Cheap A$$ when it comes to hops

Just curious if there is anyone else out there... I LOVE to brew like everyone else on here but at the same time I am very price sensitive (economical aka cheap). I dont brew to "save" money but I do like to be reasonable when brewing. I typically do all grain 3 to 4 gallon batches. I try to order online and plan ahead to reuse yeast and what not... here is where I am cheap. I ALWAYS try to substitute hops. For some reason hops just burn me up when it comes to paying 32+ dollars a pound. I usually buy a high AA hop (right now i'm bittering pretty much everything with warrior) to bitter with. When I pull up a recipe I always attempt to just reuse .5oz of hops from past brews? I guess I really attempt to just stay within the OG, IBU, & SRM of a particular style / class. Anyone else always "hodgepodging" hops together?

hopsdirect.com

You can get them online for like $12-15 per pound plus shipping. Way, way cheaper than buying by the ounce.

holy crap $32/lb

start shopping around

Check out Farmhouse Brewing Supply... They have a solid selection (they do run out of some from time to time, so send an email to them to find out when more will be back in stock)... A pound of Warrior hops (17.2% AA) normally run $4/4oz pack. Get a full pound, and it's $14.40 for the pound ($0.40 discounted per packet)...

I get almost all my hops from them. I only go elsewhere for whole hops, since they only offer pellet hops. Besides, John (Steelers77) is a member here. He's a stand-up guy and actually replies to emails pretty fast. Don't email him until Wednesday though (see his site main page)...

eastoak said:

hopsdirect.com

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+1 I order all my hops here! Last time i ordered i got like 6lbs of hops for like 80 something bucks! Great site and the hops are GREAT QUALITY!

Yes, buy hops in bulk.

For a batch I needed only one ounce of German hops and I barely use that style. Instead of buying a 2-ounce bag for $4 I got eight times that amount for $5-6 more. I've needed the hops for another batch so it came out to close the same price but I still have 13 ounces in the freezer.

Even if I don't buy them in bulk, I love hops too much to be a cheap a**. This last brew I did had 5 oz of hops in the boil, and has 2 more oz in dry hopping. If I like it, next one will have twice that

There's a lot of things I'll shop around for. But for things I eat or drink....nope. You only live once, why cheap out. Buy the store brand ketchup to save thirty cents? Screw that.....

Hammy71 said:

Buy the store brand ketchup to save thirty cents? Screw that.....

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Funny thing is most of the time that store brand is made by the SAME place that makes the name brand, and is actually the SAME Ketchup that is in the name brand bottle without the name brand price. I personally cant tell a difference in taste between the two.

All hops at my LHBS are 2.50/oz...doesn't matter what type. So that comes to $40/lb!! That's why I volunteer there and get a discount.

Yeah I buy my bittering hops in bulk (usually 8 oz from morebeer) but I dont feel its a wise investment to buy multiple hops in bulk when I brew vastly different beers and would have the majority of the hops in the freezer for over a year. I was just curious if others always have a half ounce here and there and try to squeeze them into a recipe.

Growing your own would minimize the damage to your wallet.

Teromous said:

Growing your own would minimize the damage to your wallet.

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And wait 2-3 years before I could use them...booo! No seriously though, I wish I could, but my damn HOA won't let me grow hops...as dumb as they are, they would think it was weed...yeah...weed vines growing over a clothes line.

BradleyBrew said:

Yeah I buy my bittering hops in bulk (usually 8 oz from morebeer) but I dont feel its a wise investment to buy multiple hops in bulk when I brew vastly different beers and would have the majority of the hops in the freezer for over a year. I was just curious if others always have a half ounce here and there and try to squeeze them into a recipe.

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Plan out a series of beers to brew order, hops, malt in bulk then brew baby brew...........THE MAN WITH THE PLAN SAVES! Plus then you know what you're brewing week to week.....Here in Florida I plan brews to the seasons you know warm and less warm If you have hops sitting for a year you need to brew more! Check out a hop chart buy hops for multiple styles or just Smash....Of all the places to go CHEAP hops is not where to start...........Now I am fruggle but WTF.

i have several varieties in my freezer that i buy by the pound and it makes brewing easier since i never feel like i have to ration them. 3 oz for dry hopping...nah, make it 4.

eastoak said:

hopsdirect.com

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Yep. Also Farmhouse, Niko's.

Vance71975 said:

Funny thing is most of the time that store brand is made by the SAME place that makes the name brand, and is actually the SAME Ketchup that is in the name brand bottle without the name brand price. I personally cant tell a difference in taste between the two.

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No way there is no substitute for Heinz. I can tell the difference by just smelling or looking at it. But then again I put ketchup on everything and go through a bottle every week or two lol.

Back on topic, I also recommend hopsdirect. And I also try to buy a few lbs of each style (noble, english, american) and sub out recipes with a similar strain. I'm not at the point of my brewing career that I can really tell the difference between Hallertau and williamette anyhow.

I have been thinking about this thread for awhile. I just cant understand it. You spend how much on the fermentables and your time just to skimp out on an ingredient that is critical to the end product...It is like telling me you raised a black angus cow and had it all turned into hot dogs and glue...

kpr121 said:

No way there is no substitute for Heinz. I can tell the difference by just smelling or looking at it. But then again I put ketchup on everything and go through a bottle every week or two lol.

Back on topic, I also recommend hopsdirect. And I also try to buy a few lbs of each style (noble, english, american) and sub out recipes with a similar strain. I'm not at the point of my brewing career that I can really tell the difference between Hallertau and williamette anyhow.

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Agreed. On both points.

I'm not saying that I skimp out on hops.. I'm just saying that I try to use every ounce of hops I buy and make substitutes whenever possible with the hops I have on hand or that are leftover from previous batches. I'm not out plucking weeds and hope they bitter my beer lol.

BradleyBrew said:

I'm not saying that I skimp out on hops.. I'm just saying that I try to use every ounce of hops I buy and make substitutes whenever possible with the hops I have on hand or that are leftover from previous batches. I'm not out plucking weeds and hope they bitter my beer lol.

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No problem at all with not being wasteful. I have a few bags of hops in my freezer that have maybe .2-.3 oz each, mostly all American. One of these days I'll just brew up a mystery hop pale ale or something to use them up when I accumulate enough.

Why? 2 cases of beer is $96. I make 2 cases for about $27. That's for a hoppy brew. Why scimp on hops?

32 bucks/pound holy crap.

I buy mine through a local supplier, who gets them from Hops Direct for $9-$16/pound depending on variety. I rarely buy an ounce of a hop anymore, I just buy a pound.

i'll second farmhousebrewingsupply.com

i found him a while back, I think within a month or so i ordered about 3 pounds of hops, cost me in the $50 range.
all packs are under $4/ 4oz.. some are as low as $2 for 4 oz when he does sales and such.

and shipping is very low. you can buy one pack, it's like $1.50 for shipping. so you get 4 oz. for ~$5.

When you're paying $32/lb it's a no brainer to buy more in bulk...You can buy from farmhouse or hopsdirect and only use half, then throw the rest out and you STILL got a better deal than what you are paying. Just sayin...

Grow your own, it's really easy and fun!

Watch the forums. There was a bulk hop buy a few months ago. I recall getting #11 of various hops for $70 shipped from WA to Denver. +1 on Hops Direct, Nikobrew...etc. I have used hops that have been in my freezer for over 1yr and they are still fine.

I know this is an old thread, but I have recdently found www.yakimavalleyhops.com They are quick and a pound of cascade costs $9.99 plus shipping. They have chinook for $11.99 if you're still into high alpha acid varieties.

Vance71975 said:

Funny thing is most of the time that store brand is made by the SAME place that makes the name brand, and is actually the SAME Ketchup that is in the name brand bottle without the name brand price. I personally cant tell a difference in taste between the two.

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keep dreaming. i can, for sure, taste the difference between store brand and heinz. no doubt about it.

Vance71975 said:

Funny thing is most of the time that store brand is made by the SAME place that makes the name brand, and is actually the SAME Ketchup that is in the name brand bottle without the name brand price. I personally cant tell a difference in taste between the two.

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I'll bet you buy the off brand TP too!?!?


Ive found in life there are a few things you dont skimp on

Ketchup, TP, Hops, and beer are at the top of the list.

To the OP...buy in bulk. Some substituions are completely sensical and reasonable, but with all the unique(selectively bred) hop varieties available there is typically no good subsitute.

I try to save money, too. I'm new to brewing, so I'm still trying to dial in the flavor of everything, so I usually just buy the cheaper varieties (cascade, williamette, chinook). I also like farmhouse!

As far as using up remnants of leftover hops, on my recent IPA brew I added various quantities of Amarillo, Chinook, and Nugget to my dry hop to clean out my leftovers. I'm looking forward to trying the end result.

ktblunden said:

As far as using up remnants of leftover hops, on my recent IPA brew I added various quantities of Amarillo, Chinook, and Nugget to my dry hop to clean out my leftovers. I'm looking forward to trying the end result.

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That actually sounds like quite a tasty combo!

My solution, everything I brew uses some combination of the following, magnum, ekg, saaz, centenial.
It's a good thing because I couldn't get Amarillo or citra if my life depended on it.

Vance71975 said:

Funny thing is most of the time that store brand is made by the SAME place that makes the name brand, and is actually the SAME Ketchup that is in the name brand bottle without the name brand price. I personally cant tell a difference in taste between the two.

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I dare you to taste heinz and great value ketchup back to back and tell me they taste the same.

He's right about many products, but ketchup may not be one of them. I don't know. I haven't eaten it in years.
I do know that you don't buy cheap tp unless you are a masochist.

Even though price is a concern, it would be interesting to find out the difference between these vendors on how good their hops are. I've found that buying in 1-lb increments works well for me (11 gal batches, and lots of hop usage), but some vendors sell in 4 oz or 8 oz packages. That's all good, but how were these hops treated? That's even more important to me than a few dollars here and there. I actually just wrote a blog post discussing the freshest source for hops, if you're interested in checking it out.