Dry Hopping: Pellet vs Whole

[Jaded and Bitter]

I have always been of the opinion whole hops are better for dry hopping, well being whole and all, all things being equal etc...

However I have just done two 19l single hop APA's, identical recipes, yeast etc.

My goal was to compare NZ Cascade whole flowers to Falconers Flight pellets. Both got 30g Dry Hop.

Both beers are great (nay bewdifull) but the Falconers APA has the win in terms of aroma by a country mile. The Falcon brew had over a week DH time while the NZ Cascade brew had 6 days.

When I emptied the medium hop bag - which wasnt bursting with hops, from the NZ Cascade APA I noticed yellow lupulin was still easily identified in the cones (even with my gammy eye).

I know Pellets are minced and release everything quickly, I'm wondering if whole flowers need more time on the beer?

Experiences, thoughts???

I know part can be put down to diff hop varieties but I was expecting both to be bursting out of the glass, and well all the lupulin still in the cones etc. This is something I have noticed in other whole hop dry hopped brews - not as much bang as I'd expected.

I like using Flowers and plugs for Dry Hopping as it seems more slow food and real to me, so I'd happlily adjust my brewing practices to accomodate them.

 

[New_guy]

Hard to validate - if your goal was to compare pellets to flowers then you would need to make 2 identical brews with identical hop varietals and dry hop schedules - with the only variance being hop form - one pellet and one flower.

 

[Spiesy]

Temperature of wort/beer also plays a part. What temp were both these brews at?

 

[gunbrew]

Hi Jaded and Bitter,
I was using whole hops for dry hopping, Yellow lupulin was still in the hops.
Also when using whole hops in the boil, Yellow lupulin was still in the hops.

After seeing that I considered it was being wasted.
I now blend the whole hops before use.
Last time i mentiond this I was shot down in flames by know it all's. (who had not even tried doing it)
Their argument was that blending hops would mean vegatable flavours.
I have not experianced any vegatable flavours.
Mainly just the advantage of the freshest hops used to their maximum potential.
Not saying its the best way but it works well for me.
Cheers.

 

[technobabble66]

Fwiw, I remember coming across some info last year (while looking to use flowers to dry hop) that stated when dry hopping, the flowers need twice as long to have the full effect or rather, about 2 weeks (cf 3-7 days for pellets).
Also, the effect is meant to be a little more subtle and smoother with flowers, cf pellets; but it just takes a while for full extraction.

Sorry, I don't have a link for it. But I read it on the internets, so it must be true!

 

[Jaded and Bitter]

Thanks Guys,

My Goal was really just to try out two new hop varities, but got far less bang from the whole hops than expected.

Both great hops BTW. Faconers is clean and passionfruit aging to citrus kapow, while the NZ Cascade is a Herbal/Earthy Citrus. Would probably make a nice blend.

Both were dry hopped at low twenties.

Gunbrew - thanks for your observations on the lupulin. I'll try your method on blending the hops first, cant see anything wrong with the idea - pellets are minced cones prior to being forced under extreme pressure through the die right? I can see blending seconds before tossing straight into a brew could be better.

Technobable - thanks, does ring true. I have left whole hops on brew 2-3 weeks before and when done theyve been, well just beer coloured.

Another point I remember is I tossed the hops on the garden near the gate and everytime I went past for the next couple of days I copped some good lingering hop aroma, so still some unspent potentcy there.

So I either:
1. Leave whole hops in for 2 weeks; or
2. put them in the coffee grinder (sans coffee), for a quick chop beforehand.