2 pounds of hops

[mgr_stl]

I recently picked up a vacuum sealer and now want to buy two pounds of bulk hops. If you were starting your hop library from scratch, what two hops would you buy? I generally make a hop-forward IPA every other batch or so, and would say IPAs are my favorite beer.

I also have two hop plants (centennial and cascade) going into their third year, so I'm going for a decent harvest from them next summer.

I was leaning toward cascade as one of the pounds, but I could definitely be swayed. Maybe citra for a zombie dust clone?

 

[Yooper]

I always buy hops by the pound.

I will buy at least one pound of neutral hops for bittering- generally, magnum hops, and use them for all of my IPAs, pale ales, ambers, and often my English beers and German lagers.

Then, I tend to buy what I use most. For the last several years, that's been columbus, cascade, amarillo, and simcoe. (Yes, I do commonly buy at least 6-8 pounds of hops a year).

I don't love citra, and luckily a friend who runs a brewery gave me a pound so I'm using them. But I use cascade, amarillo, and simcoe all the time and find that they are great in most of my favorite beers.

I also buy willamette by the pound, as it's a nice hop variety in many beers, and it's been very cheap over the last couple of years.

I'm not sure you can find any cascade by the point at this point, but you can definitely check.

 

[masscarriers]

I agree with Yooper on the neutral bittering hop, Magnum comes to mind first but lots of people seem to use Colombus or Warrior just as well. In the end this on is really going to save you some money because of the very small amount you use every time.

Considering your unconditional love for IPAs as well as the fact you have some centennial/cascade harvests, I'd say just go with the one you'll see yourself dry-hopping with a lot. Could very well be Amarillo or Simcoe if you believe you'll use them every now and then. If you would have said you like a lot english style beers (ESBs and such), EKG or fuggles would be a very good choice. If you would have said you like a lot to brew belgians or pils, maybe Cz Saaz or Hallertau. Price is also a factor, I stumbled upon some very inexpensive Glacier hops recently and decided I'd brew a lot with it, haven't been disappointed so far!

Whatever you end up buying, you won't regret it. A pound of hops is gone way faster than you imagine!

 

[sandyeggoxj]

only two pounds? Hmm. I just bought 2 pounds of simcoe, along with about 15 pounds of other stuff.

I'd say a pound of warrior and a pound of simcoe or columbus. I love both simcoe and columbus. They are pretty amazing.

 

[BobBailey]

I too agree with Yooper. Buying hops by the pound is the only way to go. If you're not prepared to buy a few pounds at this time, MoreBeer has some fair deals on 8 oz. packs. That would give you twice the variety for your 2 lbs. and save a bunch over buying an ounce or 2 of several varieties.

 

[Calder]

Vacuum sealer and freezer, and hops will keep very well for a couple of years (and more).

Don't restrict yourself to 2 lbs. Shipping usually gets cheaper the more you buy. I bought 6 lbs this year. Maybe 8 to 10 last year.

As Yooper noted, only buy 1 lb as a bittering hop, all the others should be aimed for aroma and flavor.

One problem with buying hops by the pound, (and none of us addicts would admit to it) is that you tend to use a lot more hops in your beers than you otherwise would. You can't have too many hops!

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

You buying pellets or whole?

 

[mgr_stl]

I was planning on pellets.

 

[mgr_stl]

Thanks everyone for all the great feedback. Still not sure what I'll buy, but you sure are a convincing bunch when it comes to me needing more than two pounds

 

[Black Island Brewer]

I keep a few pounds of American hops for most of my hop forward beer, but I also keep a few on hand for my German-styled beers and some English character as well. Hallertau, Sterling (American Saaz) and East Kent Goldings hang out in the freezer with Columbus, Chinook, Cascade, Centennial, Northern Brewer, Amarillo, Citra, and this year, Azacca.

 

[rmyurick]

For American IPAs, I love Amarillo. If you're talking English, then of course you can't go wrong with East Kent goldings or fuggles.

 

[mgr_stl]

I'm more of an American IPA kind of guy.

Can you folks fill me in on readily available IPAs that feature Amarillo and Simcoe hops?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Green flash west coast ipa has at least one, maybe both. Great beer too.

 

[mgr_stl]

Ok, so next question... if I'm getting 2-3 pounds of hops, do you have a suggestion for the best place to buy them? I know shipping can be a big factor, so if I need to throw in a few more items (like yeast) to get to a free/reduced shopping amount I'd be fine with that.

 

[Braufessor]

If I was only buying 2lbs..... maybe centennial and citra or columbus and citra. Simcoe, cascade are up there too.

But, who are we kidding about 2lbs I just bought 6lbs of Citra

You gotta go with what you like. And, if you get the 1lb bags of Hopunion hops from 2013 you can get some pretty sweet deals right now. In the nitrogen flushed bags, stored cold - they are perfectly good. Especially hops like cascade, columbus, liberty, centennial.... They are CHEAP!

I store mine in 1 Quart mason jars, air sucked out with vacuum attachment you can buy for foodsaver.

My 2014 order included:
Citra, Centennial, cascade, columbus, simcoe, liberty, wilamette..... those are some of my standbyes that I use up a lot of. I regularly use 10-16 ounces in IPA's and Double IPA's.

Also order pounds of EKG, Fuggle, Hallertauer, Saaz, tettnang, magnum, perle for german and british beers.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

My two favorites for bulk hops are Yakima Valley Hops, where you save by the pound but can still order smaller amounts at some savings, and Hops Direct, which has 1 pound minimums. I think both of them have some good deals on 2013 close-outs right now.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I have purchased from Niko and Yakima valley. Both have been fine. Niko doesn't seem to be getting anything from 2014 though, so I haven't bought from him this fall.

 

[atoughram]

geez... I must not brew enough... I'll order two pounds this year - a pound of Hallertauer Hersbruckers and a pound of Citra's, although I might take some advice from this thread and add a pound of kettle hops too. I've got two pounds of Cascades and about four ounces of Herbruckers left in inventory from last year. Time to make some SNPA

I buy from the good folks at Hops Direct located in the Yakima Valley town of Mabton.

 

[mgr_stl]

Ended up getting a pound each of amarillo (2014), cascade (2014), and magnum (2013). $50.97 including shipping from Yakima Valley Hops.

The same order would have been $62.21 shipped from Hops Direct with the same crop years, and $55.75 from Nikobrew (all would have been 2013 crop).

 

[atoughram]

Ended up getting a pound each of amarillo (2014), cascade (2014), and magnum (2013). $50.97 including shipping from Yakima Valley Hops.

The same order would have been $62.21 shipped from Hops Direct with the same crop years, and $55.75 from Nikobrew (all would have been 2013 crop).

Looks like I'll have to check them out! Thanks!

EDIT - For my order (1# Citra, 1# Magnum, 1# Herbrucker)- Hops Direct $55.50

YVH - $54.97

It does pay to shop around.

 

[Calder]

My experience with Direct Hops is that their packs are 2 to 4 ozs over-weight. I didn't buy from them this year, but I did last year and a few of times previously. So if you account for 10 to 15% additional hops, their price is not as bad as your numbers suggest.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Also, with YVH, the shipping is the same for 4 pounds as it is for 3, so maxing out your 4 pound shipping weight also lowers the price some. But, they are dead-on with their weights, and, as was said, Hops Direct gives a little extra in a pound.

 

[atoughram]

My experience with Direct Hops is that their packs are 2 to 4 ozs over-weight. I didn't buy from them this year, but I did last year and a few of times previously. So if you account for 10 to 15% additional hops, their price is not as bad as your numbers suggest.

I've had the same experience.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

geez... I must not brew enough... I'll order two pounds this year - a pound of Hallertauer Hersbruckers and a pound of Citra's, although I might take some advice from this thread and add a pound of kettle hops too. I've got two pounds of Cascades and about four ounces of Herbruckers left in inventory from last year. Time to make some SNPA

I buy from the good folks at Hops Direct located in the Yakima Valley town of Mabton.

Either you are not into hoppy beer or you do not brew enough. Both are bad.

 

[Braufessor]

This is my local homebrew store - I know he has some 2013 HopUnion nitrogen flushed 1lb bags of hops left - very good deals on some of them (under $10/lb). Worth a look. In particular, Columbus, Galaxy, Chinook, amarillo, northern brewer are some varieties that are commonly used: http://www.graintoglasshomebrew.com/category_s/2015.htm

 

[sandyeggoxj]

This is my local homebrew store - I know he has some 2013 HopUnion nitrogen flushed 1lb bags of hops left - very good deals on some of them (under $10/lb). Worth a look. In particular, Columbus, Galaxy, Chinook, amarillo, northern brewer are some varieties that are commonly used: http://www.graintoglasshomebrew.com/category_s/2015.htm

I'll have to pick up a few more pounds. Those hopunion bags are good. And those prices are good too. I don't mind 2013 hops as long as they are stored properly.

 

[Braufessor]

I'll have to pick up a few more pounds. Those hopunion bags are good. And those prices are good too. I don't mind 2013 hops as long as they are stored properly.

Yep - I always look for 2013 hopunion bags... great deals. Plus, his shipping is really good too (not that it matters for me) but, I think it is free over $75 and like $6-$8 otherwise, depending on amt. (confirm that for sure though). Owner is a great guy.

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

I recently picked up a vacuum sealer and now want to buy two pounds of bulk hops.

Are you vacuum sealing them in 1oz bags or using the sealer after each use? How long will they last like this? I'm thinking of doing the same. Thanks.

 

[Calder]

Are you vacuum sealing them in 1oz bags or using the sealer after each use? How long will they last like this? I'm thinking of doing the same. Thanks.

For hops for 'hoppy' ales, I reseal after each use. A pound will be gone in 2 to 4 uses (depending on whether I mix the hops with others or not).

For other hops, I split them into 4 ozs packs the first time I use them.

 

[FatDragon]

Thanks everyone for all the great feedback. Still not sure what I'll buy, but you sure are a convincing bunch when it comes to me needing more than two pounds

If you need a dissenting opinion: if you're only keeping two pounds of hops around, you really shouldn't be buying hops by the pound unless you've got a very certain purpose for them. If you keep several pounds at a time, getting pounds of the hops you use most makes sense to save a couple bucks, but if you keep two pounds of hops at a time, limiting yourself to two varieties to save a couple bucks seems like a bad decision... Why not get four half-pounds for a couple bucks more and have twice the variety, or eight four ounce packages for yet a couple bucks more and have four times the variety, or a combination of those sizes based on what you know you'll use more of?

 

[Braufessor]

If you need a dissenting opinion: if you're only keeping two pounds of hops around, you really shouldn't be buying hops by the pound unless you've got a very certain purpose for them. If you keep several pounds at a time, getting pounds of the hops you use most makes sense to save a couple bucks, but if you keep two pounds of hops at a time, limiting yourself to two varieties to save a couple bucks seems like a bad decision... Why not get four half-pounds for a couple bucks more and have twice the variety, or eight four ounce packages for yet a couple bucks more and have four times the variety, or a combination of those sizes based on what you know you'll use more of?

Also - when you really get looking at it, it costs $1.75 for an ounce of something like Columbus....... at that price, a pound is actually as cheap as 4-6 ounces. Not all hops are like that, but most of the time a pound is cheaper (or as cheap as) than 8 ounces bought in 1-2 ounce increments for sure.
Of course, it is also a fine line.......you don't want to end up with a freezer full of hops you will never use and will go stale either. Not that I have ever done that I try to stock up on the hops I know I will use a lot of and have learned some of the hops I know I just will never really go through - sometimes you can split a pound with 1-2 people too for hops you need less of.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

My lhbs sells non-purged, non-vacuum sealed hops stored in the fridge for 2-3 bucks an oz. Not hard to beat buying online. And the quality is much better online.

 

[atoughram]

Just vacuum sealed a one pound bag of Cascades from Hops Direct - I measured nearly 20 1oz packages out. Waiting for three more pounds to show up next week.