Whole Hops: What to Do?

[Mainer]

My dad just got back from Oregon, and since he couldn't bring beer on the plane, he brought me fresh hops as a souvenir. I've only ever used pellets. What should I do with these?
Crystal, Mt. Hood, and CTZ, 4 Oz each.

 

[Double_D]

Use them the same as pellet hops. I still prefer to dry hop with whole cones.

 

[Mainer]

Use them the same as pellet hops. I still prefer to dry hop with whole cones.

Same quantities, or does it take a greater volume of fresh hops?

 

[JKaranka]

Most calculators adjust IBUs for pellets as slightly higher than whole hops. Fresh ones are great to dry hop.

One of those weird things from Brulosophy xbmts is that it people can tell a dry hop of cones vs pellets, but they can't tell whether hops have been boiled for 20 minutes vs added after the boil.

 

[Mainer]

Hmm... interesting, then, that he brought me three different mostly-bittering hops. Has anybody ever tried dry-hopping with crystal, mt. Hood, or Columbus?

 

[JKaranka]

One of my local breweries has been making an all Columbus golden ale for about ten years. Dry hopped. Fairly aggressive and American, can come across a bit garlicky. Mt Hood is nice, fairly aromatic and old fashioned. I don't have much experience of Crystal but I have a bottle of the Leffe all-Crystal beer going in the coming days.

 

[Mainer]

One of my local breweries has been making an all Columbus golden ale for about ten years. Dry hopped. Fairly aggressive and American, can come across a bit garlicky. Mt Hood is nice, fairly aromatic and old fashioned. I don't have much experience of Crystal but I have a bottle of the Leffe all-Crystal beer going in the coming days.

I've done a lot with Crystal, which is another low-alpha child of Hallertau; it's the primary hop in Off-Color Brewing's Apex Predator which I love, and there's a local brewery that does an all-crystal DIPA called Crystal Persuasion. It's subtle but it's got a nice smooth herbal aroma going on. I like pairing it with something citrusy.

 

[Mainer]

One of my local breweries has been making an all Columbus golden ale for about ten years. Dry hopped. Fairly aggressive and American, can come across a bit garlicky. Mt Hood is nice, fairly aromatic and old fashioned. I don't have much experience of Crystal but I have a bottle of the Leffe all-Crystal beer going in the coming days.

I think I'll save the Crystal for the light saison I'm planning for June, and maybe save the Mt. Hood for a dark saison I want to brew on the same yeast cake in July.

 

[Beerthoven]

Just because they are whole cones doesn't mean they have to be used exclusively for dry hopping. They can be used for bittering, flavor, and aroma additions in the boil as well. I use whole hops 99% of the time.

 

[Mainer]

Just because they are whole cones doesn't mean they have to be used exclusively for dry hopping. They can be used for bittering, flavor, and aroma additions in the boil as well. I use whole hops 99% of the time.

Indeed. I'd feel kind of silly dry-hopping with Mt. Hood.

 

[Mainer]

Isn't the 15.3% alpha on the CTZ like crazy high?
Or maybe it's just that I tend to use subtler stuff for most of my beers.