Leaf v Pellet Hops

[Brewelder]

My local HB shop have a good deal on loose leaf Cascade hops, but not ever having used leaf hops, what is the difference between the two?

Would i need to buy more leaf to get a similar result if using pellets?

 

[RichardM]

Have a look here where John Palmer discusses the various forms of hops

 

[Brewelder]

Have a look here where John Palmer discusses the various forms of hops

A good read that but unless i missed something it still doesn’t tell me if loose hops should be added in the same quantities as pellet hops

 

[RoomWithABrew]

brewfather has a different selector on it for whole hops, pellets, cryo or extract. Utilisation is greater with pellets according to the program.

Had a fiddle and seems to be about 7% more utilisation for the pellet hops on a 90 minute boil. You'd have to play with your timings and numbers. My eg I looked at 25.5 IBU for pellets and 23.7 IBU for whole hops.

Kettle loss is greater with whole hops as they suck up more liquid.

Great if you use some whole hops in a hop back to filter the wort before going to the fermenter.

 

[Bzee]

Pellets everytime for me now that I've worked out best way to filter them out. Whole hops are like sponges and I don't think they give up as much of the aromas.

 

[RichardM]

A good read that but unless i missed something it still doesn’t tell me if loose hops should be added in the same quantities as pellet hops

No, but it answers your first question, "what is the difference between the two?"

 

[Sadfield]

The most common hop pellets are (Type) T90, you can get occasionally get T45. The number relates to their weight in comparison to whole hops. So T90 has 10% less of the vegetal matter that's of little use. For T90 pellet to leaf conversion, multiply by 1.11.

 

[Tanglefoot]

I use both in the boil but only dry hop with pellets purely because leaf leaves a big hop raft which never seems to drop even with cold crashing.

 

[Brewelder]

brewfather has a different selector on it for whole hops, pellets, cryo or extract. Utilisation is greater with pellets according to the program.

Had a fiddle and seems to be about 7% more utilisation for the pellet hops on a 90 minute boil. You'd have to play with your timings and numbers. My eg I looked at 25.5 IBU for pellets and 23.7 IBU for whole hops.

Kettle loss is greater with whole hops as they suck up more liquid.

Great if you use some whole hops in a hop back to filter the wort before going to the fermenter.

Brilliant info mate and that works for me as my next brew doesn’t require and boil additions, only a small amount at xero minutes and the rest are dry hopped.

Plus my local are offering 500gms at £9.99, bargain.

I use both in the boil but only dry hop with pellets purely because leaf leaves a big hop raft which never seems to drop even with cold crashing.

I can see cry hopping with leaf being an issue due to my Fermzilla as i mainly brew IPA’s and NEIPA’s so the FV is always fully closed and dry hopping takes place through the tri conical attachment on top (see attached)

Pellets aren’t a problem, however i can see the leaf hops getting stuck.

 

[MashBag]

Pellets have more choice too.

 

[Agentgonzo]

A good read that but unless i missed something it still doesn’t tell me if loose hops should be added in the same quantities as pellet hops

A rule of thumb is
* If using loose hops instead of pellets => use 10% more
* If using pellets instead of loose hops => use 10% less

Loose hops form a nice filter bed at the end of the boil that helps filter out hot (and cold) break and you get less trub in the fermenter.
Pellets are much easier to store in the freezer as they take up less space

 

[Brewelder]

Pellets have more choice too.

Agreed, but at £9.99 for 500gms of cascade i though it was a good deal so will get them anyway and maybe experiment with them.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

now that I've worked out best way to filter them out.

Could you share please?

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

A good read that but unless i missed something it still doesn’t tell me if loose hops should be added in the same quantities as pellet hops

I believe Pellets are more concentrated. I use brewers friend to create recipes and it will automatically adjust the expected IBUs.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Agreed, but at £9.99 for 500gms of cascade i though it was a good deal so will get them anyway and maybe experiment with them.

Go for it!

 

[RoomWithABrew]

You could put your whole hops in bag with magnet and then drag them down into beer for the dry hop and drag bag out with magnet at end of dry hop. Then they can drip out nicely. You can give the bag a good moving around when attached to the magnet to mix up the beer to improve extraction.
I'd vacuum seal the hops after partial use and store in the freezer.

 

[hoppyscotty]

A rule of thumb is
* If using loose hops instead of pellets => use 10% more
* If using pellets instead of loose hops => use 10% less

Loose hops form a nice filter bed at the end of the boil that helps filter out hot (and cold) break and you get less trub in the fermenter.
Pelles are much easier to store in the freezer as they take up less space

Not sure about that. I’ve only used whole wet hops once and they floated through the boil and sat on top of the wort and I had to stir pretty much constantly to ensure I got utilisation. As I was transferring to the fermenter so didn’t sit on the bottom and create a filter bed. They were wet hops picked literally minutes before being added so maybe they are buoyant and dried whole hops not so much.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Quite possibly. Mine have always been dried hops. They float at the start of the boil, then sink and get churned around as it boils. Then sink after cooling. This was before I moved to a CFC, so only have experience with an immersion chiller

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Not sure about that. I’ve only used whole wet hops once and they floated through the boil and sat on top of the wort and I had to stir pretty much constantly to ensure I got utilisation. As I was transferring to the fermenter so didn’t sit on the bottom and create a filter bed. They were wet hops picked literally minutes before being added so maybe they are buoyant and dried whole hops not so much.

I used my wet hops in a spider and in the hopback for the two brews where I've been able to get whole hops. Again I grew them picked them used them straightaway.

 

[RichardM]

I used my wet hops in a spider and in the hopback for the two brews where I've been able to get whole hops. Again I grew them picked them used them straightaway.

Did they sink? I've only used wet hops once and they sank.