BeerBorg

I've always used pellet hops. My LHBS stocks both whole and pellet versions of all the common (and some not-so-common) varieties. I know Sierra Nevada uses only whole cone hops in their quest for better beer, but is there really any difference for the home brewer? Is it merely a function of space in the brew kettle, or are there larger considerations to using one or the other?

I think they are equal in ways of flavor etc. I have always used pellets, until I used my own harvested hops this weekend. I might go to whole hops for several reasons.

1. You can just dump them in and no instant foam boilover
B. I didn't have a bunch of hop sludge plugging my hop taco, or entering my fermenter
Another. they just look cool, not like rabbit food.

I too would like to know if they are all the same...

I do know pellets are easier to store, less space needed.

I believe that, for the same batch of hops, pellets have more exposed surface area and as such have about a 10-12% better utilization than whole, dry hops. And whole dry hops suck up more wort...

Personally though, while pellet hops are easier to deal with across the board, but I believe there is a freshness in whole cone hops that cannot be matched with pellet, IMHO... YMMV!

Wet hops are another matter.

BPG, you make some good points. I knew going in, fresh would soak up wort. While I came up short in volume, I'm hoping my fermenter losses are less as well. (I didn't compensate for soaked up wort)

I'm assuming wet hops don't absorb as much, but are there any other differences? is there a wet to dry weight conversion chart of some sort? Is utilization different? Anything else change?

Rule of thumb for weight, wet vs. dry, is 5:1 although some say it can be up to 8:1.
So, you need at least 5 ounces of fresh whole hops to equal 1 ounce of dried whole hops.
Utilization is supposedly somewhat better for pellets over cones, as BigPapaG has pointed out already.
So... 5 oz wet whole hops = 1 oz dry whole hops = 0.9-ish oz pellets. Give or take.

Nearly every episode I have seen on Beer Geeks, wherever they have been, they have used pellets. The two that standout are Stone and Sam Adams, Stone with the multitude of IPA's and SA cause of an old commercial showing Jim with a handful of cones out of a barrel and smelling them. Also while I was at New Glaurus, there was a 5 gallon pail of pellets waiting to go into the whirlpool. If the big boys are using them, who am I to reinvent the wheel.

I have yet to use whole/fresh but I would like to some day to see if I can tell the difference. I think pellet are easier to store and like the aforementioned it takes more whole than pellet for the same results. (from everything I read) If you have access to some, give them a go, I would. Good luck!

What Papa said.

There was a time when some preferred whole since the pelletizing process was not as good as it is now. When running the hops thru the hammer mill, heat could cause degradation in the quality. Most processors have this well under control so is not the issue. We get many requests for fresh hops but not so much baled (whole but dried). A lot of the whole is for marketing purposes as it made a "special" beer. Also, there are some brewers who started out as homebrewers growing their own hops, and it gives them some please in recreating on a larger scale their garage recipes.