PSA: Hops are getting dirt-cheap again :)

Just a PSA:

I was just checking the HopsDirect web site, and it's pretty amazing that you can get hops for as cheap as $10.50/lb again (a year ago, that would have gotten us maybe 3-4 oz max for most varieties). Some other web sites charge about twice as much as HopsDirect does, so it pays to shop around.

Yeah, I stocked up a couple months ago with pellets from Hops Direct... And I know LOTS of other HBT members have done the same, including a huge group buy organized by The Pol.

Funny thing is, now it looks like my favorite cheap yeast (Nottingham) is about to get more expensive?

Yes, I have about 8 or 9 pounds in my freezer now.

I'm not a big fan of paying 8 bucks for a 1lb package for shipping.

what is the quality of these hops?

MBasile said:

what is the quality of these hops?

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Hopefully they're good. I just got a lb of centennial and a lb of columbus in the mail today :rockin:

$9 shipping, so $50 total. $1.56 per oz. Beats $3.50-$4.00 from the LHBS

MBasile said:

what is the quality of these hops?

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They are the freshest hops I have ever been able to find.

The freshness from hops direct was good imo. Well packaged and smelled fresh. Initial tastes of my first beers brewed with them are good.

I bought a bunch of stuff and have used the cascade, centennial, and hersbrucker. Many of their hops are under $1.50 now. That is literally less than 25% of LHBS costs in many cases.

I have 3 pounds arriving today. Hopsdirect is a good vendor.

Bastards...just got back from the LHBS and still paying $3/oz.

Got a pound of cascades today. A few weeks ago, I bought a pound of willimette and a pound of EKG. Price was right. Shipping is the same on 2 lbs as one.

LHBS is 3.99 an ounce, some just dropped to 2.99. I didn't see any pounds or 1/4 pounds.

I had a bag of willimette in my freezer from about 8 years ago, 4.99 for 4 oz.

Cascades = APA

I think I'm going to order a pound of Cascade, Magnum, and Willamette. The Willamette is just because I can't resist 16oz of hops for $10.50. My LHBS is pretty reasonable at $2.45/oz but they can't compete with these prices.

Does anyone know if the shipping is the same for 3 pounds?

Mike

I ordered 6 lbs from them in Jan. They are great, fresh hops.
As mentioned above, $8 shipping for a pound sucks, but spread the shipping over the cost of2 or 3 or more pounds, and its a great price per ounce.

So it's pretty much $8 for shipping no matter how much you order?

Also do the hops you get say what the AA is for them? I just gives a range on the website.

Mike

Anyone interested in a Denver group buy?

blk94f150 said:

Also do the hops you get say what the AA is for them? I just gives a range on the website.

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The actual AA is included on the bulk package.

anyone in the mke area want to do a group buy too?

blk94f150 said:

So it's pretty much $8 for shipping no matter how much you order?

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No, it goes up some, but its much less, like $8 for 1 pound, $10 for 2, $11 for 3...
don't quote me on those prices, they are just an example.
I think I paid about $18 for shipping 6 pounds.

MrShake said:

I'm not a big fan of paying 8 bucks for a 1lb package for shipping.

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Pro tip: $8 shipping on 1lb of hop pellets at $15/lb works out to 30% of the price per ounce of your LHBS, who is right now raking you over the hoppy coals.

So it's pretty much $8 for shipping no matter how much you order?

Also do the hops you get say what the AA is for them? I just gives a range on the website.

Mike

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I payed $6 to have 3lbs shipped to Idaho. YMMV.
The exact AA is printed on the slip on each package.



Hopsdirect is the only way to go for me from here on unless something drastic happens.

little bit of a noob question here:

for bittering hops, it's all about the AA% and quantity, right? i.e., 1 oz of 6% hops = 0.5 oz of 12% hops?

The reason I ask is this: hops at my LHBS cost about $3.50/oz. If I bought a pound of bittering hops here (since, according to my prowling around HBT, the flavor of bittering hops doesn't matter so much), say Galena or Magnum, and kept them in the freezer, I'd have enough bittering hops for lots of beers, right? Then I could just use the LHBS for taste/aroma hops (since I'm a newer brewer, I'm interested in making lots of different styles, and wouldn't want to commit myself to having to use one variety of finishing hops right now).

That would be ridiculously cheap.

Shoot, anyone in the Bay Area want to get in on a buy?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Anyone in Northeast OHIO in for a group buy of hops just PM me!

craven_morhead said:

Anyone interested in a Denver group buy?

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I'd join in on a Denver buy.

Group buys are the way to go. Our group buy members purchased 50 POUNDS of hops, and paid $45 shipping. The cost per ounce, SHIPPED, was slightly over $1 per ounce.

Shipping is not a big deal if you do a group buy. The more you buy, the less you pay per ounce to ship it. I ended up with about 7 pounds of hops for less than $1 per ounce, SHIPPED from HopsDirect.

I also have a pretty nice spreadsheet that I can give to anyone looking to organize a group buy... to track orders and running costs.

Palefire said:

little bit of a noob question here:

for bittering hops, it's all about the AA% and quantity, right? i.e., 1 oz of 6% hops = 0.5 oz of 12% hops?

The reason I ask is this: hops at my LHBS cost about $3.50/oz. If I bought a pound of bittering hops here (since, according to my prowling around HBT, the flavor of bittering hops doesn't matter so much), say Galena or Magnum, and kept them in the freezer, I'd have enough bittering hops for lots of beers, right? Then I could just use the LHBS for taste/aroma hops (since I'm a newer brewer, I'm interested in making lots of different styles, and wouldn't want to commit myself to having to use one variety of finishing hops right now).

That would be ridiculously cheap.

Shoot, anyone in the Bay Area want to get in on a buy?

Thanks in advance for the help!

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Well kind of, certain hops have a harsher bitterness then others. So while you may not get any flavor per say out of the hops, you will get a different bitterness, which, IMO effects overall flavor. (I use magnum as a bittering hop though. IMO it's rather mild and clean.) But yeah on the %'s and weights you're right.

Palefire said:

little bit of a noob question here:

for bittering hops, it's all about the AA% and quantity, right? i.e., 1 oz of 6% hops = 0.5 oz of 12% hops?

The reason I ask is this: hops at my LHBS cost about $3.50/oz. If I bought a pound of bittering hops here (since, according to my prowling around HBT, the flavor of bittering hops doesn't matter so much), say Galena or Magnum, and kept them in the freezer, I'd have enough bittering hops for lots of beers, right? Then I could just use the LHBS for taste/aroma hops (since I'm a newer brewer, I'm interested in making lots of different styles, and wouldn't want to commit myself to having to use one variety of finishing hops right now).

That would be ridiculously cheap.

Shoot, anyone in the Bay Area want to get in on a buy?

Thanks in advance for the help!

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Where in the Bay Area are you located? And which LHBS did you go to?

MBasile said:

Where in the Bay Area are you located? And which LHBS did you go to?

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I'm also in the Bay Area and wouldn't mind getting in on a group buy, although I do still have about 1.5 pounds of hops I bought a couple months ago. I also know of a couple other people who might want to get in on it, if we can get critical mass on this.

dwarven_stout said:

Pro tip: $8 shipping on 1lb of hop pellets at $15/lb works out to 30% of the price per ounce of your LHBS, who is right now raking you over the hoppy coals.

.

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Can't speak for anyone elses but My LHBS owner paid too damn much for the hops too. not saying any one should buy them, just defending the LHBS (plural LHBS)that aren't being greedy ,just bought to much too early thinking they were helping us in the long run

jpc said:

I'm also in the Bay Area and wouldn't mind getting in on a group buy, although I do still have about 1.5 pounds of hops I bought a couple months ago. I also know of a couple other people who might want to get in on it, if we can get critical mass on this.

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You fellow Bay Area people need to fill out the location part of your profile! haha!

I'm not ready to start buying hops in mass quantities yet because I'm new to brewing and don't know what hops I like yet. I'm still experimenting

I was asking the other guy what LHBS he went to because I've heard things about the one in SF in regards to bad customer service/bad information.

The pol ran a great group buy, my only regret was not buying more.

I just ordered 2more lbs of hops monday

The Pol said:

Group buys are the way to go. Our group buy members purchased 50 POUNDS of hops, and paid $45 shipping. The cost per ounce, SHIPPED, was slightly over $1 per ounce.

Shipping is not a big deal if you do a group buy. The more you buy, the less you pay per ounce to ship it. I ended up with about 7 pounds of hops for less than $1 per ounce, SHIPPED from HopsDirect.

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I bought three pounds for myself, and with shipping, my cost per ounce was $1.07. I do, however, have the benefit of living a 5 hour drive from the Yakima Valley, so the shipping cost is a bit less than you Indiana dudes...

What is the shelf life of pellet hops in shrink-wrap once they are in the freezer?

Eric

Just grabbed 2 pounds of Amarillo for $39 and shipping. Let the IPAs flow!

EricCSU said:

What is the shelf life of pellet hops in shrink-wrap once they are in the freezer?

Eric

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If you have Beer Smith it has a tool that calculates hop AA loss over time with different packaging including vacuum packed. Very helpful tool. Also austinhomebrew.com lists all the AA degradation rates for each hop they sell which you could use to manually calcuate AA loss over time.

So far, since May, I have bought 6 lbs of hop pellets from HopsDirect. Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, GR Hallertau, GR Tettenanger, and Willamette.

2 shipments of 3 lbs each. The last order of the Hallertau, Tett and Willamette was about $50.00 including shipping. The low alpha hops go fast, so if anyone puts together a Denver group buy, I would be interested. The Sorachi hops are calling my name.

They are all very fresh. They will stay that way if kept in your freezer. Use a vacuum seal-a-meal and repackage them in 1-2 oz amounts. Or use the canning jar attachment and reseal them after each use

MBasile said:

Where in the Bay Area are you located? And which LHBS did you go to?

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I'm in SF, and I go to Brewcraft. I know there've been some complaints about them, but I've found them nothing but nice and helpful. They've always had everything I've needed, and have been happy to answer whatever questions I've had (although they're not always up to date on the latest homebrewing techniques a la HBT!).

But still ... $3.50/oz for hops. Makes doing something like an IPA almost prohibitively expensive.

MBasile said:

You fellow Bay Area people need to fill out the location part of your profile! haha!

I'm not ready to start buying hops in mass quantities yet because I'm new to brewing and don't know what hops I like yet. I'm still experimenting

I was asking the other guy what LHBS he went to because I've heard things about the one in SF in regards to bad customer service/bad information.

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Point noted, and location added.

No problem on the lack of a GB... I tend to brew English-style beers, so I can go through a pound of Fuggers, Kent Goldings, etc. in a few months. My GF brews Hefeweizen, but not as often, so the Hallertauer tend to last a bit longer.

So are they trying to blow out their 2008 stock before the 2009 comes in?

I just may have to stock up for some Pliny clones

Palefire said:

little bit of a noob question here:

for bittering hops, it's all about the AA% and quantity, right? i.e., 1 oz of 6% hops = 0.5 oz of 12% hops?

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No. The humulone/cohumulone levels matter, and especially the beta acid levels also matter. Listening to John Palmer's podcast "What is an IBU, really?" is worthwile.

Just to take beta acid levels as one example:

A lot of traditional hops are 1:1 alpha:beta acid, while some go to as much as 2:1. The high-alpha varieties can get up to 3:1 or 4:1 levels, though some. So it really depends on what you're going for.

Accidental Hedonist - Types of Hops is a good listing of typical alpha and beta levels in various hops.

You can easily see that, among low/mid alpha hops, things like Cascade, Crystal, and Mt Hood usually have _higher_ beta levels than alpha; the a:b ratios may be 0.8:1 or so. Noble hops like hallertauer or saaz are close to 1:1, while EKGs or fuggles are closer to 2:1 (and may approach 2.5:1).

Among newer high-alpha varieties, Galena's not to far out at 1.7:1 or so, and Magnum's in the 2:1 range. But Nugget, Simcoe, Warrior, and Chinook start pushing it into the 3 or higher:1 range.

That's just one dimension; cohumulone levels matter too.

I'd be interested in a Denver buy. The hour drive would be cheap compared to shipping to my doorstep, if the quantity was enough in the bulk buy.

RE: Denver, anyone feel like taking point? I'm still in poor student mode until September, and will be gone for most of August. I'd love to get in on it, but probably can't organize.