Mail Order Hops

I crafted my IIPA recipe after what my LHBS has in stock. Unfortunately, they have a 4-5 oz limit per recipe due to the ongoing hop shortage, so I'm going to have to resort to other options.

These are the hop varieties I need (whole/pellet not important):

Galena
Northern Brewer
Glacier
Nugget
Fuggles
Cascade

Does anyone order their hops regularly from a mail-order supplier that they can recommend? Alternatively, does anyone know a mail-order hop supplier that has all of those varieties?

Freshops has some of the varieties you need.

Galena and Glacier appear to be the most difficult to find. You can find Galena here, if you are willing to buy a full pound.

I know the LHBS has Glacier, so if I can get 4 or more varieties (2oz. each) I can get the rest from there.

A pound of Galena and the rest from Freshops? I could sub Perle for NB at freshops and then I'd just need to get the glacier from LHBS. I'd have to schedule my brew production around Galena for a while after that...

Holy crap! Freshops is a lot cheaper than going through LHBS. Like half as expensive. I could always preorder a bunch of hops for future batches and just store 'em in ziplocs in the freezer. What gives?

Wholesale vs. Retail.

Any reason not to go the wholesale route for hops, assuming I store them properly and use them in a timely fashion?

bernerbits said:

Any reason not to go the wholesale route for hops, assuming I store them properly and use them in a timely fashion?

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Absolutely not. I would highly encourage you to invest in a vacuum sealer like the Foodsaver for re-packaging the hops. If you have the storage space for a ton of hops, then there is no reason why you shouldn't buy wholesale and save some cash.

Nope, thats what a lot of us do. I bought 5lb of hops last summer (I think it was) and have maybe 2 or so lb's left. Vacuum seal and freeze!

Just make sure you buy hops you're going to use and like.

I picked up a pound of Galena and figured I'd use it across the board for bittering and I've not broken into that pound yet. I'll be getting into that for the first time for the 999 barleywine brew. At least they last a while vacuum packed in the freezer.

I got some Nugget and Centennial from freshhops.com and they are great.

If you are still looking for Glacier, all of the major online HBSes should have it in stock, in pellets. I was just looking this morning, I can vouch that Austin, Northern, Midwest, and MoreBeer all have it listed in stock.

Galena is tough to find right now - If you find yourself doing a lot of Stouts or Porters or anything like that, where you want a fairly neutral bittering hop with high AA%s, then you could be well served to grab a pound of it. Otherwise, if you don't see yourself using it often, just grab the ounce.

THIS ( Hop Availability Chart - Brew365 )is the site I use when I need a certain variety of hops. It's super awesome.

+1 to what MMB said. Bulk hops are great IF you use them. I bought Amarillo and US Goldings last fall, and have used almost 2lbs of each variety. I also got some Hersbrucker that I've hardly touched yet, even a year later. I'm good on Hersbrucker for the next... EON, dude. Similarly, I grabbed a pound of Pacific Gem and have used about 1/3... Grabbed a pound of Magnum and have wound up trading away 1/2 of it to help people with brewing the 9/9/9 Barleywine.

The pound of Simcoe I bought.... it just needs to rest in piece. (Came from the store very cheesy/brown/unappealing. Haven't had a chance to use it yet - Figured I might just let it keep degrading, then use it for debittered Lambic hops. )