Crushing pellet hops for quicker extraction

[JONNYROTTEN]

Would crushing pellet hops improve extraction?
More for dry hopping but maybe whirlpool.
It seems like it would just because more surface area would mean a quicker easier extraction. Stick them in a bag as not to get hop dust in fermenter (not that it would matter)

It seems to make sense? Dust will release it goodness faster than busting out of a pellet?

 

[Jayjay1976]

Waste of time, IMHO. Hop pellets dissolve pretty quickly once they hit the wort.

 

[Sailingeric]

I would agree with Jayjay, they break up nearly the second they hit the wort.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I guess your right. I guess I'm not grasping how it takes 3 or 4 days or longer for dry hops to extract the oil from hop dust..Not a lot of surface area there. Seems like it should happen in no time...but I suppose that's another story

 

[govner1]

^^^^This.! Why make it more difficult than necessary?

 

[Jayjay1976]

I guess your right. I guess I'm not grasping how it takes 3 or 4 days or longer for dry hops to extract the oil from hop dust..Not a lot of surface area there. Seems like it should happen in no time...but I suppose that's another story

I'm not a chemist but I doubt that surface area is a limiting factor. Solubility of hop oils into ethanol, the effect of beer ph on diffusion of said oils, and whatever sorcery the yeast perform are all likely more consequential. Besides, what's the hurry? Homebrewing will teach you more about patience than almost anything else. Except sanitation. That's #1.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

It's not that I'm rushing it, its more of a question I never thought of before as I was brewing today.

 

[day_trippr]

Pelletized hops are already milled pretty fine. I'd think any crusher would end up coated in lupulin. Efficiency hit right there.
Even in a cold-ish fermentor any pellets I've used have turned to hop mush within 15 minutes. In the boil it's nearly instantaneous.

What are you trying to solve? Time can't be that short for you yet

Cheers!

 

[Jayjay1976]

It's not that I'm rushing it, its more of a question I never thought of before as I was brewing today.

Oh yeah, WTF was I thinking! You're the guy that lagers Oktoberfest for eight years! You, good sir, are a patient man!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Oh yeah, WTF was I thinking! You're the guy that lagers Oktoberfest for eight years! You, good sir, are a patient man!

Ya but if I crushed the dry hops it would have been done in 7 years 364 days

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

What are you trying to solve? Time can't be that short for you yet

Cheers!

More than once my wifes told me I'm on borrowed time...maybe I'm startin to believe it