Whats up with this Citra Shortage?

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scottyg354

Plant Based Homebrewer
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The only beer I use Citra for is my IPA and I haven't brewed it since last year. I usually use Cascade, Nugget, Centennial and Kent Goldings (for UK brews), all of which are easy to find, but where is all the Citra? Any good replacements? My IPA consists of Nugget and Citra.
 
I personally think Citra is a bit overrated. Good, but not as good as people make it out to be. That said, it's not the same but Cascade is always a simple good stand by.
 
Citra isnt my favorite, but when you put it with Amarillo, magic is made. I did a citrus IPA with Citra, Amarillo, and Galaxy and its one of the best beers ive ever had.
 
Citra isnt my favorite, but when you put it with Amarillo, magic is made. I did a citrus IPA with Citra, Amarillo, and Galaxy and its one of the best beers ive ever had.

Sweeeet I just bought a pound of citra and amarillo from label peelers. Having never tried amarillo, and loving citra, this is good to read! :ban:
 
Citra isnt my favorite, but when you put it with Amarillo, magic is made. I did a citrus IPA with Citra, Amarillo, and Galaxy and its one of the best beers ive ever had.

Same with Nugget. My IPA was fantastic. Fruity, Danky goodness. A little light in color but I tweaked it.
 
I too am a big fan of Citra and Amarillo, amazing combo for IPA's. My LHBS said that its due to all the major breweries using up all the Citra so us homebrewers are going to have to suffer without it
 
So anyone here have a good citra/amarillo ipa recipe they would be willing to share?
 
10.5lbs 2 row, .5lb MO, .5lb Crystal 80, .5lb Honey malt

60 min boil
1oz Amarillo (60 min)
1oz Amarillo (15 min)
1oz Citra (15 min)
2oz Amarillo (5 min)
1oz Citra (5 min)
1oz Amarillo (1 min)
1oz Citra (1 min)

1oz Amarillo (Dry Hop)
1oz Citra (Dry Hop)

Tried and tested. One of the best brews ive done.
 
Sweeeet I just bought a pound of citra and amarillo from label peelers. Having never tried amarillo, and loving citra, this is good to read! :ban:

Dang I just tried to order a lb and it looks like they aren't taking pre-orders anymore :mad:
 
Dang I just tried to order a lb and it looks like they aren't taking pre-orders anymore :mad:



:( Sorry to get your hopes up! To be fair, I ordered them last week. I tried looking at some other places but it looks like they are all sold out. Hopsdirect.com has belma pellets for sale for 5.25 a pound. Supposed to be a spicier but similar fruity newer hops like citra, if you like that type of thing. I bought two pounds of those to test so I can't comment just yet on how they actually are unfortunately.
 
10.5lbs 2 row, .5lb MO, .5lb Crystal 80, .5lb Honey malt

60 min boil
1oz Amarillo (60 min)
1oz Amarillo (15 min)
1oz Citra (15 min)
2oz Amarillo (5 min)
1oz Citra (5 min)
1oz Amarillo (1 min)
1oz Citra (1 min)

1oz Amarillo (Dry Hop)
1oz Citra (Dry Hop)

Tried and tested. One of the best brews ive done.

x2 this is mine, and it is my favorite brew to date as well.

30g batch

25# Canadian 2 row
25# Wheat malt
4# Caravienne
4# Flaked wheat
2# Melanoidin

FWH - 1oz Amarillo
FWH - 1oz Citra
60 min - 2oz Amarillo
60 min - 2oz Citra
30 min - 2oz Amarillo
30 min - 2oz Citra
15 min - 2oz Amarillo
15 min - 2oz Citra
5 min - 2oz Amarillo
5 min - 2oz Citra
0 min - 2oz Amarillo
0 min - 2oz Citra

Dry hop - 1oz each Citra and Amarillo per 5g carboy
 
x2 this is mine, and it is my favorite brew to date as well.

30g batch

25# Canadian 2 row
25# Wheat malt
4# Caravienne
4# Flaked wheat
2# Melanoidin

FWH - 1oz Amarillo
FWH - 1oz Citra
60 min - 2oz Amarillo
60 min - 2oz Citra
30 min - 2oz Amarillo
30 min - 2oz Citra
15 min - 2oz Amarillo
15 min - 2oz Citra
5 min - 2oz Amarillo
5 min - 2oz Citra
0 min - 2oz Amarillo
0 min - 2oz Citra

Dry hop - 1oz each Citra and Amarillo per 5g carboy

Awesome, both of these look solid. I will add these to my "to be brewed soon" list.
 
Amarillo and I believe Citra as well are both only grown by one farm. These hop farmers are the only ones growing these strains and they don't wanna share (notice you will never find rhizomes of these strains for sale). Combine that with Amarillo and Citra being great hops that everyone (including large breweries) want to use in their beer, and that explains why they are so much harder to find than say Cascade, which can be grown by anybody with the dirt to put them in.

It would be nice for homebrewers if these farms would share, but I don't see that happening, since being the only farm with the hops everyone wants to buy is a pretty good form of financial security for them. Even though it is a bit MONSANTO like...

And 1 up on the tasty Amarillo/Citra combo IPA/PALE. I made a great Amarillo/Citra pale and a Hoppy Red dry hopped on Citra/Amarillo, both were delicious.
 
Amarillo and I believe Citra as well are both only grown by one farm. These hop farmers are the only ones growing these strains and they don't wanna share (notice you will never find rhizomes of these strains for sale). Combine that with Amarillo and Citra being great hops that everyone (including large breweries) want to use in their beer, and that explains why they are so much harder to find than say Cascade, which can be grown by anybody with the dirt to put them in.

It would be nice for homebrewers if these farms would share, but I don't see that happening, since being the only farm with the hops everyone wants to buy is a pretty good form of financial security for them. Even though it is a bit MONSANTO like...

LOL..you must not have any good ideas if you take that attitude about intellectual property. :drunk:


back to topic, I'm glad I ordered some citra a while back, my girlfriend insists on skeezers zombie dust being on tap at all times.
 
scottyg354 said:
The only beer I use Citra for is my IPA and I haven't brewed it since last year. I usually use Cascade, Nugget, Centennial and Kent Goldings (for UK brews), all of which are easy to find, but where is all the Citra? Any good replacements? My IPA consists of Nugget and Citra.

What state do you live in? In MA there's a LHBS that is very well stocked throughout the year. I don't think they sell by the lbs though. I found a huge stock pile of citra and amarillo in July.
 
What state do you live in? In MA there's a LHBS that is very well stocked throughout the year. I don't think they sell by the lbs though. I found a huge stock pile of citra and amarillo in July.

Pennsylvania. My LHBS has some but not alot. Don't want to be greedy and buy them all up.
 
LOL..you must not have any good ideas if you take that attitude about intellectual property. :drunk:


Geeze that was kind of a rude response lol....you must not have ANY friends with that attitude

I was responding to the original post which asked why citra was soo hard to find/in demand with an actual answer.

Aside from that I wasn't bashing the farmers for hanging on to their hop varietals, I was saying why they would do it (money). But I believe all of us would love to have ample access to these hops and be able to grow them in our personal gardens. (and gee, wouldn't it be nice if people were motivated by something other than money like I dunno, making great beer?)

As for the MANSANTO reference, if your not familiar, they have genetically altered crops which only they are allowed to grow.
 
As for the MANSANTO reference, if your not familiar, they have genetically altered crops which only they are allowed to grow.

:off:

Not even vaguely Monsanto like, dude. Growing a proprietary hop strain created through selective breeding isn't anything like selling corn that has been genetically modified.
 
I love Amarillo and Simcoe together which is also a VERY popular combo in commercial beers. Is the Citra/Amarillo combo as popular commercially? Anyone have an example? Trying to imagine the flavor/aroma
 
pwkblue said:
I love Amarillo and Simcoe together which is also a VERY popular combo in commercial beers. Is the Citra/Amarillo combo as popular commercially? Anyone have an example? Trying to imagine the flavor/aroma

Simcoe/Amarillo presents a synergy of two amazing hop flavors. I feel like Citra/Amarillo are much closer--so you have to do some balancing with malt & yeast instead.
 
We are opening a new brewery in San Antonio, TX and we are screwed also. We will start production brewing in February and most/all hop providers have already sold out all of their Citra contracts.

That seems to be the case of all of the newer class of hops which are considered to be the "stars" of the hop scene. If you are a brewery opening soon, good luck sourcing a years worth of some of the hops mentioned in this thread like Amarillo, Simcoe, etc. Luckily for us, most of the established hops are still available. Luckily for us, we have "binders full of classic recipes" that we are ready to brew. ;)
 
Yeah we got lucky and have a local nano brewpub that we know the owner and he has 44lbs of citra that he sells us for $20/lb.
 
:off:

Not even vaguely Monsanto like, dude. Growing a proprietary hop strain created through selective breeding isn't anything like selling corn that has been genetically modified.

Selective breeding is a form of genetic modification just fyi.
 
Citra isnt my favorite, but when you put it with Amarillo, magic is made. I did a citrus IPA with Citra, Amarillo, and Galaxy and its one of the best beers ive ever had.

IMO, those are three of the best hops around for doing a PA or IPA. Haven't used them together like that, might have to try that as soon as my Label Peelers order comes in... :)
 
FYI hopsdirect tweeted that Citra/Amarillo are going up for sale on their site on Friday. https://twitter.com/hopsdirect/status/266242802730549248 I would get your mouse clicky fingers ready if you want some. They're doing a weird Friday release cycle this year where they release a few varieties each Friday. Last Friday was Cascade/Centennial.

I'm sure their site is going to be busy on Friday evening. They probably do the Friday releases so they can work through the weekend getting the packages ready and nobody can get mad when the hops are shipped on Monday morning, a few days after the order is placed.

I still have some Citra and Amarillo from their awesome garage sale in the spring so I hope I can hold out until next time around...maybe. I don't know what price they will be on Friday, but last time both were around $16 a pound. Hard to beat that even with shipping.
 
I'm sure their site is going to be busy on Friday evening. They probably do the Friday releases so they can work through the weekend getting the packages ready and nobody can get mad when the hops are shipped on Monday morning, a few days after the order is placed.

Yep, I just wish they'd hold orders till all of their 2012 is released so we could pay shipping once instead of each time we order. Oh well.
 
:off:

Not even vaguely Monsanto like, dude. Growing a proprietary hop strain created through selective breeding isn't anything like selling corn that has been genetically modified.

You're either trolling or ignorant. Either way, have a good one!:mug:

Neither, I actually have knowledge on the subject, not just an opinion.:mug:
 
Not to butt in on the conversation, but I'm pretty sure selective breeding is how I first learned about gene modification...the little 4x4 matrix of light and dark colored corn kernels...in like 5th grade...
 
zeekage said:
FYI hopsdirect tweeted that Citra/Amarillo are going up for sale on their site on Friday. https://twitter.com/hopsdirect/status/266242802730549248 I would get your mouse clicky fingers ready if you want some. They're doing a weird Friday release cycle this year where they release a few varieties each Friday. Last Friday was Cascade/Centennial.

You know what time they start taking orders?

Also, what are some other hops I should consider buying in bulk? I prefer to brew pales, ipas, reds, belgians, and wits.
 
You know what time they start taking orders?

Also, what are some other hops I should consider buying in bulk? I prefer to brew pales, ipas, reds, belgians, and wits.

Cascade, Centennial, Citra, Amarillo, Chinook, Belma (5 bucks a pound). They said they'd be up BY 5PM PST
 
Wow. Not another hop embargo. I ordered a pound each of citra and amarillo a few weeks ago. I new they would sell out adventually, but jeepers that was quick. Should have ordered more.....
 
theveganbrewer said:
Cascade, Centennial, Citra, Amarillo, Chinook, Belma (5 bucks a pound). They said they'd be up BY 5PM PST

Are you sure you mean $5/lb.? Sounds like that may be a typo. :)
 
GrumpySquirrel said:
Are you sure you mean $5/lb.? Sounds like that may be a typo. :)

No typo, Belma hops are being sold for 5/lb. But the citra is def not going for that rate
 
Are you sure you mean $5/lb.? Sounds like that may be a typo. :)

Just the Belma is 5 a pound last I checked. New variety they are trying out and offering a great deal I believe. I think the rest are around $16/lb

I thought the same thing when I saw that at first, all of those only 5/lb! holy crap! then I realized its only the Belma hes talking about (i think :drunk:)
 
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