The hop shortage

[Glibbidy]

It's worse then you think. Really.

 

[DuPuma]

It's worse then you think. Really.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Chriso]

Care to elaborate?

Sure. HopsDirect (aka Puterbaugh Farms), one of this board's favorite hop vendors (because of their tendency to overstuff their bags) is out. As in, completely out, not selling any hops at all until this coming August. Freshops, considered to be one of the best proprietors of full-leaf hops, is nearly out, and only has 6 or 7 varieties to offer their customers. Most online HBS'es have tripled (or more) in the past 12 months, and still have very few varieties still available.

Past that, the only elaboration I can really provide is to just suggest that you re-read this thread in its entirety.

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=81791
Here's a little random info.

http://www.yoursforgoodfermentables.com/2008/01/ethanol-fallacy.html
And here's one that claims to debunk Ethanol-is-causing-farmers-to-not-grow-hops theory.

http://www.yoursforgoodfermentables.com/2008/01/response-to-ethanol-fallacy.html
And here's some dude's response....

 

[Blender]

And here is another from the BN. >> http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/dwnldarchive12-02-07.mp3
This is a link to a podcast.

 

[TexLaw]

Does anyone else find a tinge of irony in the fact (or, at least, rumor) that farmers aren't growing hops because of . . . ethanol?


TL

 

[Chriso]

Depends what you mean by irony. Are we talking "That's-dumb,-it-takes-just-as-much-energy-to-produce-as-it-creates" Ironic or are we talking "The-goverment-meddling-with-farm-subsidies-is-ruining-things-for-the-beer-community" Ironic?

Or a different kind of ironic I'm not catching?

 

[TexLaw]

It's the "it's-getting-harder-to-make-my-beer-because-some-dude-wants-to-make-alcohol-instead" sort of irony.

 

[Chriso]

It's the "it's-getting-harder-to-make-my-beer-because-some-dude-wants-to-make-alcohol-instead" sort of irony.

Ah. The "You're-taking-land-from-producing-weak-alcohol-that-tastes-good-and-using-it-for-strong-alcohol-that-tastes-bad" Ironic. I got it now.

 

[TexLaw]

You said it better than I could have!


TL

 

[Cheeto]

I live in Washington and the Local Grown Hops are not in short supply

I bought 4 oz of chinnok for $2.40 I think that is a fair price
am I wrong ?

I am a truck parts salesman and I have a few customers that are hop growers
and they have all said that their crops have been almost record breaking

I understand that it might be different in other areas but when in doubt buy washington hops !!!

 

[Brew Runner]

Dang, high alpha west coast hops FTMFW!

 

[DuPuma]

Sure. HopsDirect (aka Puterbaugh Farms), one of this board's favorite hop vendors (because of their tendency to overstuff their bags) is out. . . .

Right, right, I got all that. And I've kept up with this thread everyday. I'm just curious as to why that guy thinks it will only get worse.

I think one possible explanation for why Freshops (my preferred online vendor), Direct Hops and others are out or basically out is because a lot of people are buying up bulk when they can now, seeing July-Nov. as nearly hopless months.

In the long run (e.g. next 2 years or so), as I understand it, supply will catch back up though prices may stay pretty high. Anyway, I was just curious as to why that guy above thought it would get worse, and if he meant long- or short term. Sorry, I probably should have explained all that in my reply!

 

[Chaos_Being]

My LHBS actually has a pretty good supply of hops...not every variety, but a good amount of the types they did have. I did buy hops for the next couple of beers that I am planning though.

All I can say, is that come march, I'm getting on the bandwagon and ordering rhizomes. Hopefully there is enough for everyone. I'm just glad that I have a big backyard, and a nice long sunny fence that I can train vines onto...

 

[Brew Runner]

I transplanted all my hops today. You should see the Fuggles rhizome I dug up. It started out as a little 6" piece two years ago. Today this sucker was 3 feet long, 18" wide, and had at least one main root that was a good 10 feet long. There must have been 50 new rhizomes on it. Jeebus!

 

[Seabee John]

woo hoo! just scored 3 lbs of hops from hops direct. I put in an order the day before they posted that they were finished for the year... Nothing ever came but a message that they were not going to charge my card unless they could fill my order. That was a month ago.

Then today in my e-mail was a message that they were looking for confirmation that I still wanted my hops. I replied, they charged my card, and my shipment is going out this afternoon.

I'm getting:

1 lb Williamette
1 lb fuggles
1 lb Galena
all leaf hops.

I'm just wondering if it will be like my last shipment and come almost a 1.75 times as much as I ordered???

Oh BTW they didn't charge me shipping and the cost came it at $1.56 an oz.

 

[Mustangj]

I'm just wondering if it will be like my last shipment and come almost a 1.75 times as much as I ordered???

I ordered 1lb of Magnums and that's what I got. No more no less. I don't know if it make a difference but I got pellets.

 

[Seabee John]

I ordered 1lb of Magnums and that's what I got. No more no less. I don't know if it make a difference but I got pellets.

I got another e-mail from hopsdirect tonight... it's the tracking # for UPS. The weight listed is 6 pounds... fingers crossed

 

[Desert_Sky]

well I just heard something interesting. I just finished listening to BN's podcast on the shortage.....and it appears *ahem* orfy, this is all you guys' fault.

Germany 42k acres dedicated for hop growing
America 23k acres



England........2k???? Start pulling your weight guys!!!

All joking around aside, if you haven't listened to that podcast yet, I highly recommend it.

 

[Seabee John]

well I just heard something interesting. I just finished listening to BN's podcast on the shortage.....and it appears *ahem* orfy, this is all you guys' fault.

Germany 42k acres dedicated for hop growing
America 23k acres



England........2k???? Start pulling your weight guys!!!

All joking around aside, if you haven't listened to that podcast yet, I highly recommend it.

???Link please....

 

[Desert_Sky]

???Link please....

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/




*edit

here you go

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/dwnldarchive12-02-07.mp3

 

[Seabee John]

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/




*edit

here you go

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/dwnldarchive12-02-07.mp3

Thanks man... I'm on it. looks cool

 

[beta pleated sheet]

I really wish I had gotten out of the habit of buying what I need, when I need it. When will I learn?

The guy at my LHBS said that they won't have ANY hallertauer until next year (if then). I rarely use those hops, but that still really worries me. And I had to sub two (out of three) kinds of hops for my next kind of brew. Well, at least I got the cascades, which are going to be the main players this time around. Mmmm, cascade hops!

Anyway, if I understand correctly, most of what caused the shortage was previous overproduction, which led to a massive price drop, which led to crops downsizing, and then there was a poor season that had a profound effect because of the lower acreage. Hasn't this same sort of thing been happening in agriculture since the dawn of agricultural economy? I'm no economist, but it seems to me like it would make more sense to plan things a little differently, bring in less revenue in the short-term, but make the market (and the farmers' livelyhood) more stable. Let's face it, the poor guys growing the hops are really getting the short end of the stick.

Then again, boom/bust cycles are kind of an inevitable part of capitalism. I guess it's just something you've gotta live with.

 

[BierMuncher]

...The guy at my LHBS said that they won't have ANY hallertauer until next year (if then). ...And I had to sub two (out of three) kinds of hops for my next kind of brew.

You’re looking at it all wrong…

Think of substituting hops like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Hallertau sub includes: Tettnanger
Tettnanger sub includes: Fuggle
Fuggle sub includes: Willamette

Ergo…find some Willamette

 

[BarleyWater]

Ergo…find some Willamette

Which may be harder than you think...

AHS, where I usually order from - ~(Out of stock) Willamette Pellet Hops (1 oz) This product will be in stock on Saturday 31 January, 2009.

WTF, some of there hops are out until January 2010, seems a little extreme to me.

 

[Chriso]

Ergo…find some Willamette

Well, fine. Hallertauer can be replaced by Liberty. Liberty can be replaced by Mt. Hood. However, Mt. Hood can be replaced by Hersbrucker. Hersbrucker can then be replaced by Strisslespalt, which can be replaced by Crystal. Thusly, you could find some Crystal instead.

In summary, Conan did not make Huckabee - but in fact, Jon Stewart made Huckabee.

...Who later denounced that any one person made him, but in fact was made by America.

 

[BierMuncher]

...Thusly, you could find some Crystal instead.

And since Crystal starts with a "C" and all "C" hops are the same...just go ahead and use the Cascade you already have.

 

[balto charlie]

The word I hear is that a 'boatload' of hops are on their way over from Germany. Apparently they are all claimed/bought. Hopefully some are bought by our dealers. Charlie

 

[Mustangj]

preorder rhizomes

http://www.northernbrewer.com/rhizomes.html

 

[Vels]

Stocked up on everything last fall, but for various reasons i have not been brewing since last August.

So with a freezer full of hops and the "hop shortage" not really affecting prices and availability greatly over here i just threw 1.5 oz of hops in my secondary, so my 5 gal of IPA will have taken 6 oz all in all.

Then i come online to look at what my HBS have to offer on malt these days. I have not bought malt for 7-8 months as i buy my base malts in 50# sacks and really stock up on the special malts from time to time.

Now all the Weiermann malts cost 180-200% of what i paid last time

Well, only option now is to pay up, or start using corn or rice to stretch the malts

Cheers
Jakob

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Yep, it's all getting expensive!