tellish33
Well-Known Member
Can you substitute the leaf hops straight up for the pellet hops? Or is there some kind of conversion.
leaf hops vs. pellet hops
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Yes- there is a difference as the hop pellets are more concentrated. If you want to get technical I have read you get about 10% better utilization. I doubt you will use hops in any quantities that would translate into a huge swing in IBU's but it's worth knowing.
lamarguy
Well-Known Member
Assume 10% less IBUs for leaf hops, relative to pellet hops.
Most brewing software will perform this calculation for you.
Most brewing software will perform this calculation for you.
There is a slight difference - it is expected that you will get slightly less alpha acid isomerization out of leaf hops than you would out of pellet hops. Truthfully, I'm not sure why that is, but I know that most recipe calculators will give you less IBUs for leaf hops than they will for pellet hops. Granted, it's not a huge difference, so I wouldn't go to too great of lengths trying to knock off a few grams here and there to try and make it exactly even.
OP
OP
tellish33
Well-Known Member
So I can use the same amount of leaf in place of pellet and be fine? The only thing I lose is some IBUs which shouldn't affect my final product? Thx.
Boy,ain't that the truth! The whol leaf (also called raw) will absorb more liquid than pellet hops. The pelletized hops release some bittering easier than whole leaf,in my experience. I think it's because the lupulin glands get crushed with the rest of the cone into that familiar shape.
So the leaf hops would need longer boiling,or a bit more hops,imo.
But I just use the same amount by wieght,& it works fine.
Basically,it seems to me that it'd be best to use pellet hops for bittering,raw hops for flavor & aroma additions for the best of both worlds.
So the leaf hops would need longer boiling,or a bit more hops,imo.
But I just use the same amount by wieght,& it works fine.
Basically,it seems to me that it'd be best to use pellet hops for bittering,raw hops for flavor & aroma additions for the best of both worlds.
Just out of curiosity, how much wort could a few ounces of leaf hops absorb?
From my experiences,3 ounces of leaf hops that got to drain over the BK in a strainer will still hold about 1C of wort. That's why I squeeze 'em out. Kinda like the scottsman & the fly..."spit it oot!". The whole leaf hops get to be a real big pile of stuff when re-hydrated.
0.09 fluid ounces per hop cone.
Just kidding - it's hard to know exactly. If you're brewing a hoppy beer, you could up your final volume a bit to offset the absorption. It's not very expensive to just make an extra quart or two of wort in a 5 gallon batch.
Boy I wish I was experienced enough to tell you that. I did a recent small batch pale ale (extract with grains) with a 30 minute boil where I used some cascades I had grown last year. I'm going from memory here, but there were 2 additions of centennial hops (pellet) and then three 7 gram additions of my cascades at 15, 5 and 0 minutes. I had no idea how much wort I would lose. I started out with just over 3 gallons prior to the boil, and ended up with just shy of 2.5 gallons in the fermenter after cooling, transferring and adding my re-hydrated dried yeast.
This is the only time I have used whole hops. I'm hoping to use more next year as my hop plant (2nd year cascade, in a container) is in the garage here in Chicagoland, the soil was partially frozen until this week (and in the dark most of the time), and it's already got a bunch of shoots!
I let mine drain back into the BK in a strainer & still squoze out 1C.
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