Hop Hash

[dj_van_gilder]

Up here at Rahr today we are brewing a batch of our Ugly Pug. I was in the walk in weighing up some Perle hops, when I noticed that one of the pellets was a lighter color. It looked an almost blond/amber color. I thought that perhaps that some organic material such as stems or twigs got pelletized. I took it into the office and showed the head brewer. He has been to hop school at hop union many times and told me that it was resin. I immediately broke it open and I saw the shinny reflection of light on the resin. He then told me how that the equipment gets covered in the resin and occasionally a clump of it will break off and end up as a pellet like this. He said they are more common in higher alpha acid varieties.
I’m going to keep my eye out for more of these and see how many I can collect. I don’t see any way of determining the alpha acid content of these pellets without destroying them. Maybe I can get enough and brew a monster 100 plus IBU barley wine with them.

 

[BarleyWater]

That's kinda neat, its a super alpha pellet.

By the way, I love Ugly Pug. Thankfully living here I can find it at a lot of places. It's nice to have a good microbrewery close by.

 

[Zymurgrafi]

Or you could try and buy some T45 Pellets. They are more concentrated. They put the ground up hop matter into a whirlwind centerfuge? (not sure) but they basically separate the lupulin glands from some of the vegetative matter resulting in pellets containing more lupulin and less green matter.

 

[dj_van_gilder]

That's kinda neat, its a super alpha pellet.

By the way, I love Ugly Pug. Thankfully living here I can find it at a lot of places. It's nice to have a good microbrewery close by.

Thank you.

Do you live in Fort Worth?

 

[dj_van_gilder]

Or you could try and buy some T45 Pellets. They are more concentrated. They put the ground up hop matter into a whirlwind centerfuge? (not sure) but they basically separate the lupulin glands from some of the vegetative matter resulting in pellets containing more lupulin and less green matter.

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

Hopunion LLC

 

[BarleyWater]

Yup, I've been by the brewery a couple times, but it's been since last hockey season. I think you had just put Cat's Eye on tap. I need to come by some Saturday soon.

 

[dj_van_gilder]

Yup, I've been by the brewery a couple times, but it's been since last hockey season. I think you had just put Cat's Eye on tap. I need to come by some Saturday soon.

I'm here on Sat. about twice a month. Ask for Jason Van Gilder. One of the other brewers is Jason as well so you have to be specific.