Don't Shoot The Questioner: Hops Shortage Still Going On?

Back to my hobby again and as I am just a lowly kit beer brewer I am wondering what's going on. The last couple of kits I made tasted yucky because of the substitution hops. Don't want to splurge on one unless I know it will taste right.

Also, which types of kits would not have been affected? Anybody know?

Thanks a bunch,
Jennifer

I think it honestly depends on the retailer and location.

Some online suppliers seem to be having issues with hops and others have pretty much anything you need. If a particular hop profile is important to you, you might want to consider spending a bit more for shipping in order to get the right ingredients.

the answer lies somewhere between the facts. we lost an awful lot of of acreage over the last decade which contributed to the shortage hit we took last year. having said that with the price going up we had a lot more acreage planted this yr than the past but that requires a two season grow before a significant harvest from those plants. next yr should be much better.

Between a few online suppliers (nikobrew.com is even an HBT'er), I haven't had any problems recently... other than the fact that I have literally no more room to store more hops and got another pound on the way.

If I tell you yes will you buy hops at exorbant prices from me?
I havent seen a problem, my lhbs has a better selection than I have seen in a while.

Last month, my LHBS had all hops marked at 2.99 per ounce. This month, that sign was down and hops were priced individually. Most were 1.99, and they had a much better selection- even some WHOLE HOPS!!!! They said it's definitely getting better, and expect to be back to the good ole' days after next year's harvest.

I may be completely wrong but I remember reading that most of the world's hops come from Germany and China as well as the U.S. Apparently the hops grown in Germany have suffered from a fairly shoddy growing season dramatically effecting supply.

Thanks folks, looks like we're doing better but not out of the woods totally yet. I have an email to the people I've purchased from before to see if they are still selling the kit I bought with substitutes. No reply as of yet.

Did not like it with the substitutions. Maybe it will improve with age?

I have to find the beer types which are no longer affected.

Just checking here too, thanks,

Jennifer

About the only way you'll find out if substitutions are being made, is to ask the kit supplier. Off-hand, I can't think of any style that requires a specific hop. Recipes, yes, but not a style. It's possible the supplier is using up unusual hops they purchased during the crunch and making poor choices.

I am confused. My local suppliers are claiming hop shortage, but I can buy hops online elsewhere, price seems ok, but now I have to add in shipping costs on top of that.

Aside from that, my local suppliers also have no bottles on the shelf either, so there must be a bottle shortage also......., maybe a bad frost took them out too.

confused::

Petunia said:

Back to my hobby again and as I am just a lowly kit beer brewer I am wondering what's going on. The last couple of kits I made tasted yucky because of the substitution hops. Don't want to splurge on one unless I know it will taste right.

Also, which types of kits would not have been affected? Anybody know?

Thanks a bunch,
Jennifer

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I'm a little confused. Are you sure it's the hops that are the problem with your beers? I see in your signature that you're currently drinking an Irish Stout, a Cream Ale, a Wheat Beer and a Red Ale, none of which should contain much if any late addition hops. Hops used during bittering shouldn't have much effect on flavor or aroma. Maybe the hops used were had a higher or lower AA% than the intended hops so bittering was off?

ChickenSoop said:

......Aside from that, my local suppliers also have no bottles on the shelf either, so there must be a bottle shortage also......., maybe a bad frost took them out too.

confused::

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DUDE! You don't get out much do you? I can't believe you haven't heard about the devastating effects last summer's drought had on the domestic bottle crops. The majority of which never ripened to a nice brown color, but remained in a basically immature "clear" state. This left them mostly useless for anything except export for use by Corona. I think the dwarfed ones were snapped up by Gerber for their baby food products.....

bull8042 said:

DUDE! You don't get out much do you? I can't believe you haven't heard about the devastating effects last summer's drought had on the domestic bottle crops. The majority of which never ripened to a nice brown color, but remained in a basically immature "clear" state. This left them mostly useless for anything except export for use by Corona. I think the dwarfed ones were snapped up by Gerber for their baby food products.....

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This goes right along with the carboy shortage that we experienced recently in the mexican carboy fields. But I didn't know it was due to drought. I thought it was because they were using the carboy fields to plant agave??

confused

bull8042 said:

DUDE! You don't get out much do you? I can't believe you haven't heard about the devastating effects last summer's drought had on the domestic bottle crops. The majority of which never ripened to a nice brown color, but remained in a basically immature "clear" state. This left them mostly useless for anything except export for use by Corona. I think the dwarfed ones were snapped up by Gerber for their baby food products.....

Click to expand...

OK. Very funny!

Homercidal said:

This goes right along with the carboy shortage that we experienced recently in the mexican carboy fields. But I didn't know it was due to drought. I thought it was because they were using the carboy fields to plant agave??

confused

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Combined with this. Freakin hilarious.