What is the scoop on Hop Heaven? I placed a sizable order last night. I decided to go back to using whole hops for flavor and aroma additions. I switched to using pellets in my last brew house because purchasing whole hops by the pound does not work very well in a 3-gallon brewery. Now that I am back to brewing 5-gallon batches combined with the fact that Hop Heaven sells many varieties of whole cones by the half pound, I have decided to go back to using whole cones. It is not a romantic thing. I can tell the difference between pellets and whole cones in the beers I brew, especially when it comes to flavor and aroma additions. The flavors and aromas I obtain from whole cones are soft and round wheres they are brash when using pellets. It is a different strokes for different folks thing.
+1
I’ve made three orders from Ted so far and the quality has been really great. Hop heaven will get all my business from now on.
Ted has great hops. If you like using whole hops you should use them and not write a paragraph apologizing for it. 
Going to feel sad :-[ when my 2020 Mt Hood leaf hops (vacuum sealed & frozen) run out.
Any mention of moving to using whole hops around here usually results in a round of forum members telling the OP how difficult they are going be to use in practice. I have never found whole hops to be difficult to use. In fact, I have never bagged whole hops. On the other hand, pellets have tested my patience in practice. Pellet sludge is almost impossible to keep out of one’s fermentation vessel. Whirlpooling helps, but it never results in a totally hop-free post-knockout wort. It is unbelievably simple to obtain clear wort using whole hops and a false bottom, especially when using an immersion chiller. Every kettle I have owned up until my current one has had a false bottom (I sent a message to Jay at NorCal to see what he can do for me). The major drawbacks to using whole instead of pellets are shelf life, package size, and finding a hop supplier that sells cones that have been handled and stored correctly. Pellets are far more homebrew trade and LHBS friendly.
Ted sells not only whole hops but pellets as well. Great business model, fast service, couldn’t be happier with the outcomes of my purchases from him. I like knowing what yr my hops are harvested and he among others is one way to buy by the yr.
I have a kettle with a removable false bottom from NorCal. Works great. I highly recommend Jay’s work. I believe the business suffered from the fires which sux.
I have used both T-90 pellets and whole cone hops. Both have advantages and disadvantages. I think everyone should try both and see what you think. This is my take:
Whole hops do create a much larger mess to have to deal with IMO. In my experience, the mass of ‘leaflets’ get everywhere for months to come, it hard to get all of them off the Hydra IC, they absorb more wort, and certain varieties are harder to find than pellets. Storage is bulky but I am not so concerned about that. They do filter the grain bed nicely and produce beautiful wort. I haven’t found the ‘rounder’ bitterness some claim. It’s about the same to me.
Pellets on the other hand are very compact, simply rinse off equipment, absorb very little wort, and a larger variety is readily available which is really the big plus. But they do produce sludge which has to be dealt with. I try to get clear wort into the fermenter but if a little trüb gets in its not the end of the world because I don’t harvest yeast. The specialty pellet products marketed now create new possibilities (Lupomax, Cryo, etc).
I made side-by-side hop teas a while back to see the difference. The pellet hop tea was a greenish tint suggesting plant matter was accompanying the Lupulin. The whole cone hop tea was a golden tint suggesting more Lupulin less plant matter. The whole cone hop tea looked more appealing to me.
Can anyone share the web address?
Jay made the false bottom for my custom-built 6.75 gallon kettle He does good work.
I run the first four and half gallons of water from my immersion chiller into a 5-gallon white bucket. I use that water to clean my immersion chiller. However, I can see how the design of the Hydra could lead to whole cones getting stuck.
More ways have been created to hold back pellet sludge than whole cones. None of them are 100% effective with an immersion chiller. The Hop Stopper device that is sold on the Electric Brewery website looks like it works well with pellets, but the kettle has to be drained when the wort is hot. Using a Hop Stopper with an immersion chiller would result in a kettle that will not drain. I am a repitcher, so I want my wort going into the kettle as hop and break-free as possible. That is significantly easier to accomplish with whole cones and a false bottom.
With respect to false bottom designs, I personally believe that a false bottom with a lot of dead space is better for a brew kettle. I have purchased and sold a lot of gear since I started in the hobby. The best setup I had for whole hops was a first generation PolarWare brewing kettle with a false bottom that used stainless steel bolts to hold it off of the bottom above the drain port. The first generation PolarWare kettles did not have a way to attach a pickup tube to the drain port. There were no threads on the inside like the later PolarWare kettles. That necessitated having a false bottom that sat above the drain port. It made for a horrible mash tun, but a great brewing kettle because having more wort below the false bottom resulted in more even heat distribution above and below the false bottom and if one was patient, one could allow the wort to drain out of the hop bed before tipping the kettle to drain the last bit of wort. In essence, an oversight in the design of the PolarWare kettle yielded a better false bottom + whole cone design. Also, I have found that false bottom worth larger diameter holes than are normally used for a mash tun false bottom works better for a kettle false bottom.
Thanks BrewBama!
I’ve been buying hops from Ted since before he officially had a business for it. Always great quality and service.
I was just yankin’ yer chain. Also, pellets are better. 
EVERYBODY knows that!
EVERYBODY knows that!
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Pellets have a lot more upsides than downside, that is, if they work for a brewer. The “hop pellet” gene must be missing from my genome. 
Ebay occasionally runs promotions (10-20% off). Great way to get an even better price on hops.
For those who have ordered from Hop Heaven, how long did it take for your hops to ship. I understand that Hop Heaven is a side business, so I am being patient. However, I placed my order on the 11th, the shipping label was created on the 12th, but the hops have yet to be received by the USPS. I am hoping that it is just an oversight on the part of the USPS. I have had packages show up on my doorstep that were never marked as being received by the USPS.
If you ordered continental hops, it can take longer
I think his continental hops are just coming in now. I had some Slovenian hops in my pre-order this season and just got notified that they came in on the 10th. I’m guessing Ted is setting up his orders to ship as we speak.
I figured that something may have side-tracked him. Hop Heaven appears to be a very big side gig. If this purchase works out for me, I am probably going to stick with Ted. The hop cultivars that I like the most were developed by USDA Corvallis for Oregon’s climate. I have never been to Oregon, but it has to be the greenest state in the union.
Denny, would you describe the Willamette Valley as a maritime climate?