How to calculate IBU's from dried hops?

[chewyheel]

I recently harvested and dried some Cascade and now I've got them stored in the freezer, this is my first year growing my own. Usually when I do a new recipe I use brewers friend and, under the hop section I choose pellets, since that is what I typically use. So my questions is how can I get an estimate of what my home dried hops will have on the IBU of my beer? I assume that pellets are much more concentrated than what I have. I tried to get them down to the 8 to 10 % moisture range as recommended.

 

[friarsmith]

Brewersfriend allows you to select from pellet, leaf/whole, plug and fresh/wet.

For first year hops, assuming they have been dried, smell great & hoppy (vs. plant/green/chlorophyll-y) when you crush a few between your hands, and have lots of sticky yellow lupulin, I would suggest using the BF default amount for Cascade/leaf less 30%. After Year 2, reduce it by 15%. This adjustment info is from a presentation I watched from either Hop Union or Fresh Hops several years back and was tailored for homebrewers.

I've been brewing with homegrown hops for more than a decade. FWIW, once a plant reaches its 3rd harvest I start calculating recipes at the low/mid point of their IBU range. As far as I can tell, I've never substantially over- or under-hopped a beer using this method, so I stick with it. I've used BF for the last three years and have found their default AA% to work pretty well for homegrown hops of many varieties.

Congrats on getting some usable cones in Year 1. Feed them with some well composted manure from your local farmer or bagged manure from Lowes/HD, then stand back and be amazed next year. You aint seen nothing yet!

 

[chewyheel]

Thanks, that's great to know. I've got some Chinook too. I'm not going to get many but the ones growing look great though. I can't wait until they mature and I get a freezer full of hops each year.