Vacuum packed or pellets?

[GeeThom]

Every brew I have made has been with vacuum packed dried hops and I have never considered why I should use pellets. What is the benefits of using pellets, do they absorb less wort, give more flavour or is it just preference?

There seems to be more availability of vacuum hops rather than pellet.

Why should I give them a try?

[orlando]

I think the No. 1 reason for commercial breweries is convenience. They take up much less room than leaf and are a lot easier to handle. There are other benefits too, whirlpooling is made a lot easier using pellets, there is some anecdotal evidence that they isomerise more easily but they're AA content is less than the equivalent flower so you usually have to use more. Dry hopping in the fermentor is also a slight advantage as they pack down with the rest of the trub more easily. However, dry hopping casks is still better with leaf. I have used both and have not found the advantages over whelming at our level but don't mind if I can only get one rather than the other, if I have a choice I will go for pellets as my freezer storage is limited due to SWMBO insisting on using the freezer for food as well.

[CestrIan]

I think that commercial brewers use pellets because they absorb less wort so you get more beer for your buck. I have tried both and the main thing for me is pellets get through my hop strainer more easily than whole hops. I sometimes use a combination of pellets and whole hops in the kettle and the whole hops act as a filter stopping the disintegrated pellets and the break material from getting through the hop strainer. Pellets are better for whirl pooling, but my hop strainer is round and on the inside edge of the boiler so I can't whirlpool or the hops end up in the middle so no filtration. I find that pellets are better for dry hopping because whole hops just want to sit on the top of your cold beer and don't readily absorb the beer. If I am using whole hops to dry hop I have to put them in a grain sock with a weight otherwise the bag wants to float. Pellets just break up and sink, so you need to give it a gentle stir every day. The other thing is you might need a small strainer on your bottling stick or tap to stop pellets getting in to your finished beer. It depends on your setup.

[WishboneBrewery]

another reason for commercial brewers is that they can just run the hops out of the copper when using pellets, if its whole hops the chances are someone has to climb inside and dig them out by hand.
If you are going to use pellets for homebrew make sure you have a Mesh Hop-Stopper, the larger the better.

[orlando]

[quote="pdtnc"
If you are going to use pellets for homebrew make sure you have a Mesh Hop-Stopper, the larger the better.[/quote]
Good point.

This is my solution. Coarse grade muslin fashioned into a drawstring bag (thanks to SWMBO).