Whole Hops

[Dark_Ale]

I'm Brewing a barley wine this weekend, and using whole hops for the first time.

I'm buying them from freshops I assume they will have the alpha acid on the package when they get there,
Do I just use the spread sheets with the weights and alpha acids just as I have with the pellet hops to get the IBU's that I want?

I'm boiling in a keg now, and if I use pellet hops its gonna stop up my valve when I go to drain it out, and I gonna end up loosing volume but I have heard that if I use whole hops and a Bazooka screen I can get in all out.
Thanks

 

[david_42]

Freshops labels their packages nicely.

Yep.

Whole hops soak up a fair amount of wort, so I doubt if switching from pellets will improve the yield. Bazookas work with pellets, too.

 

[Ivan Lendl]

Some people give pellets a higher bitter yeild but I dont. Maybe 5-10 percent more whole hops, I dunno its negilgible at best.