Whole hops vs hop pellets

[shearclass]

Hi All

I imagine this has been explained and discussed several thousand times on this forum, but as usual i couldn't find the thread.

Can you explain what is the difference between whole hops and hop pellets?

1) - For a given hop, is there a noticeable difference in flavour between a hop and a pellet?
2) - Does one keep better than the other?
3) - Is either preferable for dry hopping?
4) - Does Xg of pellets = Xg of whole hops?

I bought some pellets, as I thought they may keep longer. I opened the vacuum sealed pack, used what i needed to dry hop my last kit, and froze them.

Cheers in advance.

 

[cutnrun]

it may just be me but every time i use pellets my hop strainer gets stuck. it was so bad this weekend that it took 3 hours to drain from the copper to the FV!!

 

[31bb3]

ive only used pellets once and tney blocked my filter up took ages to run off

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Think I read it somewhere that breweries create a whirlpool so all the hop pellet and trub stay on the middle of the copper whilst draining off the wort. :hmm:

BB

 

[phettebs]

Hop pellets are very common in the US. I use a whirlpool also, to get them to settle into the middle in a cone. It works well for me. I transfer via auto-siphon so it doesn't get plugged up. The worst that happens is that I suck some of it into the FV. No big deal.

 

[shearclass]

Didn't mention this at first for fear of being poo-poohed, but i brew kits, so am mainly interested in this from a dryp hopping point of view.

in time, i will do AG, but that is a long way in the horizon at the moment.

Edit - but thanks for your replies so far anyway! :thumb:

 

[Moley]

Didn't mention this at first for fear of being poo-poohed, but i brew kits

That does not happen and will not be allowed to happen here :nono:

Kits have come on a very long way since I first brewed any back in the 70s/80s.

Few kit brewers will ever bother trying to improve them by adding extra malts or hops, so you've already set your sights that little bit higher.

Very few indeed will ever make the transition to AG.




I've never used pellets though and can't answer your question, sorry.

 

[shearclass]

Very few indeed will ever make the transition to AG.

If i had time to brew and money to get the kit together I would be brewing AG now. However, my life is ridiculous at the moment.

 

[unclepumble]

For dry hopping Pellets are not the best choice really, you will get much better results with flowers.

UP

 

[phettebs]

I had typed up a nice reply since I've used both forms to dry hop. However, it never posted.

So a brief recap:

Pellets are messy but can work ok if you use a muslin sack or even a nylon stocking. When I dumped them straight into the secondary, they didn't all settle out and some ended up in the bottle. I just called that "advanced dry hopping."

 

[shearclass]

"advanced dry hopping."

Excellent! :lol: I'm tempted to try that, stick a pellet in a couple ofbottles to see how they turn out. :hmm:

For dry hopping Pellets are not the best choice really, you will get much better results with flowers.

Why is this? I've read on web sites that sell hops that pellets can be good for dry hopping, but with no explanation as to why.

I am currently using a muslin sock that is stuffed with pellets and weighed down by a mug, and am dry hopping with amarillo and chinook

 

[Aleman]

For dry hopping Pellets are not the best choice really, you will get much better results with flowers.

Why is this? I've read on web sites that sell hops that pellets can be good for dry hopping, but with no explanation as to why.

It depends on hop variety, as some of the essential oils are destroyed in the pelletinisation process. Saaz is totally destroyed via pelleting . . . . other varieties are affected less. For those varieties that are less affected . . .pellets may be better as there is less chance of oxidation occurring plus the lupulin glands are well broken . . .however for a good hop aroma you actually want oxidation of the hop oils . . . Ever noticed that you have a beer with a great aroma, that fades suddenly? . . . That's down to the fact that the oxidised aroma components have been reduced, and the reduced compounds are much less aromatic.

Always always always rub up your aroma hops before using them to break up the lupulin glands. If you want a real aroma blast steep them in the cooling wort at no hotter than 80C (and I reckon 70C is better). If you can't do this put them in a litre of hot water at 70C for 30 minutes (as the wort is cooling) then add it to the FV. You can also do this for dry hopping as well

 

[Mike1981]

Always always always rub up your aroma hops before using them to break up the lupulin glands....Stupid question but what does this exactly mean???

 

[graysalchemy]

The lupulin glands hold the aroma oils so if you break the glands you will release the oils and the aroma.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

The lupulin glands hold the aroma oils so if you break the glands you will release the oils and the aroma.

I never knew that, nice tip...thx. :thumb:

BB

 

[unclepumble]

I think a few of us are expert at gland rubbing :shock:

You could also try hop aroma oils, the malt miller has started to sell them.

UP

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I think a few of us are expert at gland rubbing :shock:
UP

Yeah, too true........

 

[shearclass]

Thansk for the responses everyone.

Thanks aleman for more top advice. I just chucked the hops in a muslin bag in the bucket, but next time I'll steep them in hot water.

I left them in there for a week. When i removed them prior to bottling, i gave the bag a squeeze t o get the moisture out. The pellets had turned to mush it seemed. When i squeezed teh bag, it was a very murky liquid that came out, almost like the sediment in the bottom of the bucket.

Do you think this was the hops that have turned to mush being squeezed out, or was it simply sediment from the beer that had got trapped inside the bag? I had weighed the bag down so it sank to the bottom.

Can;t remember if i mentioned this, but they were Chinook and Amarillo pellets.

from the comments above, I don't understand why hop pellets exist if there is no obvious benefit to them.

Cheers