Hops Pellet Plant

A Hops Pellet Production Line is a specialized processing system designed to transform raw hop cones or hop powder into standardized hop pellets. These pellets are widely used in the beer brewing industry due to their enhanced shelf life, easy storage, and precise dosing characteristics. We customize Hops Pellet Production Lines tailored for hop farmers, cooperatives, breweries, and agricultural processors who want to maximize the value of fresh hops or dry hop flowers.

Hops pellets are prepared from leaf hops, which have been hammer-milled into a powder and the powder subsequently pelletized by passing through a conventional pellet die, and they look similar to rabbit feed pellets. One pound of hop cones can yield about 10 to 12 ounces of pellets. They contain all the vegetative and lupulin material of raw leaf hops and can be used as a full replacement for leaf hops in the brewing process, and on average, the equivalent amount of hops pellets can impart 10-15% more bitterness than whole leaf hops. Hops pellets are generally packaged under vacuum or in an inert gas such as nitrogen to reduce the rate of deterioration. Their lighter weight and compressed state also make them easier to store and less susceptible to spoilage. Thus, hop pellets are preferred by the majority of the craft brewing industry.

End Products Hop Pellets Conditions
Color: Light to dark green
Aroma: Preserved lupulin and essential oils
Standard formats: Type 90 (most common) and Type 45 (concentrated)

• Increases storage stability and shelf life
• Reduces volume for easier packaging and transportation
• Preserves essential oils and aroma
• Enables better utilization in modern brewing systems
• Customizable pellet size (Type 90 or Type 45 pellets)

• Craft Breweries
• Hop Farms
• Agricultural Cooperatives
• Export of Hop Pellets to Global Beer Producers
• Ideal for: Lager, IPA, craft beer, and more

Hops Harvest and Collection
When the hops are ready to be harvested, the small-scale hop producer may pick hops directly from the bine in the field using a ladder or a lift and then sort hops with the mesh screen. Alternatively, producers in larger production may adopt mechanical equipment like a hop picker and sorter machine to separate hop cones from bines, and the remaining bines, along with stems and leaves sifted from picked cones, are removed to the composting area.

Hops Dryer
Function: Reduces the moisture content of freshly harvested hops from ~80% to 8–10%
Type: Low-temperature belt dryer or fluidized bed dryer
Goal: Preserve aroma compounds and avoid oxidation. Preserve the volatile lupulin, which allows you to store hops longer, deterring spoilage.
Hops are dried quickly using an even heat source at 50 to 60 degrees Celsius in a hop oast. The drying process requires good airflow through the hop cones to ensure even drying. When hop cone moisture reaches 8-10%, which can usually be achieved within 8-12 hours of drying. They are then cooled to a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius. Please note that a 6 to 1 weight ratio from green/wet/fresh hops to dried hops, for example, one pound(16oz) of green hops=approx 2oz of dried hops

Hops Hammer Mill
Function: Grinds dried hop cones into fine powder
Features: Stainless steel, low-speed operation to prevent aroma loss
Cyclone Dust Collector (Optional): Separates fine hop powder from airflow to prevent product loss
Use a hammer mill to reduce the size of dried hops. Get the pieces as small as possible without turning them into dust. Hops are swallowed and crushed by rotating hammers at high speed. With continuous hitting force from hammers, hops break into small particles until small enough to pass screen holes. After crushing, hop particles are uniform and with proper moisture content to meet further processing. For small-scale hop crushing, there are two kinds of hammer mills for choice: diesel-driven hammer mills and electricity-driven hammer mills.

Hops Pellet Machine
Function: Compresses hop powder into uniform pellets (commonly 6 mm diameter)
Type: Flat die pellet mill or ring die pellet mill, depending on capacity
Design: Special die structure to avoid high-temperature damage to hop oils
The pellet machine makes pellets mainly through a die and a roller. The die is a metal plate with holes drilled through it, and the roller goes across the die. Dried hops enter the pellet mill and are squeezed by the die and roller. The resulting pressure compresses the material and extrudes it through the holes in the die. The die can be a flat die or a ring die. Either type can be used to make hop pellets. For a ring die pellet mill, we recommend a feed type ring die pellet mill to make hops pellets, as it produces less heat during pelletizing to protect hops’ nature. There are two kinds of hop pellets produced: Type 90 and Type 45. For Type 90, the hops are simply cleaned and dried and then ground. Type 45 pellets undergo a more complicated process.
The key concern to remember when pelletizing is that the heat created during the process can damage the hops. Take care to process slowly and stop as often as needed to allow the machines to cool down. The hops and hop pellets should not reach a temperature higher than around 45 degrees Celsius. To keep an eye on the temperature, you can use an infrared thermometer, which can be easily bought in stores. You can also alleviate how quickly the pellets heat up by pouring fewer hops in at a time.

Hop Pellet Cooler
Function: Cools freshly formed pellets to ambient temperature, preventing spoilage
When the pellets come out of the pellet machine, they will be hot and moist. Spread them out and allow them to cool and dry naturally. For large-scale production, a pellet cooler is recommended.

Pellet Vibrating Sieve
Function: Removes powder or broken pellets, ensures uniform product quality

Pellet Packing Machine
Function: Automatically weighs, fills, and seals pellets into bags for storage or sale
Options: Vacuum packing for long-term storage or nitrogen-flushed packing
Special packaging is necessary to prevent oxidation and deterioration of the resins and oils. Producers should package pellets with nitrogen-flush and vacuum sealing technology to protect hop pellets from both oxidation and light damage. You can choose a pellet packing system to automate the packaging process. Then all packaged hop pellets are kept in cold storage until they are used.

① Pellet hops can cause some foaming when adding, because, much like Diet Coke and Mentos, the pellets have a larger surface area that promotes nucleation of the CO2 left from fermentation.
② Within the brewing process, pellet hops can increase the utilization of alpha acids. Since the pellet hops are pulverized and crushed up during processing, this also crushes up the lupulin glands in the hops, so the alpha-acids can be isomerized in the hops better and gain a higher extraction rate, and it means that you will get more bitterness out of your hops.
③ Pellet hops do not soak up the wort that contains sugars that will be fermented to produce alcohol, so they ensure the standard alcohol concentration in beer.
④ While the brewer can not control the chemical makeup of the hops from harvest to harvest, the pellet hops can perform a certain way to preserve the elements required in beer brewing.