Hop chemistry - whirlpool vs fermenter?

[aangel]

Question:

-whirlpool hopping below the evaporation temperature of the volatile oils in hops theoretically just acts like steeping tea at a hot temperature.
-dry hopping before fermentation's complete, theoretically, acts exactly the same, albeit at a lower temperature with less agitation but with longer contact time.

Both whirlpool and pre-ferment dry hopping would extra hop oils which would then be biotransformed by the yeast. that being the case...

Can we start skipping the whirlpool hop step and just throw in pellets into the fermenter?

 

[cladinshadows]

Sure, you can start skipping the whirlpool hop step. Don't expect the same result, though. By your premise all hopping methods are the same, just with different temperatures, different agitation levels, and different contact times. If they're all the same, why not move all of them to the beginning of the boil and get them all out of the way conveniently? I may not be understanding your proposal, but the whole idea behind hopping at different points in the process is that different oils volatilize at different temperatures and contact times -and give you different results. Skipping the whirlpool step and only adding pellets to the fermenter will give you more dry-hop character and no whirlpool hop character.

Speaking as a southern California resident I think your best bet is to just add hops at whirlpool AND in the fermenter!

 

[kh54s10]

So you are describing a hop stand, and pre-ferment dry hop. Both are good techniques. Both will give you different results. Dry hopping before fermentation is said to lose a lot of aroma passed out by the off-gassing of co2.

For me it is to do a hop stand before the wort is fully cooled. Then a dry hop AFTER fermentation. Or when I am lazy, just a large hop stand.