I did whirlpool for years, but I no longer do. I found it a hassle and I get the same or better from dry hopping.
I do a whirlpool to chill so I figure since I am doing it anyway I might as well throw some hops in.
Understandable. I found it more trouble than it was worth to me to hit and hold a temp for whirlpooling. I went back to simply dry hopping and doing late boil additions and got more of the hop character I wanted with less effort.
Sorry if I am being stupid, so what you are saying is I can take the whirlpool hops and just add them as dry hops instead? Or just add them into the pot boil wort and just steep them? I am thinking of an American Pale and they have both whirlpool hops and dry hops.
There have been ‘citizen science’ experiments where people who were blindly served whirlpool hopped beer and dry hopped beer could not tell the difference between the two. Who knows the value of the exbeeriment but it is a data point.
A lot of brewers don’t want to open the fermenter or keg so they whirlpool hop. Some sit at a specific temperature to whirlpool hop. I wait until the wort is at ~140°F add the hops but keep cooling. I like the results I get this way.
When I dry hop, I prefer to dry hop in the fermenter during active fermentation so active yeast can consume any O2 I inadvertently introduce.
Others prefer to dry hop after fermentation is complete and the beer is cold citing better results.
So, if it’s more convenient to dry hop then dry hop. If it’s more convenient to whirlpool hop then whirlpool hop.
See what you like best.