. Just be careful that if you are doing a mucky beer (like with a lot of flaked barley or flaked rye) this mesh will clog up and you'll need to rinse it a few times.

For 95% of your beer however, it will work great.

I as well like leaf over pellet too. Much easier to keep it going into primary, at least for me.

I used to prefer whole hops over pellet because they're easier to strain out after the boil.

Since I've been using AHS lately they have mostly pellet hops, so I've gone to this. It works really well. You should see the softball-sized wad of pellet hop material thats in there when you pull it out at the end of the boil!

I like leaf hops and use them almost exclusively after discovering that they're much easier to leave behind in the kettle. I use a perforated stainless false bottom in my brew kettle to strain out the hops.

When I was brewing smaller 5 gallon batches with pellets, I used a contraption identical to Sparky's. It worked great!

So I have a big bag like that too. What do you guys think would be better putting the hops in the bag and boiling like Lil' Sparky or use the chiller and siphon through the bag like BierMuncher?

I think BierMuncher's method is a bit better. It probably allows for more complete hop utilization than if the hops were in a bag.

For my operation, pellet hops work so much better than leaf. I use a spigot on my brew kettle after cooling to drain into the fermenter. I drain through a strainer and the pellet hops go through the spigot very easily and get caught in the strainer. The Leaf hops clog up my spigot unless I put them in hop bags. I don't like using hop bags if I can help it, so pellet is for me.

I use pellets because I don't have to worry about freshness nearly as much as with whole.

mew said:

I use pellets because I don't have to worry about freshness nearly as much as with whole.

Click to expand...

If you have a vacuum sealer, you can order whole hops in bulk with little worry of freshness. Just split them up into 2-4 oz packets, vacuum seal, and freeze.

While we are on the topic, is this correct (assuming all else the same):

1oz pellet=2oz. leaf hops (same as fresh whole hops?)

I am planning on doing a nice IPA later in the summer and want to use only 1 or two types of hops.

No. 1 oz pellet = ~1.1 oz leaf. Some brewing software will actually make the IBU adjustment for you. I know Beer Smith does.

Yuri_Rage said:

I think BierMuncher's method is a bit better. It probably allows for more complete hop utilization than if the hops were in a bag.

Click to expand...

Honestly, I can't imagine how. That's a HUGE bag and the hops are not really restricted at all from rolling in the boil.

Beerrific said:

While we are on the topic, is this correct (assuming all else the same):

1oz pellet=2oz. leaf hops (same as fresh whole hops?)

I am planning on doing a nice IPA later in the summer and want to use only 1 or two types of hops.

Click to expand...

According to this page, pellet hops are only 10% stronger than leaf hops, not twice as strong as you suggest. I usually substitute them in equal amounts.

1 oz. pellets = 1.1 to 1.2 oz. leaf.

You get roughly 30% utilization with pellets and 25% with plugs or whole hops. 30/25 = 1.2.

Beerrific said:

So I have a big bag like that too. What do you guys think would be better putting the hops in the bag and boiling like Lil' Sparky or use the chiller and siphon through the bag like BierMuncher?

Click to expand...

I suppose the only other upside is that the strainer-round-the-chiller method also filters out any particles that may have found their way into the pot. I have extremely clean yeast cakes since going this route and my cheap-ass doesn't like to pay for new yeast if I don't have to.

That is good to know. I always thought that leaf hops would be more expensive. But it looks like AHS sells them for almost exactly the same price just in 2oz packages. I think I will use leaf hops for my upcoming APA since I have always used pellets.

BierMuncher said:

I do two things":

Use whole leaf hops...

And this contraption.

My beer runs clearer into the fermenter than when I eventually serve (chill haze).

View attachment 1774

Click to expand...

I do the same two as well (thanks to BierMuncher's post on hop bag over wort chiller). Works wonderfully.