DIY hop plug feeler

So i have been tinking about diy hop plugs and think i ahve come up with a way. piece of pipe about and inch and a quarter in diameter a metal plug of the same diameter about half an inch thick and a medium sized arbor press. fill up pipe with desired oz of whole hops not quite dryed to crispy. pack sligtly with plug and a hammer than place on arbor press and press the heck out of it. the pressing action should heat up the hop oils and allow it to all bond together. i did this in my younger days with hops funny smelling cousin and it worked amazingly. thoughts? suggestions?

Why would you want to do this?

I am getting a couple pounds of cascade in the fall from a friend and have no way to store that much volume so i need to compress it down for storage in the freezer

Would this be more cost effective than using a vacuum sealer? You can compress a few ounces of hops down pretty far, and after the equipment it's pretty cheap to do.

A few pounds of whole hops, even in vacuum bags will dominate a freezer.

A few pound of pellets, will not.

He's asking about making hop plugs, which are somewhere in between.

"funny smelling cousin" paid off in smaller amounts. I seriously doubt you will have the patience or time to process more than a few oz's of hops. If it's an issue, stick with pellets for now.

jppostKW, you live in Colorado. You could always vaccuum seal them and keep the hops in your garage, it should keep them cool enough for the winter. Or, if you're in an apartment, keep em in a box on your patio.

That said, I think if you're willing to do the work, may as well try it and see how it goes! I'd be interested in seeing how it all turns out.

What if you put them through some kind of grinder? I'm thinking something like my KitchenAid meat grinder and then bagged them. Just a thought. They break up in a boil anyway right?

MikeinAK said:

What if you put them through some kind of grinder? I'm thinking something like my KitchenAid meat grinder and then bagged them. Just a thought. They break up in a boil anyway right?

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I wouldn't do that. Compressing is ok because the oils are captured in the "mass". But grinding would rupture the lupulin glands releasing all of the oils, and being volatile would render the remaining hop stuff "stale" in a pretty short period of time I would imagine.