PSA: Hops are getting dirt-cheap again :)

[EricCSU]

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

Eric

 

[Rick500]

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

 

[Scut_Monkey]

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

Eric

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.

 

[Wayne1]

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

 

[Palefire]

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

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.

 

[jpc]

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.

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.

 

[humann_brewing]

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

 

[SumnerH]

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?

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.

 

[JSherwood]

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.

 

[craven_morhead]

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.

 

[The Pol]

If you want to start a group buy... from my experience it is MUCH easier to start a thread stating "DENVER GROUP HOP BUY!!" Then offer information in the thread about varieties and pricing. People arent going to find it in this thread. FYI

 

[lowlife]

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

They have been this price for a while. I ordered a few pounds a few months ago from them for dirt cheap

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I got some the same price as is listed there on top of a group grain buy. The hops rode free with the grain, which made me smile.

 

[The Pol]

Here is the spreadsheet that I can send out to anyone starting a group buy... it works quite well.

 

[masonsjax]

Out of curiosity, when you do a large group buy like this, the hops come already separated into 1lb bags, right?

 

[lowlife]

if you buy the one pound bags they do, you are placing orders for pounds (at least when I ordered I was)

 

[The Pol]

Out of curiosity, when you do a large group buy like this, the hops come already separated into 1lb bags, right?

Well yes, and no.

You can get 1 pound bags.
You can get 5 pound bags (at a reduced rate)
You can get 11 pound bags (at an even more reduced rate)

The great thing about a group buy is that you can order ANY quantity that you want. If you want 6oz of Liberty... then get 6 ounces and pay for 6 ounces. Without a group buy you are stuck paying for and getting 1 pound of EVERYTHING. As you can see above, most guys ordered less than 1 pound of what they ordered, but the rest is picked up by other buyers. This is a great way to get say 15 types of hops in your freezer, for the cost of say 7.5 pounds (instead of 15).

The "surcharge" in my spreadsheet above is the cost per ounce for weighing, and re-vaccuum sealing when they arrived here. I filled all of the orders and vaccuum sealed all packages.

 

[thelorax121]

Their prices for most lbs of hops are around $20 still, only the willamettes are in the $10 range, but the prices are still way better than the LHBS. I have a pound of amarillo and cascades coming on thursday to got with the near pound of whole simco that just arrived courtesy of Jay!

 

[carbon111]

Their prices for most lbs of hops are around $20 still, only the willamettes are in the $10 range, but the prices are still way better than the LHBS. I have a pound of amarillo and cascades coming on thursday to got with the near pound of whole simco that just arrived courtesy of Jay!

Thanks for the heads-up!

I actually needed Willamete so that was good to hear! I picked up a pound of Galena while I was at it!

Two pounds from Hops Direct for less than thirty bucks!