Fresh hop to pellet

TJM

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Howdy all, If a recipe calls for fresh hops how do I convert to hop pellets
Thanks
 
Generally, you would treat them the same. The alpha acid percentage may be different, so you could use the recipe or bitterness calculator to adjust the volume of hops to equalize the bitterness between the two. This is also true for any hop, the alpha acid percentage will change from batch to batch and year to year.
 
Yes, about the same, just use about the same weight in pellets as called for in dried cones. Fresh ("wet") cones weigh about double what dry cones weigh.
 
I remember seeing something about pellets being about 10% more than dry cones per weight, which honestly isn't enough for me to worry about.
 
Just match the IBUs of what you have to the IBUs expressed in the recipe. Every batch of hops is different so you can't just use the same amount that a recipe calls for anyway.
 
I remember seeing something about pellets being about 10% more than dry cones per weight, which honestly isn't enough for me to worry about.

That is merely a misnomer that has been parroted so frequently that it has falsely become true to most homebrewers.
 
That is merely a misnomer that has been parroted so frequently that it has falsely become true to most homebrewers.
T90 pellets are 90% vegetal (leaf) material. T45 are only 45% vegetal (leaf). That's why AA% needed to mix and match hops. The T90 maybe where that came idea of 10% less in whole hops comes from. It really doesn't matter as long as the AA% is used to compare.
 
That is merely a misnomer that has been parroted so frequently that it has falsely become true to most homebrewers.
You get about 10% more bitterness from pellets as opposed to dry whole hops.
 
You get about 10% more bitterness from pellets as opposed to dry whole hops.
I wonder why that is. Does the smooshing-and-extruding (pelletizing) process change the composition or extractability of the whole cone?
 
I wonder why that is. Does the smooshing-and-extruding (pelletizing) process change the composition or extractability of the whole cone?
It makes the lupulin glands more accessible, for one
 
You get about 10% more bitterness from pellets as opposed to dry whole hops.
It all boils down to AA%. If you remove some of the hop blossom you end up with more of the Lupulin glands compare to whole hops. So you can’t say one is more bittering than the other. It boils down to alpha acid content.
 
It all boils down to AA%. If you remove some of the hop blossom you end up with more of the Lupulin glands compare to whole hops. So you can’t say one is more bittering than the other. It boils down to alpha acid content.

True! Indeed you can't say that one is more bittering than the other when their AA's are equal. All you can say is that one form (pellets) gets there much faster than the various of leaf/whole hop types. Pellets will convert all of their AA's (that are possible to convert) into IBU's within roughly 40 minutes of boiling, whereas Whole Hop types will require closer to 90 minutes of boiling whereby to do likewise. There is no 10% more IBU's for pellets rule. If you boil pellets for 90 minutes you will wind up with less IBU's than if you boil them for only 40 minutes. Once you hit peak IBU yield, things start slowly going down hill.
 
I wonder why that is. Does the smooshing-and-extruding (pelletizing) process change the composition or extractability of the whole cone?
That's the explanation I've heard. The pelletizing process breaks up the lupulin glands.
 

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