# Quick Question On Hops



## sponge (22/2/08)

Hey

On CraftBrewer I noticed that for some of the hops, you can buy plugs. In the pictures they look like larger balls of hops, and was just wondering if all they are, are pre-weighed amounts of hops, ie 15g? (I assumed they were 15g as there are 6 plugs in a bag, and most bags are 90g)


Cheers, Sponge


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## geoffi (22/2/08)

They are compressed hop flowers (not pellets). And yes, they should weigh 15g each.


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## sponge (22/2/08)

So when it comes to adding the hops to the boil at the different times, do you just do it the same way as you would pellets? Or do you need to any special because theyre larger?

I havent invested in scales yet so these 15g plugs would be very useful for me


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## geoffi (22/2/08)

They are useful up to a point. Your bittering hop additions early on in the boil need to be fairly precise. 15g of, say, 12% AA hops will give very different result to 15g 3% AA. Plugs are probably more useful for late aroma additions and dry hopping.


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## geoffi (22/2/08)

BTW, if you don't have good scales, I'd avoid high AA hops for bittering. If you make a small mistake with high AA hops it can make a big difference in the final bitterness. Low acid hops are much more forgiving.


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## sponge (22/2/08)

The hops I were looking at were the fuggles plugs for a brown ale. These had an AA of 5.6%. Would they be alright to use?


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## Ross (22/2/08)

sponge said:


> The hops I were looking at were the fuggles plugs for a brown ale. These had an AA of 5.6%. Would they be alright to use?



yes, they would be fine  But plugs weigh 1/2 oz = 14gms. you can always split the plugs for reasonably accurate smaller amounts.

Cheers Ross


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## sponge (22/2/08)

Thanks heaps for that Geoff and Ross. I will just have a look on beersmith and see what it says in terms of IBU's with different amounts of hops and I will go ahead with the order


Sponge


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## Julez (22/2/08)

sponge said:


> So when it comes to adding the hops to the boil at the different times, do you just do it the same way as you would pellets? Or do you need to any special because theyre larger?
> 
> I havent invested in scales yet so these 15g plugs would be very useful for me



Hey Sponge, 

you tend to get better utilisation rates from pellets, so tend to use pellets for bittering and then plugs for flavour/aroma, as they retain their oils better through storage and boiling. The different utilisation rates between pellets and plugs needs to be allowed for when calculating your hop additions, otherwise you might get more/less IBU than you anticipated. Plugs are easy to work with though and can be easily split in half, etc. 

Julez.


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## Fents (22/2/08)

Ross said:


> But plugs weigh 1/2 oz =



Damn i had to read that twice!


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## Stuster (22/2/08)

Julez said:


> you tend to get better utilisation rates from pellets, so tend to use pellets for bittering and then plugs for flavour/aroma, as they retain their oils better through storage and boiling. The different utilisation rates between pellets and plugs needs to be allowed for when calculating your hop additions, otherwise you might get more/less IBU than you anticipated. Plugs are easy to work with though and can be easily split in half, etc.



Agree about everything except that usually pellets are said to store better than plugs. But really if they're stored right, both should keep fine. Actually now I re-read it, I'm not sure if you were saying plugs or pellets store better.


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## domonsura (22/2/08)

Fents said:


> Damn i had to read that twice!



:icon_offtopic: Bloody DJ's ...I thought you lot only dealt in gm's and mg's h34r: :lol:


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## Julez (22/2/08)

Stuster said:


> Agree about everything except that usually pellets are said to store better than plugs. But really if they're stored right, both should keep fine. Actually now I re-read it, I'm not sure if you were saying plugs or pellets store better.



I was just refering to degredation of the hop oils specifically Stuster. My understanding is the oil component degrades more quickly in storage with pellets and the process of pelletizing can cause oxidation of the oil component. Plugs are prefered (by me, anyway!) for flavour and aroma because of the more readily available/better preserved oil content


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## Fents (22/2/08)

domonsura said:


> Bloody DJ's ...I thought you lot only dealt in gm's and mg's
> :



hahaha got your mind on one thing dom?

It was actually the But follwed by the plugs that had me in stiches :huh: :lol:


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## Stuster (22/2/08)

Julez said:


> I was just refering to degredation of the hop oils specifically Stuster. My understanding is the oil component degrades more quickly in storage with pellets and the process of pelletizing can cause oxidation of the oil component. Plugs are prefered (by me, anyway!) for flavour and aroma because of the more readily available/better preserved oil content



Ok, Julez. I thought it was the other way round with the degradation, but not sure if I have anything to back that up at all. Ross? Anybody else? 

Actually, after a quick google, looks like you are right. Link. Hmm, what they say also suggests that maybe late additions of plugs/flowers might be slightly different to late additions of pellet hops. Hmmm. Well, learn something new every day.Thanks, Julez.  



> In leaf hops the resin glands are whole and it takes time for the boiling process to extract the oils and resins from the glands. In powder pellets the glands are ruptured and the contents smeared over the particles with a greater surface area exposed to the wort.... The same phenomenon may, however, be less favourable for essential oil utilization.... It is possible to overcome this loss by later additions of pellets but this is wasteful of the alpha acids. This phenomenon many not be significant in respect of the overall taste profile of many beers but it may help explain why some early powder pellet users had to adjust their hopping practices when moving to pellets or why other brewers even now do not choose to use the product despite its close relationship to leaf hops.


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