Hops... Shortage? Harvest time?

So I'm new to brewing, new enough that I haven't brewed through an entire hop crop harvest and understand the timeline of the harvest.

My LHBS has a pretty stout selection of hops, so I never noticed with the exception of online, people claiming stores being out of a variety of hops.

I was looking to order some stuff online and grab some hops, and most of the ones I'm familiar with, or want, are gone, and said to be waiting for the 2012 harvest.

So, my question.

From reading, it appears now, August is roughly the time the hops are harvested from the crops.

When will we see the new crops of hops out for us to buy again?

Is this the time of the year, when stuff starts to get low at the home brew stores?

I buy all of my hops from Hops Direct, and they recently tweeted that new pellets will be available in October/November.

So far my LHBS isnt out of my staples. But I did decide that next season I'm going to start an 8 Plant hop garden with the Hops I use most often.

While my LHBS hasn't really run out of much of anything, I'm going to just stock up on the "essentials" and perhaps buy them by the pound and keep them in the freezer.

Centennial, Simco, Amarillo and Cascade, with maybe some Citra.

Nugget and Willamette are some I use for darker beers, so might keep those around too.

I'm needing some Simcoe to do a recipe this month for a beer I need for my brothers wedding, here's to hoping my local store still has it next week!

Do is Oct/Nov the general time frame when all the hops come out for the season?

FATC1TY said:

Centennial, Simco, Amarillo and Cascade, with maybe some Citra.

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I use all of those except cascade in my newfound house IPA. Though I am growing my own Cascade and harvest time comes in Sept/Oct.

FATC1TY said:

Centennial, Simco, Amarillo and Cascade, with maybe some Citra.

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With the exception of Cascade, those are the ones I'll be stocking up on from the new crop whenever it comes out.

Good luck finding Simcoe, Amarillo, or Centennial this year. My sources tell me those are already all contracted out.

Denny said:

Good luck finding Simcoe, Amarillo, or Centennial this year. My sources tell me those are already all contracted out.

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I wonder what is up with Centennial? I can understand the proprietary hops ( Amarillo, Simcoe, Citra, etc..) being in short supply, but Centennial has been out for years...maybe even a decade or more. Up until a year or two ago never really had a problem picking up Centennial for a good price. Is it just that EVERYONE is suddenly using them and demand is out pacing the supply? Just glad I have two Centennial plants....

Denny said:

Good luck finding Simcoe, Amarillo, or Centennial this year. My sources tell me those are already all contracted out.

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While in short supply, I highly doubt the entire home brew scene will be absent of those 3 for an entire year. I know alot at contracted out early to the bigger guys, but thats rather unrealistic, and just causes rumors and hysteria.

FATC1TY said:

While in short supply, I highly doubt the entire home brew scene will be absent of those 3 for an entire year. I know alot at contracted out early to the bigger guys, but thats rather unrealistic, and just causes rumors and hysteria.

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There's no doubt that you will be able to find them at homebrew shops. The question is how much will they cost!! My LHBS still has Amarillo in stock....at 3.50 an ounce!! If you enjoy brewing IPA's it is much, much cheaper to buy your favorite hops in bulk. I scored a pound of Amarillo for 16.50 and just vaccuum seal them.

I can only repeat what I've been told by people who should know. I also doubt they'll be completely absent, but I also believe they'll be in very short supply. i've also heard that Crystal will be pretty much non existent.

Sounds like the growers need to step up their crop sizes.

ktblunden said:

Sounds like the growers need to step up their crop sizes.

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Which means prices will plummet and it won't be worth their while to grow hops any more which means they'll tear them out and plant other crops which means there will be a hop shortage which means prices will skyrocket which means they'll plant more hops and in a few years prices will go down again.....

That's what happened a few years back.....

Phunhog said:

There's no doubt that you will be able to find them at homebrew shops. The question is how much will they cost!! My LHBS still has Amarillo in stock....at 3.50 an ounce!! If you enjoy brewing IPA's it is much, much cheaper to buy your favorite hops in bulk. I scored a pound of Amarillo for 16.50 and just vaccuum seal them.

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I just did an all Amarillo IPA that I have in primary. I paid $2.19 an ounce. Same price for Simcoe too. There's still some at the store as well, but he's out of whole cone, which is doesn't carry a ton of, but I rarely ever buy.

I'm planning on buying bulk this year anyways, atleast a lb of the main guys I use. I know Amarillo and Simcoe are proprietary and controlled by one place, and it's obvious in the pricing, but I like them head and shoulders for my recipes over others.

ktblunden said:

Sounds like the growers need to step up their crop sizes.

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They have.. Citra was a massive hit this year. I've heard that Citra's crop this year won't be as awesome as it was last year, and people will be let down a bit if they just got off the Citra hangover of this year.

If thats true or not, I guess it depends on your usage, and your tastes.

Citra acreage was expanded for this years crop, so there should be more Citra out there than last year for sure.

Denny said:

Which means prices will plummet and it won't be worth their while to grow hops any more which means they'll tear them out and plant other crops which means there will be a hop shortage which means prices will skyrocket which means they'll plant more hops and in a few years prices will go down again.....

That's what happened a few years back.....

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The prices could drop, but not enough to get that dramatic. With the increase in home brewing and craft beer, there's no way that would fall. Despite the crap economy, and the lull in everything, craft brewers have grown largely every year, even with the larger macro's selling less beer. I'm all for lower prices, but it won't get to the point where it's not worth growing. They control the prices.

In that same vein, if they couldn't grow much, jacked the prices up, people would move on and find a substitute, or get over not being able to have it. That alone would be enough to crumble a market for a varietal.

I like your optimism. I hope you're right, but history kinda disagrees. John Maier mentioned to me after CBC that a lot of the new breweries opening up are gonna be real surprised when they can't get the hops they need. He commented that you ought to be able to buy used brewing systems real cheap in a few years.

This is precisely why my one man Nano will also have a one man hop farm.

Denny said:

I like your optimism. I hope you're right, but history kinda disagrees. John Maier mentioned to me after CBC that a lot of the new breweries opening up are gonna be real surprised when they can't get the hops they need. He commented that you ought to be able to buy used brewing systems real cheap in a few years.

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Not that I want to see any breweries fail..but that is just one more reason ,among many, why I have put my brewery plans on the backburner. How can a brewery survive,let alone prosper, if they can't source basic ingredients at a competitive price? Planting more hops is certainly a long term viable solution but a new brewery can't wait 2-4 years for the hops shortage to let up.

MisterTipsy said:

This is precisely why my one man Nano will also have a one man hop farm.

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John mentioned that if they weren't growing their own Crystal there wouldn't be any Brutal IPA this year!

Denny said:

John mentioned that if they weren't growing their own Crystal there wouldn't be any Brutal IPA this year!

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I'm hoping they cut down some more Crystal for us at this year's Hop Madness. Last year was Newport and Crystal. Looking forward to being down wind of the hop kiln for a couple nights.

Denny said:

I like your optimism. I hope you're right, but history kinda disagrees. John Maier mentioned to me after CBC that a lot of the new breweries opening up are gonna be real surprised when they can't get the hops they need. He commented that you ought to be able to buy used brewing systems real cheap in a few years.

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So, you're saying I have a few years to actually get good at brewing before I go pro at discount prices? Nice. :rockin:

MisterTipsy said:

This is precisely why my one man Nano will also have a one man hop farm.

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This is precisely why making beer will remain a hobby for me and not a business...

Brulosopher said:

This is precisely why making beer will remain a hobby for me and not a business...

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My philosophy exactly!

Brulosopher said:

This is precisely why making beer will remain a hobby for me and not a business...

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Absolutely!

Little off topic but how many micros and nanos do you think grow the varieties they use the most themselves? I think they would obviously still have to buy hops but a penny saved is a penny earned.

KeyWestBrewing said:

Little off topic but how many micros and nanos do you think grow the varieties they use the most themselves? I think they would obviously still have to buy hops but a penny saved is a penny earned.

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I can't imagine that anyone running a nano would have time to grow, harvest and process the hops they use. In terms of micros, there's an organic hop farm down the road from me. The farmer tells me his partner and money man runs a brewpub in Seattle and that's where most of the hops go. But I think it's rare to see that.

Denny said:

I can't imagine that anyone running a nano would have time to grow, harvest and process the hops they use. In terms of micros, there's an organic hop farm down the road from me. The farmer tells me his partner and money man runs a brewpub in Seattle and that's where most of the hops go. But I think it's rare to see that.

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I mention it because this season is my first time growing hops and I can honestly say the one of the least hands on plants I've ever grown. Water, once a month nutes pest control, that's pretty much it. I think the farm near you and their money man are doing a smart thing.

KeyWestBrewing said:

I mention it because this season is my first time growing hops and I can honestly say the one of the least hands on plants I've ever grown. Water, once a month nutes pest control, that's pretty much it. I think the farm near you and their money man are doing a smart thing.

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I don't know how many acres of hops you're growing, but they grow about 2 acres. They hire professional harvesters to come in with machines. Building a dryer was a huge undertaking and expense for them. I can tell you for a fact that the grower is barely breaking even. He's pretty much supported by his wife's job. Considering that most nano brewers have to brew continuously just to have beer in the pipeline, I can't imagine how someone doing a nano would have time to grow their own hops.

Here's a pic of the operation...

http://www.ploughmonday.com/about.htm

One cascade but going to add a few citra and centennial when I can get the crowns. I wouldn't expect a nano or micro to run something as big as an acre or more. Just a few bines of each variety to lessen expenses and ensure supply during shortages. Or they don't even have to dry them they could cut the bines, clip the hops, and use em fresh. I can imagine every brew operation has people willing to put in a helping hand for a little bit of free beer.

KeyWestBrewing said:

One cascade but going to add a few citra and centennial when I can get the crowns. I wouldn't expect a nano or micro to run something as big as an acre or more. Just a few bines of each variety to lessen expenses and ensure supply during shortages. Or they don't even have to dry them they could cut the bines, clip the hops, and use em fresh. I can imagine every brew operation has people willing to put in a helping hand for a little bit of free beer.

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Well, I think you;re incredibly optimistic, but the world needs more optimists!

I was informed by my LHBS that Bells Brewery was one of the culprits behind the Centennial shortage this year. I'm making BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde tonight and it is going to be a "Centennial Type" blonde due to the hops available. At least the "Centennial Type" hops were cheaper...

Interesting...I do know that one of their signature beers, believe it is Two Hearted, uses Centennial hops exclusively.

I'm not much worried, the next crops should be hitting the market in the next month or so.

FATC1TY said:

I'm not much worried, the next crops should be hitting the market in the next month or so.

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The problem is that the vast majority of hops are already contracted out to breweries. Homebrewers play a very small role in the hop market. It isn't so much if you can find the popular hops, next month you will certainly be able to. The big question is whether you will be able to find them in 3-4 months and if so how much will they be? My LHBS has Amarillo....at 3.50 an ounce!!!

Phunhog said:

The problem is that the vast majority of hops are already contracted out to breweries. Homebrewers play a very small role in the hop market. It isn't so much if you can find the popular hops, next month you will certainly be able to. The big question is whether you will be able to find them in 3-4 months and if so how much will they be? My LHBS has Amarillo....at 3.50 an ounce!!!

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I heard the yields on this year's harvest were pretty good. Secondly, some of the larger homebrew retailers are starting to buy some of the harder to get hops on contract.

I could definitely be wrong, but I think it'll be much easier to get hops like Simcoe, Amarillo, and Citra this year than last.

Denny said:

I can't imagine that anyone running a nano would have time to grow, harvest and process the hops they use. In terms of micros, there's an organic hop farm down the road from me. The farmer tells me his partner and money man runs a brewpub in Seattle and that's where most of the hops go. But I think it's rare to see that.

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What Brewpub?

Rogue is one to throw in the category of "grows their own hops" (and malt for that matter). Doubt its all the hops they use, but i'm sure they create brews around their hop blend.

RainyDay said:

Rogue is one to throw in the category of "grows their own hops" (and malt for that matter). Doubt its all the hops they use, but i'm sure they create brews around their hop blend.

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Was out at Chatoe Rogue last weekend for Hop Madness. Think the guide said it provided about 25% of Rogue's hops (the homebrew had been flowing all day, so don't quote me on that number).

I remember reading a couple years back about hop shortages and how Sam Adams was actually selling their hops to microbreweries to ease the burden. Maybe this will catch on with some of the other big guys. Doubt it, but it'd be nice. "When the tide rises, all boats go up."

Maybe Miller could drop from Triple-hopped to Double-hopped and share with the smaller guys?