Using Different Hop Pellets from Kit

[Mungri]

Hi
Currently on my second kit after a long break from brewing. It's a Beer Works Presidents Sierra Pale Ale.
This comes with a 50g bag of Citra hop pellets to be added after the first 5 days in the FV.
Thinking of getting another of these kits, but using a different hop.
Could I swap the Citra for Mosaic pellets? Assume it would be OK, both being used in the same kind of ales.

Also, the instructions that came with the Beer works kit said to break the hops down with a knife for 1 minute, add 500ml of boiling water and break down for a further 2 minutes.
This can't be right as when the boiling water touches the pellets they disolve.
Thinking these instructions must be for hop leaves. Are you supposed to just drop the pellets in whole?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[terrym]

Try this for hop descriptions.
http://beerlegends.com/hops-varieties
and this
http://www.onebeer.net/hopschart.html
If you want to experiment go for it I say. My usual start point for dry hopping is 50g for a 20odd litre brew.
As far as the instructions...
1. You could follow them. Hops pellets don't 'dissolve' they just break up. What they are suggesting you do is to make up a hop tea. Hop teas are more about flavour than aroma. I have found that to make the tea mobile enough you have to use about 100ml water for every 10g hop pellets (which co-incidently is their ratio). Use less water and you end up with a soggy lump of hop particles, more and you dilute the brew. I use water at about 85*C and leave it to cool before adding the lot to the brew.
2. Ignore the instructions and just chuck the pellets as they are into the brew. This is dry hopping, and is more about aroma rather than flavour. The hop particles just absorb the brew, break up and float or sink to the bottom. More on that here.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=61045
If I were you I would go the hop tea route.
However whatever you do you need to think about how you are going to filter out the hop particles at the packaging stage. I now use a small (sanitised) nylon mesh sock which fits over the end of the siphon tube, which came from a Festival kit. Works really well.

 

[Mungri]

Thanks for the links.
The kit has a nylon mesh bag with it. As you say, the bit about using the mesh bag with the syphon is explained.
The reason I thougt the instructions were wrong was when it said to break up for a further 2 minutes after adding the water. There was nothing to break up as soon as the water was added. The intructions go on to say "use a large spoon to add just the hops into your beer, leaving the liquid behind".
I used a vegetable draining spoon with small holes in to get as much of the hops as possible. Couldn't really split from the water though, hops had taken almost all of the water up.
Not worried really. The Citra smell was pungent, so I assume it will do something.
Just wanted to know for next time.
It will be interesting to see how much flavour the hops impart.