Brewed a white IPA yesterday, and used leaf hops for the first time. Made 3 1-oz additions (30 min, 10 min, 5 min), each in a small hop/grain bag. Problem is, I didn't break up the leafs at all by hand before placing them in the bag - pretty much just dumped them out of the hopunion bag and into the cheesecloth. Wondering if I'm going to lose a lot of the AAUs that I should have otherwise counted on - hopefully not, but would appreciate any insight on how significant this could be.
Other than breaking up 'clumps' I never break them down any further. What did they look like after you removed them? My guess is that the boil separated them down to the cone/sub-cone level anyway. I wouldn't worry about having lost anything.
I don't think it matters one bit. With the heat and rigor of the boil , the hops will break up on their own. I have never broken them up before adding to the boil.
Good to know, thanks. The hops that had been in there for 30 minutes certainly seemed quite a bit more broken down than those that had only been in there for 5 and 10 minutes, but I figure that makes sense. I'll keep optimistic about this one!
