Opinion on hops to buy in bulk

I want to start buying some hops in bulk and I wanted everyone's opinion on what types to buy. I was thinkin' maybe some EKG, Simcoe or Amarillo. I like to brew porters, Irish Reds, and some British styles. I also want to start making some IPA's. Any ideas?

For UK beers (I'm including Scottish and Irish ales in this), you can't go wrong with Fuggles and EKG. They can be used for bittering, flavor and aroma. They are perfectly at home in everything from mild to porter, Scottish ale to dry stout.

I like having a clean, neutral high AA hop for bittering, something like Magnum or Galena. The high AA means I have to use very little, so a pound lasts quite a while.

For American IPAs that typically ooze with grapefruity, citrusy goodness, Simcoe and Amarillo are a popular combination, as are Cascade and Centennial.

Hope that helps!

karmabrew said:

I want to start buying some hops in bulk . . . Any ideas?

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Can't speak to your preference, but here's a good reference. Among other things, it lists the storageability which might be considered when buying in bulk.

Hop Data - Brew-Monkey.Com

With hops directs prices right now, I'd say get a pound of everything!

Get what you like.

Centennial
Cascade
Simcoe
Amarillo
Willamette (10.50 a lb right now)
Magnum (great for bittering addition)

I brew mainly british and belgian styles, so for bulk I buy EKGs, Fuggles and Saaz

zac said:

With hops directs prices right now, I'd say get a pound of everything!

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Hold off. I am going to buy a couple of pounds. The way my luck runs, the day AFTER I buy mine, the price will drop $10/lb!

Bull,
Im actually filling up my cart there now.

I don't think prices will drop anymore at least till the fresh harvest comes in.

I just dropped $62 at HopsDirect on a pound of pellets each of German Magnum, Target, Northern Brewer and the US Willamette. Looking at the useful storage data from Brew-Monkey, it looks like I'm set for my brewing hops through the fall!

prices are just changing with economies of scale.

people wanted more of what wasn't available, so price went sky high.
producers moved strategically to increase production to meet demand.
surplus of product is driving prices down right now.

It's simplest you can get with economics.

beesy said:

prices are just changing with economies of scale.

people wanted more of what wasn't available, so price went sky high.
producers moved strategically to increase production to meet demand.
surplus of product is driving prices down right now.

It's simplest you can get with economics.

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You got it beesy, I totally agree. Thanks for all the responses everyone! I'm definitely getting some ideas now.

Hops Direct just dropped thier Chinook price from $29.50 to $18.50 per pound. We just dropped $1,000 dollars there in our group buy, and they were nice enough to go back and adjust our Chinook price to the new price!

Our members paid $1.21/ounce SHIPPED...

I just did the same thing. Here is my thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/help-pick-me-some-hops-118259/

oops, double posted.

Last year I went with Magnum and I think it was a good call. It's got a great clean bitterness to it that's very multi-purpose and I've also used it for dry hopping on some big west coast style IPA's. If you have a foodsaver, you can store them for quite a while (mine were purchased last summer and I still have a few ounces left that are sealed up in the freezer)

If any of you are interested in putting together a bulk hop buy. Here is the spreadsheet I used to organize mine. I have sent it to a cpl ppl already, if you are interested I can send it to you.

Item 01: 1 each HTEASAMP Hop Tea Sampler Pack $ 5.75
Item 02: 1 each HAMAP1 Amarillo Pellet Hops: 1 lb. $ 19.50
Item 03: 1 each HWILP1 Willamette Pellet Hops 1 lb. $ 10.50
Item 04: 2 each HNUGP1 Nugget Pellet Hops 1 lb. $ 19.50
Item 05: 1 each HHERSP1 Hersbrucker (GR) Pellet Hops 1 lb. $ 28.00
Item 06: 1 each HGALP1 Galena Pellet Hops 1 lb. $ 18.50
Item 07: 2 each HCHINP1 Chinook Pellet Hops 1 lb. $ 18.50
Item 08: 1 each HCSAAZP1 Czech Saaz Pellet Hops 1 lb. $ 18.50
Item 09: 1 each HADLF1 Admiral Leaf Hops: 1 lb. $ 22.00

Hey Bull, The above items are no longer avail. All for less than 200 bucks.....

I just placed a 5 lb. order with them...damn am I ready to make an IIPA. Grabbed some of those 18 buck a pound Chinooks too. It's insane to think that you could spend that much for around 5 oz at most places. Point being Hops Direct rocks face.

The Pol said:

If any of you are interested in putting together a bulk hop buy. Here is the spreadsheet I used to organize mine. I have sent it to a cpl ppl already, if you are interested I can send it to you.

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Cascade in a landslide victory!

Got my order from hopsdirect yesterday. I'm not embarrised to say holding that much hops at one time gave me wood...........

SRTBREW said:

Got my order from hopsdirect yesterday. I'm not embarrised to say holding that much hops at one time gave me wood...........

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When did you order? I really want to brew something this weekend, and don't know if I should bank on the order showing up by then, or just buying from the LHBS.

brokenanchor said:

When did you order? I really want to brew something this weekend, and don't know if I should bank on the order showing up by then, or just buying from the LHBS.

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You should get a shipping/tracking e-mail after it has been shipped.

Here in Florida it takes quite a while for hops from Puterbaugh to get here. Def more than a week.

I ordered om the fifth and got my order yetserday. Shipping is a little slow, but I'm sure if you needed it faster you could do a faster shipping.

I've always been into leaf hops for the freshness and dry hopping. I had a dedicated freezer for storing the big bags of leaf hops. It died recently and leaf hops take up a LOT of space in the freezer. How big is a pound of pellet hops?

A pound of pellets is about the size of a small bag of fritos or doritos (the size you put in a lunchbox).

My four pounds of pellets arrived from hopsdirect.com yesterday. The bags were 18oz, 18.5oz, 16.9oz, and 20.5oz. Good value!

My order of 50 POUNDS will be delivered to Indianapolis in 7 days flat, from the date of order. Looking at the package weights, it looks like we got about 6 extra POUNDS. I am so excited to lay in them...

Looks like I'll be buying a few ounces when I pick up my bulk buy grains then. Always gotta one up us don't you (insert witty remark about The Pol and a measuring contest). I'm assuming it was a group buy, how many pounds are you keeping for yourself? Oh and what 6 extra pounds

brokenanchor said:

Looks like I'll be buying a few ounces when I pick up my bulk buy grains then. Always gotta one up us don't you (insert witty remark about The Pol and a measuring contest). I'm assuming it was a group buy, how many pounds are you keeping for yourself? Oh and what 6 extra pounds

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It was an Indy group buy... my point was, thier shipping is pretty damn fast. 7 days after placing the order above, to my door step... that is good!

I purchased 6.3 pounds to add to the three I have in the freezer.

Yah... um, what 6 extra pounds.... huh, never saw them!

7 days is not at all bad...I'm just really kicking myself for not ordering earlier. Funny how we all expect things to arrive immediately in this day and age. Anyway, buying in bulk is the coolest thing since velcro. When the hops finally do show up I was planning on doing a orange/cascade APA, but I see a orange/cascade IAPA there in your sig. What recipe did you use?

brokenanchor said:

7 days is not at all bad...I'm just really kicking myself for not ordering earlier. Funny how we all expect things to arrive immediately in this day and age. Anyway, buying in bulk is the coolest thing since velcro. When the hops finally do show up I was planning on doing a orange/cascade APA, but I see a orange/cascade IAPA there in your sig. What recipe did you use?

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It is amazing #1 Here is the thread, video and recipe! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/orange-cascade-v2-0-brewday-has-begun-99979/

It is the Orange/Cascade APA amped up with 1.5 pounds of 40L and it has an OG of about 1.068!

It is MIGHTY tasty.

Awesome that's pretty much exactly what I was going to do. Very similar to blacklab's Orange/Cascade APA. I'm a huge fan of the citrusy taste you can get from Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook...and with all the hops on the way I'm planning on dry hopping the $h!+ out of it. I'm thinking dry hop with an ounce or two when fermentation's finishing up in the primary, and then another ounce in secondary for a week.

brokenanchor said:

Awesome that's pretty much exactly what I was going to do. Very similar to blacklab's Orange/Cascade APA. I'm a huge fan of the citrusy taste you can get from Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook...and with all the hops on the way I'm planning on dry hopping the $h!+ out of it. I'm thinking dry hop with an ounce or two when fermentation's finishing up in the primary, and then another ounce in secondary for a week.

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Yeah I have to say that the caramel sweetness backing up the citrus notes on this one is amazing. It is a keeper. I brewed it un-intentionally BIG because I went from 70% eff to 82% eff. There is where it has stayed, so it is nice to have created something new

I'll probably be hitting around 75% and I don't have beersmith next to me right now, so I'm not sure if that'll be an IAPA or not. I'll probably switch to higher lovibond to get that caramel going on too. Probably brew it next week sometime. Oh by the way, ridiculous set up, nice job.

brokenanchor said:

I'll probably be hitting around 75% and I don't have beersmith next to me right now, so I'm not sure if that'll be an IAPA or not. I'll probably switch to higher lovibond to get that caramel going on too. Probably brew it next week sometime. Oh by the way, ridiculous set up, nice job.

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Hey Hey thanks on the rig... if you are at about 75%, just toss in another pound or so of pale malt.

Happy brewing, enjoy them hops!

Yup will do and I'll post some pictures too. Sorry for hijacking the post karmabrew...and remember any decision is a good decision when you're buy over a pound of hops.