First large hop purchase

Hello everyone -

I want to make a hop purchase, 4 or 5 pounds from hopsdirect, but I'm not sure which strains to get. For what its worth, I plan to make a red ale, amber ale, and wheat ale in my next few batches. How long will fresh hops keep if they are put in mason jars and kept out of the light?

I see a lot of recipes calling for Cascade, Northern Brewer, and Hallertauer. What would you get?

I got East Kent Goldings, Fuggles, and Hallertauer, just because most of the recipes I had on tap called for one or more of those three.

I'm not sure about mason jars for storage, unless you've got a lot of them...a lb of dry hops is a lot more than you think...imagine a big pillow. Gallon baggies in the freezer do very nicely tho.

Fresh hops will oxidize in a month or two at room temp. This is a good thing for some of the noble hops, but bad for 90%. Freezing is the only way to go.

I use about 1 1/2 pounds of hops a year and the only thing I've purchased in bulk has been Columbus pellets.

Guess it depends on whether or not you'll be doing American or Continental versions of those beers. For the wheat I would get the Hallertauer, but remember that wheat beers don't use a whole lot of hops. Irish reds don't use a lot of hops, either (and probably a English variety would be historically accurate), but if you're thinking American reds/ambers then I would lean towards the Cascades/Chinooks/Centennials of the world. I also find Perle to be a nice bittering hop for lots of styles, but maybe that's just my personal taste.

What about hop pellets? I've looked around and I can't find a solid answer on the shelf-life of pellets. Also, could 1 lb of pellets fit into a gallon bag?

A lb of hop pellets should easily fit into a gallon bag...the little foil packets are typically 1oz, so 16 should fit into a 1g ziploc. The best storage solution for them would be to get them in 1oz foil vacuum packs and put them in the freezer. Then you could take them out an ounce at a time without disturbing the bulk of your hop stash.

Pellets are said to last longer than whole hops since they have a lot less surface area (a lot of the hops are safely inside the 'extrusion').

mpetty said:

...I see a lot of recipes calling for Cascade, Northern Brewer, and Hallertauer. What would you get?

Click to expand...

I brew more IPA's than most types, and bought pounds of Cascade, N. Brewer, Hallertau, Galena, Fuggles, Amarillo, Tommahawk and Magnum.

When I brew wheats I just pick up Saaz locally.

FWIW, 2 oz dry hops fits loosely in a quart frezzer bag.

-a.

Well, we got a fresh pound each of Cascade, Fuggles, and EKG. We'll buy the rest on a batch by batch basis.

mpetty said:

Well, we got a fresh pound each of Cascade, Fuggles, and EKG. We'll buy the rest on a batch by batch basis.

Click to expand...

Good choices. I store mine in the freezer in 1-gal. ziplock storage bags. Make sure and expunge as much air as you can from the bag and they'll keep for quite awhile. I have some that have been in there for nearly a year (I've gotta use those up soon! ).

I use a super sealer one of those vaccum sealers that pull all the air out and heat seal the bags. works great for splitting up LB pellets I tried some fresh hops it compacts them down which I hear isn't a good idea to crush them. but for pellets it is the way to go in bulk.