[BrewTogether]

Great question! One important thing to note about using whole cone hops is whether they have been dried or if they are fresh. The water content in fresh hops makes them weigh much more and you’ll need to compensate by adding more. The usual ratio is 6-1, so if you’re using fresh hops you’ll need 6x the weight that you’d use for dry. If the hops have been fully dried then you use the same weight that you would for pellets, but it will look like a lot more!

For keeping hop debris controlled, I use a few different things. First, a definitely recommend a hop spider with a fine nylon hop bag or a stainless steel side-mounted hop spider. A lot of people say this reduces the flavor/bitterness/aroma the hops impart on your beer but it has never been a problem for me in the past. I also have a screen at the bottom of my keggle that I use to filter the wort before it leaves the valve.

Thanks for posting this!

-BT John

[John]

I grow my own hops and dry them in a food dehydrator and I’ve found that you can definitely use them 1:1 for pellets by weight, but that you really won’t know the IBU because homegrown hops are kind of inconsistent. I’m a pretty laid-back brewer, so it’s not a huge deal to me, but some people really worry about dialing in their recipes. I have used my hops fresh too and I think 6:1 is probably about right – be ready to dump a TON of hops in if you’re using fresh, and definitely use a hop spider and filter!

[Ernie]

Thank you for the info! It would have never crossed my mind about the weight difference between pellet and leaf hops. Have you guys seen any difference in flavor of 2. Right now I am only using pellet hops but some people swear by leaf hops. Again thanks for the info.

[Dave]

I don’t have a spigot on my brew kettle. For controlling hop debris, I have recently tried whirlpooling by stirring the wort in a circle along the edge of the brew kettle to get all the debris to concentrate in the center. Then I place the siphon against the edge of the kettle when I rack the wort to the fermenter.

[Gustavo]

Hello everyone. I’m growing my own hops for the first time, I think it’s Argentine Cascade (I’m from Argentina), that’s an adaptation of American Cascade someone brought to Argentine Patagonia a long time ago. Well, this is my first experience growing hops at home and they’ll be ready to harvest late February – beggining of March. I’ll be brewing a SMaSH with a few ounces of them wet at flame out/whirlpool and later on a dry hop with dried whole cones.
I’ll share the outcome with you

[John]

Awesome! I have never tried Argentine Cascade – are they much different than American Cascade? Can’t wait to hear how it turns out!

[Gustavo]

Hi John, they’re alike, I think less intense in aroma/flavor in our variation and maybe a bit of harsh can be found when adding in great amounts for bittering. I think it’s due to the terroir

[Jim]

Hi Gustavo – I am really interested in the Argentine Cascade hops you used! How did the beer turn out?

[Gustavo]

Hi Jim, the beer turned out good, not a mindblowing piece of art but still a good drinking batch. Argentine Cascade is not a good variation, we have Nugget also and using it is always a bad idea.

[Jim]

Interesting – so people generally avoid the nugget too? Any there any good varietals that grow in Argentina?