[denny]

Yes, you're crazy  😁

[majorvices]

Yes, you're crazy  😁

+1

[Bel Air Brewing]

My preference is to use whole hops with a false bottom.  It is an order of magnitude easier to use than dealing with pellet sludge.  That being said, whole hops and really hoppy beer translates to significant wort loss. Luckily, my preference is for non-really hoppy beer.  What made me switch to pellets was Mark Garetz getting out the business.  I prefer to purchase hops as close to grower as possible and Hops Direct only sold whole hops by the pound, which is too much of one variety for my use (Mark used to sell whole hops by the half pound). Plus, shipping is cheaper for pellets.  I know that people are going to think that I am crazy, but the bitterness from whole hops comes across as rounder/smoother than it does with pellets. Plus, something is lost oil-wise during pelletization.  Not only can I tell, but my friends asked me what changed when I switched over to using pellets.  If using a counterflow chiller was not such a pain in the backside compared to using an immersion chiller, I would go with the process used by the Peter Austin and Partners system breweries; namely, pellets in the kettle followed whole cones in a hop percolator (hopback).

One pound of whole leaf too much? Vacuum seal the leftovers, and store them in the freezer. They will last many months.

[Saccharomyces]

I brew 5-gallon or smaller batches, so yes, a pound of whole cones of any given cultivar will last me at least two years because I use multiple cultivars.  Two years is too long for whole cones for my liking.  I usually use half of an ounce to an ounce of bittering hops and one to two ounces of aroma hops per batch (i.e., I have a preference for balanced to slightly hop-forward beer). I usually use between two and four cultivars per batch.  On a good year, I will brew twelve 5-gallon batches, which means that I use less two pounds of hops total per year.  I used to keep Cascade, Galena, Liberty, Tettnanger, and Willamette on hand when I used whole cones.  I could do that when I could purchase oil-rated whole cones by the half pound from Mark Garetz.  I still wound up giving away some hops, but not like I would have to do purchasing whole cones by the pound.

[Bel Air Brewing]

I brew 5-gallon or smaller batches, so yes, a pound of whole cones of any given cultivar will last me at least two years because I use multiple cultivars.  Two years is too long for whole cones for my liking.  I usually use half of an ounce to an ounce of bittering hops and one to two ounces of aroma hops per batch (i.e., I have a preference for balanced to slightly hop-forward beer). I usually use between two and four cultivars per batch.  On a good year, I will brew twelve 5-gallon batches, which means that I use less two pounds of hops total per year.  I used to keep Cascade, Galena, Liberty, Tettnanger, and Willamette on hand when I used whole cones.  I could do that when I could purchase oil-rated whole cones by the half pound from Mark Garetz.  I still wound up giving away some hops, but not like I would have to do purchasing whole cones by the pound.

Find a brewing buddy, and split an order. 1/2 lb each. That's the ticket.

[Saccharomyces]

Find a brewing buddy, and split an order. 1/2 lb each. That's the ticket.

As crazy as it may sound, I am not much a social brewer, nor am I a club guy.  I have only belonged to one brewing club since I first started to brew in early 1993 and that was short-lived.  I do not participate in group buys of anything, nor do I have any interest in group purchases.  It is not that I am shy or anti-social.  It is just that I like being free to do my own thing outside the confines of a group.  I am an introvert who is okay with being an introvert.

[Bel Air Brewing]

Find a brewing buddy, and split an order. 1/2 lb each. That's the ticket.

As crazy as it may sound, I am not much a social brewer, nor am I a club guy.  I have only belonged to one brewing club since I first started to brew in early 1993 and that was short-lived.  I do not participate in group buys of anything, nor do I have any interest in group purchases.  It is not that I am shy or anti-social.  It is just that I like being free to do my own thing outside the confines of a group.  I am an introvert who is okay with being an introvert.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[KUBrew]

I made a 5 gal NE IPA yesterday with 6oz late add pellet hops using a hop screen from Jeff Gaastra's design in the latest Zymurgy gadget issue.  Two spatter screens are stitched together to make what you could call a false bottom.   I ended up losing about a quart of volume which isn't terrible but definitely very clean going into the fermenter.   It's a bit of a pain to clean out the hops that get trapped between the layers but I'll be using again on brews with a lot of kettle hops.   

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pEgcLDgowmm6L3Ka9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dPmvGF2pf93PwXMZA