A friend just gave me a 2 oz of vaccum pack bag of Chinook hops. They look dried but are not in pellet form. Can I use them to dry hop in my secondary? I have a fine mesh bag I’ve used before with good results. A friend who has been brewing for a long time, says I should only use pellet hops or a plug of hops.
Thanks for all the info, this forum is excellent.
[quote=“dforlow”]A friend just gave me a 2 oz of vaccum pack bag of Chinook hops. They look dried but are not in pellet form. Can I use them to dry hop in my secondary? I have a fine mesh bag I’ve used before with good results. A friend who has been brewing for a long time, says I should only use pellet hops or a plug of hops.
Thanks for all the info, this forum is excellent.[/quote]
There’s no reason not to use loose dried hops (not sure why your friend thinks otherwise…plugs basically turn into the same loose hops once they sit in the beer for a while).
As for using Chinook to dry hop …do it. I’ve tried it and liked it, but I think that the only way you can decide for sure if you like the character it imparts is to just try it. As with most brewing related advice, in the end, it simply boils down to personal taste.
So did you(OP) use the Chinooks for DHing? I too love the smell/flavor of Chinook hops, so far, number 1 for me.
The drawback of using whole hops for dryhopping is that they absorb a lot more beer than pellets. You might not get as much contact if you bag them, as they really expand when wet. Otherwise, there’s really no difference.
I like Chinook as a dryhop. Give it a try.
