Hop leaf vs pellets

[Fido97]

Hi, to date I have only ever used hops in leaf form (no idea why its just the way things have gone). I have acquired some EKG pellets which I am planning to use but I am not sure if you should adjust quantity and/or methodology in any way? Any tips/preferences much appreciated. For instance do they impart exactly the same yield by weight or does one need to adjust the quantity accordingly? Cheers

[zgoda]

I've been told to use 10% less pellets than whole.

[Blackjack]

And if you normally filter the wort through the hop bed, then how do you do that with pellets.

I understood that pellets were really only suitable to whirlpool filters in the Copper

[banjokat]

Yep, I use a copper tube and magic mesh hop filter for leaf hops but I'm pretty sure it would be inadequate for pellets.

[fego]

I use pellets without a whirlpool to good effect in the copper. I just whiz up the wort after boiling using a large wooden spoon until I can't stir it up any more. I then leave it to calm down before running off which allows most of the pellets to form in the middle of the boiler away from the tap.

Occasionally I might throw a few goldings leaves in after it has calmed down a bit and get them to settle near the tap to filter but unless you're using a pump, you should be able to avoid any issues with pellets if you stir it up like a maniac and leave it alone before running off. The yeast in the FV will drag any residue down.

[fisherman]

Google Hop Spider for a search. I use on to great effect with pellets in every brew.

[Oli1979]

I use whole hops/ leafs in the copper for boil, and pellets in the FV. When you crash cool the FV after fermentation, the hop sediment will drop to the bottom of your FV.
I used pellets once in my copper, and i couldn't get the wort out through the filter as it had blocked the mesh.

[Queequeg]

The main drawback with pellets is seperating them from the wort. The easiest solution seems to be a hop spider, which you can make pretty easily. I tried whirlpooling and didn't get much luck. You can simply use a nylon bag in the boil but in constrains the hop material quite a lot which reduces utilization. Here is my hopspider I built recently, I havn't been able to use it yet as I am doing a big upgrade on my brewery but soon.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/just-ma ... er-454597/

The advantages is of pellets are you need less for bittering. Some will argue that you will need more for aroma additions because oils are lost during pelletization but I think this is a moot point when you have to weigh it against hop freshness. Pellet hops stay fresh for longer because the surface area is lower for oxidation.

When buying hops I look to buy those from the most recent harvest, after which if I have a choice I go for pellets, this way I aim for the highest freshness.

[zgoda]

What kind of problems did you have with whirlpool? This is easiest technique I could imagine, just stir and wait the trub forms into cone then decant from above the trub cone.