I recently made a extract batch on a West Coast IPA. I had made the brew before and really loved how it turned out. It called for 1oz cascade pellet for dry hop but I wanted to change it up this time. I decided to used 2 oz of cascade leaf hops. The end result was a very hoppy floral note to start and a smooth finish. This beer is about 7.5% abv and will be staple for me from now on as I perfect the recipe. Just wondering if anyone else has dry hopped with leaf or plug and noticed differences?
What’s going on in the picture? Are you in the process of racking the beer to the carboy?
Yes. Racking from the primary to the secondary.
I don’t think there is really much difference in the potency imparted between pellets and whole flowers.
That said, I love the beauty of free range whole flowers in a carboy. None of this bag restrained pellet goo. :lol:
I used to try and get a little more volume and when racking to secondary in a 5 gallon carboy,
have enough beer to fill the vessel, effectively soaking the floating raft of dry whole flowers for full infusion. 
Have fun! Sounds like you have a good one there.
I too prefer to dry hop with whole hops. It makes for easier transferring. Less crap in the beer, IMO.
I use 2oz of whole Cascade hops in an APA that has become a house beer of mine. First batch used 1/2oz of pellet. Good, but mild. Second batch was 1oz whole hops. Better, but again, just mild. Most recent batch 2oz whole cascade dry hop. Hit it right on the nose! Freaking awesome beer!
[quote=“pinnah”]I don’t think there is really much difference in the potency imparted between pellets and whole flowers.
That said, I love the beauty of free range whole flowers in a carboy. None of this bag restrained pellet goo. :lol:
I used to try and get a little more volume and when racking to secondary in a 5 gallon carboy,
have enough beer to fill the vessel, effectively soaking the floating raft of dry whole flowers for full infusion.
Have fun! Sounds like you have a good one there.
[/quote]
That’s pretty!
I don’t mess with pellets - don’t like the ooze. Plus, when I have used pellets it’s been long boil - hard to believe you wouldn’t lose volatile aroma compounds in the chopping up-reforming process.
Dangit! I don’t know how to quote, or whatever you call it, but I have to ask you Pinnah - what is in those 2 carboys? That’s about the prettiest beer I’ve ever seen!
Ah, just the beauty of whole hop flowers in a clean secondary…
The Denny Wrye Smile on the right and the house Simarillo on the left. 8)
Just a couple of IPA’s.
Lots of folks advocate NOT transferring to secondary and dry hopping in primary.
While efficient, you totally miss out on the 10-14 day beauty in the picture. :lol:
Cheers.
I think it may be time for " post a pic of your dryhop " thread.
I can appreciate the cleaner quality of of the beer after dry hopping with whole hops…but, my question is…the one time I dry hopped with whole leaf, I had a hell of a time siphoning the beer out with my racking cane into the bottling bucket. It kept clogging all around where the beer gets sucked in at the bottom of the cane…so what do you do to prevent this?
[quote=“pinnah”]I don’t think there is really much difference in the potency imparted between pellets and whole flowers.
That said, I love the beauty of free range whole flowers in a carboy. None of this bag restrained pellet goo. :lol:
I used to try and get a little more volume and when racking to secondary in a 5 gallon carboy,
have enough beer to fill the vessel, effectively soaking the floating raft of dry whole flowers for full infusion.
Have fun! Sounds like you have a good one there.
[/quote]
I don’t doubt the skills of the Pinnah, but I am hoping that during your dry hop of 10-14 days, that these carboys are typically covered from light, and that you just uncovered them for the photo op…
Word. :o
I did weigh the risk of light against the documentation of beauty.
This is how they hang…
couple a hoodies and a shotgun for ambiance. :lol:
As to your clogging question, I use an auto siphon with the tip, and never have had a clog when siphoning out from under the raft.
Cheers.
Beautiful pic, pinnah! Do you just go ahead and cram hops in there until nothing else fits? :lol: You’ve inspired me to blow through a ton of homegrowns just because I can.
I’m still waiting for you to post the recipe for “Pinnah’s Pisstoon IPeeA.”
:cheers:
First time leaf dry-hopper.
Learned if you put too much beer in,
The hops get very very angry and keep coming out the top to get at you.
This is 1 halluertauer 1 fuggle in my Orval non-clone.
I had to act fast and get the baster and then rack a few quarts back out.
Thanks for the heads up. 
[attachment=0]IMG_20120120_213321-1.jpg[/attachment]
What is the best way to get the hops in the slim opening of the carboy without risking an infection, or spilling the hops everywhere? I’ve used pellets mostly because of the ease of getting them in.
Love the look of leave hops in a dry hop. +1 to [quote=“Scott Miller”]I think it may be time for " post a pic of your dryhop " thread.[/quote]
[quote=“Scott Miller”]
Learned if you put too much beer in,
The hops get very very angry and keep coming out the top to get at you.
[/quote] 
I always add dry hops to an empty carboy, through a funnel, which enables no mess.
I use the eraser end of a long pencil to shove them down through the funnel hole.
I then stick eraser in my nose. :lol:
I never worry about any contamination issues.
Beer is done, full of alcohol, hop flowers are clean. Hard to infect anything at this point.
Once you get a good pile going in the bottom, you can rack in on top of them.
Then, if you have enough volume, the floating raft of hops gets compressed against the top of the carboy and eventually everything gets saturated.
Know when to quit though…leave some room in the neck, because as the hops absorb beer they swell which can lead to this:
I generally shoot for this. :cheers:
Have to admit those pics are prettier than what my method would show: a bag of hop flowers suspended by a piece of teflon tape from the lid of a keg. Kind of hard to see, but gives an awesome flavor.
Back when I was dry hopping in a secondary, I found that pellets were slightly easier to handle than flowers. If you left it for at least a week and cold crashed for a couple days at the end, the pellets would compact nicely at the bottom and allow very easy racking if using an anti-sediment tip. With whole flowers, I could generally keep under the cap, but occasionally some cone would sink down and try to clog the intake.
Absolutely no difference in the flavor or aroma between pellets and flowers as long as they were equally fresh.
