hop leaf or pellet

Never used leaf hops either but with a pilsner I would just go with the pellets. Leaf hops may give you a little more aroma, but alot depends on what condition they are in, and leaf hops will take a little more of your wort volume. If you were brewing an ipa I'd prob say go for the leaf.

 

I wonder if anyone can really tell the difference in a blind taste test between beers brewed with leaf or pellets. Would be interesting. If it we're me, I'd go with pellet. Less hassle, less space needed in kettle, less absorption loss. Apparently there is also a bit of an oxidation risk with whole hops when dry hopping, O2 hiding out in those cones I guess.

 

Doesnt matter. If just doing a pils, then use pellets in the boil as your losses with be less in the kettle with pellets.

I prefer leaf, but mostly for the fact I have a ton of it, and usually do hoppy beers, and dry hop a ton.

Pellet would be the best choice I think in this instance. I do my pilsners with pellets.

 

"what is the difference in aroma and taste?"

Both are hops...take your pick... how u plan to contain/retrieve them in the boil, while dryhopping/kegging (if any) is the real consideration. If u haven't used whole cones before, why not give it a try?

 

If you decide to use whole hops just make sure they a fresh (e.g., less than 6-12 months old). One disadvantage to whole hops is that they do not last as long as pellet hops. Pellet hops in mlyar, nitrogen flushed bags stored in a freezer will last for 3-4 years.

Good luck with your Pilsner!

Cheers!

 

I had the impression (from experience, mainly) that if you're going to use a metric-butt-ton of hops, that pellet was preferable because of the trub loss differential between pellet and leaf. In smaller amounts I haven't noticed anything particularly different. I'd like to hear from anyone who thinks dry-hopping, or use in heavily hopped beers, is better one way or another, and if they take additional trub loss considerations when deciding. I suspect the differences would be harder to quantify in a controlled experiment than most would expect, but this is an educated guess, not based on hard evidence.

 

I agree that leaf hops, even with ideal storage, are best used within a year. But 3-4 years for pellet? NFW are they anywhere near fresh after 3-4 years, IMO.

 

A number of years ago I did an 'experiment' in brewing two batches of APA. In one batch I dry hopped with 1 ounce of Cascade pellets and the other with 1 ounce of Cascade whole hops. I did not really notice any difference.

I should caveat that this one 'experiment' was not a good 'experiment' since it was not a split batch. Also one data point is ess than ideal for making a conclusion.

Hopefully others will provide some input on the dry hopping topic.

Cheers!

 

From the HopUnion FAQ:

“Hop deterioration is impacted by numerous variables, the two most important being heat exposure and oxidation. For properly sealed, nitrogen flushed pellets, customers can expect a 3-4 year life expectancy. Raw hops however have a much shorter life span (approximately 6 months to 1 year). Regardless of the product size or packaging, hops should be stored in a cold, air tight environment to ensure optimum freshness and quality.”

Cheers!

 

I knew there would be a quote coming. What do you think about the freshness (both flavor/aroma bittering potential) of 3-4 year old hop pellets, as compared to <1 year, based on your experience? In mine, it's not pretty.

 

the 3-4 yr old ones better be heavily discounted

 

In my experience leaf hops can be used at least several years after harvest/drying if they are (i) vacuum packed and (ii) kept in the freezer.

Pellet hops have the definite advantage that they absorb much less wort, and so they are good for making IPAs and other hop bombs.

Sometimes it comes down to process. I use a bazooka type filter in my brew pot, which only works well with whole cone hops. When I use pellet hops I always put them in a mesh bag when boiling or steeping.

OTOH, I dry hop with pellets without using a mesh bag (in primary and secondary). Were I to dry hop in the keg, I'd definitely use a bag.

 

I usually take the quotes from hop companies with a grain of salt since A) the starability of hops is based on room temp not freezer, and B) most of the recearch appears to be on the bails of leaf hops simply wrapped in a cloth sitting in a brewery or the back of a home brew shop as opposed to well kept hops in a homebrewer's freezer that have been vacuum sealed.

As far as hop or pellet, I use both. Leaf for everything I grow, pellet if I buy (I buy it by the pound in a group buy, and they all prefer pellet, and they seem to be cheaper when we get them). I prefer leaf as leaf don't turn into sludge making it into my fermenter (have to remove to reuse yeast) and I enjoy keg hopping my beers which leaves lots of particulate floating about when there are pellets in the mix.

 

I have brewed tons of beers and tested this same theory last year. I found that when dry hopping with leaf hops it was more efficient simply because there were no tiny hop particles left in my bottled beer and the leaf hops also helped clarify my beers. However, aroma and flavor were unnoticeable in difference.

I have also tried making beer with pellet hops and leaf hops that were left in a hot storage shed due to a friends mistake. I brewed the same two basic pale ales, one with fresh pellet Chinook, one with year old warm storages Chinook, one with fresh leaf cascade and one with the year old leaf cascade.

Of course the flavors and aromas of the beers were way different but surprisingly the bitterness was about the same. Which was a contradiction to a growers page that talked about alpha acids breaking down if they are not stored at cold temperatures.

I also bought some el Dorado leaf hops that were 2 years old once for insanely cheap price. And I found that they were very fresh and cirusy tasting. I think that the science of hops is very new and people still have a lot to learn about them.

 

It's where you add hops, to your beer after fermentation is complete, or near complete, and right before you package it.

Adds to the flavor, and aroma, and is kind of like the icing on the cake for beers you want to have a nice hoppy aroma to it.

If you brew an IPA or something, once it's done fermenting, you can add more hops to it, allow it to sit for 5-7 days, and then package the beer in your keg/bottles, minus the hops obviously.

 

Two things;
1) Leaf has always seemed to bring more j'ne sais quoi quality to a batch...especially flavor and aroma.

2) Leaf sucks up a lotta wort.
New brewers would be well advised to stick with pellets.

3) Just sayin'.