Pellet to Whole Hops Conversions

So I recently harvested my first batches of Cascade, Brewers Gold and Sterling hops and as I was vacuum packing my beautiful babies, I realized I was unsure what the conversion rate would be for whole hops from a recipe developed with hop pellets. I find this kinda funny since I've been brewing for about 5 years and apparently have never used whole hopes for anything other than dry hopping.

So I humbly ask you the great people of HBtalk. Is there a guidline, or rule of thumb if you will, about the ratio of whole hops vs hop pellets when converting a recipe?

I think the general rule of thumb is to use 10% more leaves than pellets and 20% more whole plugs than pellets.

You should use 10% more whole hops by weight. If you're looking to reach a specific IBU in your recipe then you should only use your home-grown hops for flavor and aroma, not for bittering.

Well... I think the biggest variable in your case is that there is no way to tell what the AA% is, as is the case with all homegrown hops. It is very hard, if not impossible, to make accurate conversion calcs when you don't know the AA. If you are worried about it use pellets or whole hops that you know the AA for for bittering, and use your homegrown for flavor/aroma.

Thanks for the help guys!

I knew that calculating AA would be damn near impossible. Was just curious as to whether or not there was a general rule. I pretty much drink beer in any shape or form and the idea of an entirely homegrown hop profile may be too much fun to pass up.

Let us know how it turns out