Before jumping into a discussion of lupulin-enriched hop pellet production, let’s start with a quick review of how “normal” hop pellets are produced. The process of transforming hop cones to pellets begins when hop cones are hammer-milled into a powder. This sticky and aromatic powder is then blended to homogenize hops from multiple bales, cleaned to remove strigs, and then compressed into pellets using a pellet die. Approximately 90% of the total hop cone weight is retained, so this sort of hop pellet is known as a Type 90 or T-90. Most brewers usually skip the T-90 designation and refer to these as pelletized hops.
