Using whole hops?

[NikolausXX]

I just made a batch of Heffeweizen, and did not know that the hops were leaf hops until I opened the package. Too late, wort is boiling. The lhbs, seemed to only sell pellets, and I was unaware of this. I made due, I did not have hop bag, so I put them in like they were pellets. I took care to use my auto siphon to transfer to a ale pail, then to carboy. I think I filtered out most of the gunk, but some of the small ball like particles made there way to fermenter. Is this ok practice, I have 2 1 gallon bags of FREE cascade whole hops coming in from a friend that grows them soon. I should probably invest in some bags, but with all the hop additoins in some brews, I would need 3 or 4 or them. I think the beer came out ok, its on tail end of primary right now, so no tastings have been done.
On another note, can I dry hop with wole hops, or too much tannin and b/s going to spoil my beer?

 

[Warped04]

Oh my.

I just made a batch of Heffeweizen, and did not know that the hops were leaf hops until I opened the package. Too late, wort is boiling. The lhbs, seemed to only sell pellets, and I was unaware of this. I made due, I did not have hop bag, so I put them in like they were pellets. I took care to use my auto siphon to transfer to a ale pail, then to carboy. I think I filtered out most of the gunk, but some of the small ball like particles made there way to fermenter. Is this ok practice,

I think so. I maybe a little confused, but as you rack to your carboy even more will settle out. Then when you rack to your bottling bucket your beer should be clear. The major difference between leaf and pellet hops is utilization.

I have 2 1 gallon bags of FREE cascade whole hops coming in from a friend that grows them soon. I should probably invest in some bags, but with all the hop additoins in some brews, I would need 3 or 4 or them. I think the beer came out ok, its on tail end of primary right now, so no tastings have been done.

Bags are good. I would pick up some sort of vaccum seal type device to seal your hops. It will help.

On another note, can I dry hop with wole hops, or too much tannin and b/s going to spoil my beer?

You can dry hop with whole hops or pellet, it is a matter of personal preference.

Good luck. I hope I interpreted your post right.

 

[BarleyWater]

Whole hops work just the same as pellet hops, you just may get a bit more IBU from pellets due to the being ground up. I have only once used bags, and prefer without.

I'm not sure why you transfered to a bucket before the carboy, this isn't needed, and is one more step where infection can occur. A lot of people pour the whole damn thing in their fermenter and don't worry about it, with good results. It will all just settle to the bottom, as will the dry hops when you throw those in.

 

[NikolausXX]

I was trying not to get any of the hops, and goo they left behind during the boil into my fermenter. I had read somewhere it is bad. Mabey next time ill just run it all through the carboy funnel. The screen in the funnel stops most stuff. As for bags I meant hop bags for the boil, I keep my hops in ziplock bags in the fridge.

 

[BPD]

along a similar/related line I have about 6 oz of an unknown variety planted somewhere between the 60's and 70's that after researching seems to be similar to the aroma varieties close to Willamette. I'm going to use this in a mild ale twice as a bittering and aroma to see what the differences are. from what I read the leaf hops are to be added in a ratio that is 1.25 by weight leaf to what they call for as pellets. is this correct or is there another ratio to use?


also the 5 gallon paint strainers from Lowes (another discussion on this forum) look to be perfect for this use so I did pick up 2-5 gal and 2 one gallon packs to keep on hand. the 5 gal bags have an elastic top to go around the bucket and the liquid poured thru it then the bag removed or it could be tied closed.

 

[NikolausXX]

I dont know. The leaf hops I had were higher alpha than the pellets the recipe called for. I could not find my scale, so I winged it. Heffe tastes good, its still in secondary, so I havnt tried the finsished product, but it tastes really good. I just got a pound or more of cascade in the mail from an online friend from another forum.

 

[uglygoat]

don't worry about getting those hops and break matter in your fermentation vessel.

you don't need a bag for either whole hops, or pellet hops. do some searches on whirlpooling, irish moss, and wort cooling. you can get most of that sediment to drop out before you even rack from kettle to primary.

it is recommended to dry hop with leaf hops mate

 

[NikolausXX]

Good advise, I wirlpooled the last batch, while chilling, cooled fast but only to about 75 degrees, then seemed to stop. I dont have any irish moss at this time. I have pretty crude DIY setup. I let it swirl for 10min or so after chilling. There was a bunch of junk, thats why I racked the way I did. I do a 2 stage fermentation, so I guess it will clear either way. When I racked the heffe, I described, there was VERY LITTLE trub in the yeast cake, and I saved ALOT (7 half pint jars 1/4 or more full) of clean yeast from it. I love this forum, each batch is getting better, as I read more and ask more questins. Glad you guys dont bash the new guy for not knowing everything, or wasting his life away in the search results. I guess I have several batches of whole hops in my future with the rest of the Heffe (hallertau) hops, and the giant bag of free cascades I got in the mail.

 

[BarleyWater]

and the giant bag of free cascades I got in the mail.

bastid.

 

[Bob]

I prefer whole-flower hops over pellets. Pellets are easier to store, but if I can get fresh whole-flower hops, I get 'em.

Whole hops create a better break filter than pellets. I use a racking cane to knock out the cooled wort from the kettle, and whirlpool before. When I use pellets, I suck too much particulate matter into the racking tube; if I use a filter on the end of the cane, it clogs. But if I use whole flowers, I get star-bright wort with neither filter nor clogs.

Bob

 

[SixFoFalcon]

Hefeweizen is one style I don't secondary since it's supposed to be cloudy w/ yeast. In fact, if you secondary until the beer is clear, it is no longer a hefeweizen--it's just a weizen!

WRT hop bags, I just use one bag when I use whole hops. I just add my later hop additions to the same bag as I go. There are some people who even make a "hoop" that holds the bag open and at the top of the kettle the entire time so they can just dump the hops in w/o messing w/ the bag. I don't use whole hops enough to go that far but next year w/ my hop plants going into their second season, I probably will.

 

[bull8042]

..... and the giant bag of free cascades I got in the mail.

But officer, they are just hops, I swear!

 

[cbg96]

I've got a whopping two batches under my belt, so take this for what it's worth, but I used whole hops with both. Nothing but fresh from the backyard vine for the second batch, and combo of purchased dried vacuum packed and backyard for the first. After the boil, I just scooped the hops out as best I could with a ladle, then filtered out the rest when getting everything into the fermenter. No real problems.

 

[NikolausXX]

Im sure it will be plenty cloudy, its starting to settle out a little. But my haus pale ale is cloudy, and I did the same. I dont use irish moss, or anything. I secondary for about 14
on most brews. I guess this is my first heffe, I could bottle it a week early if I want too. From the looks and the tasting, it is still pretty cloudy. I had cops over here at 2:30 in the morning the other night, hops were the least of there concern. I was in no trouble, I called them, so its all good. Im making another batch of heffe, with some minor batch tweaks this weekend. With 2 fermenters 1 primary, 1 secondary. This method works for me well. I dont have much other options, unless I primary for like 10-14 days and bottle then, before I make my next batch. I make 5-6 gal batch every 2 weeks.