Pellets to Leaf

I am trying to search for a thread on how to brew with Leaf v pellets.

Basiclly, the good and the bad of each.
I am sure it has been gone through a bunch. I cannot find a good thread on it.

Thanks.
I have only used pellets and I am looking to learn to use leaf... as well.

Any threads you can link to would be great...

Thanks
T$

Im am the "other side of the coin" I have only used leaf never pellet. I don't adjust the recipe at all, and when I go from pot to primary I use a funnel with a strainer in it. Thats about as exciting as it gets.

Pellet: More stable in storage, less volume to store, ~10% better utilization, cheaper

Leaf: Much easier to strain out/siphon around

Just to get things started...

is it an oz for oz swap no matter if it is pellet or leaf?

Thanks for the quick response.

How long with leaf freeze? A month or 2?

Like was quoted, use 10% more whole than pellet for equal results on bittering, and some will argue that whole adds better flavour.

Leaf will absorb more of your wort and take up more space in your kettle. You also use more of them to get the same IBUs.

That said, personally I like using leaf because they are easier to strain out and I think they are better for dry hopping.

Leafs can absorb a lot of water. Make sure you have about 1/2 gallon of make up water for every ounce of hops you use.

feedthebear said:

Leafs can absorb a lot of water. Make sure you have about 1/2 gallon of make up water for every ounce of hops you use.

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Leaf hop absorb significantly less liquid than that. It is about 6 ounces of liquid per ounce of hops. I have an IPA recipe that uses about 5 ounces of hops instead of the normal ounce or two that go in most of my beers and I only have to adjust my pre-boil volume by less than a quart to compensate.

Scimmia said:

Pellet: More stable in storage, less volume to store, ~10% better utilization, cheaper

Click to expand...

Bob, the owner of my LHBS commented to me that as of right now, with the hop shortage and all, the supply of leaf hops is, ounce per ounce, cheaper than pellet.

This was the final straw for me. Having pellet prices jump from $1.00 to $3.00 an ounce in four months had me exploring other options and I found that leaf was cheaper.

yeah, with the shortage, crazy things will happen, I'm just going by what I've seen up to now. I just bought a few kinds of hops for use in the next couple of months, and the leaf was still more expensive across the board than the pellets.

Bearcat Brewmeister said:

Leaf hop absorb significantly less liquid than that. It is about 6 ounces of liquid per ounce of hops. I have an IPA recipe that uses about 5 ounces of hops instead of the normal ounce or two that go in most of my beers and I only have to adjust my pre-boil volume by less than a quart to compensate.

Click to expand...

All I know is my own experience. When I've used 1 oz., I've have an extra 1/2 gallon to add post boil. When I've used 3oz, I've had to add over 1 gallon. But that beer did an extra 20 minutes boil time.

It could also be that I siphon out of my brew pan instead of pouring through a strainer or using a hop strainer. I'm planning on pouring with a strainer with the next batch I brew.

I like the whole hops.

THose fluffy bags of leafy goodness remind me of another indulgence of my youth.

I have used mostly pellets and plugs. I have begun to hate pellets as yesterday I brewed up a batch of Kolsch and even at a moderate hop level it made a freaking mess and I lost aprox 2 gal out or a 13 gallon recipie.

At least with leaf hops ( and plugs ) you can filter them

PS anyone here use muslin bags for leaf hops to make removal easy?