I’ve been using whole leaf hops exclusively for 5-6 years. Barely remember using pellets at all. Well, for our flagship beer, I needed hops I could not get whole leaf, just pellets.
Any hints for a veteran whole leaf brewer? I’m thinking the main thing is a good wirlpool.
A good whirlpool works well.
You can also bag them and remove a fair amount of the dregs with the bag. There will still be quite a bit left in the kettle. If you really feel the need you can strain the work on it’s way into the fermentor.
Paul
I’ve always used a bazooka screen. Is that enough?
Also, we’ll be converting to Boilermakers in a month or so. Anyone have any experience using the hopblocker from Blichmann?
I discovered nylon super fine bags for paint straining. Found at hardware store, five bucks for two. They have elastic opening and fit my six gallon fermentor buckets perfectly.
“Freedom is temporary unless you are also Brave!” - Patriot
Yep - strainers are pretty much useless for any reasonable amount of pellets (the exception being a hopback).
Whenever I use a strainer (either in the kettle or on the lip of the bucket/funnel), I always have to clean off the strainer several times. I’ve since opted for a good whirlpool and racking off any trub in a timely manner.
IMO that’s one of two downfalls - the other is that dry hopping with pellets in primary requires washing the yeast cake before re-pitching. But the reduction in required contact time vs. cones is a net positive.
I LOVE pellets and never use whole cones anymore (except homegrown).
Make sure you whirlpool well and keep the bazooka screen to the side, since it can definitely clog with pellets.
You can make a hop stopper (essentially a bazooka screen with more surface area) if you plan on using pellets more often. They don’t work all that well with ICs, though, since the cold break can also clog it.
No experience but the it looks like something I would invest in soon. Check out their video : http://www.blichmannengineering.com