DIY Pellets/Plugs?

[philistine]

Hey dudes
Just picked a crap load of hops and once dried and cured, I wanna try to form them into compact pellet/plug type things.
Im sure this has been discussed before and a quick consultation of the google confirms this - but I specifically wanna hear from anyone who's tried it...
Basically Im making a souped up version of a hand pill press
Pipe + Ram + Hammer + Hops = some king of pellet or plug... or even a "puck"
Im thinking of just doing 1oz pucks or maybe 10gm if its not too tedious...

anyway, like I said, just keen to know if anyones tried it and maybe even see if anyones got pics?

cheers!

 

[phildo]

Without ending up on a watch list lol

 

[MHB]

I think you will find that pellet making has more in common with an old fashioned mincer than a tablet press.
Might be worth trying a mincer at that, Chop the hop cones up and put some through.
The only thing that holds hop pellets together is the natural resins, commercially they grind the hops to powder before the pelleting process.
Freezing the hops could help by making the material less sticky while you are powdering it.
Mark

 

[koshari]

I read a bit about this before this season and most press methods result in a loss of your volatile oils due to heat generated. I came the the conclusion that for backyarders are best to just dry then vacuum pack and freeze to preserve as many oils as possable.

 

[MHB]

Really, that doesn't match what I have seen on hop pelleting. Great care is taken to avoid heat when pressing, very much to keep the volatiles in the hop pellets.
Hops are cleaned (about 10% is removed - leave, snails sticks, string...) the balance is ground often refrigerated then sent to a pelleting mill where the 90% (hence the name T-90) is pressed through a die plate by a rotating platen. The whole process is reasonably slow and cool.
Agreed there will be some loss, but the pellets being very tight are better at keeping the aromatics in and oxygen and moisture out than is the case with loose hops. Result is that the very small initial loss is more than made up for by better long term stability, not to mention a 10% (or so) better yield of Alpha and a much more compact product to store.
Mark