# Buying Hops In Tasmania?



## stillscottish (8/3/12)

Does anyone know if you can buy hops in Tassie from any Hop Farms or Processor?
A forum search brings up a 2009 thread that says No, but is that still the case?

Campbell
Off to Tassie soon.


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## the_new_darren (8/3/12)

stillscottish said:


> Does anyone know if you can buy hops in Tassie from any Hop Farms or Processor?
> A forum search brings up a 2009 thread that says No, but is that still the case?
> 
> Campbell
> Off to Tassie soon.




Used to be able to until some bullyboy HB shop owner put a stop to it.

I recommend turning up tp a farm and see what you can do.

tnd


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## evildrakey (8/3/12)

the_new_darren said:


> Used to be able to until some bullyboy HB shop owner put a stop to it.
> 
> I recommend turning up tp a farm and see what you can do.
> 
> tnd



Please... Name that homebrew shop...

because I'd love them to sue you for slander...


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## QldKev (8/3/12)

stillscottish said:


> Does anyone know if you can buy hops in Tassie from any Hop Farms or Processor?
> A forum search brings up a 2009 thread that says No, but is that still the case?
> 
> Campbell
> Off to Tassie soon.




If you find out would be great to let us know. I'll be down that way in a couple of months. Also can we bring flowers into Oz from Tassy without Quarantine issues?


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## pk.sax (8/3/12)

I brought flowers from NZ without as much as a second glance recently. Tassie should be easy?!


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## HoppingMad (8/3/12)

practicalfool said:


> I brought flowers from NZ without as much as a second glance recently. Tassie should be easy?!



Jeez you must have got lucky. In my experience both airport customs & AQIS (mail) get very nosy when my hops have come in.

My US pellets shipped from the Midwest were opened and checked by AQIS with one of their lovely flyers inserted that they had had a look around. If they were flowers I'm sure they would have been seized.

I've brought pellets in from NZ on a flight, had them sail through the first time with the only question being 'Are they flowers?', and the second time my brother brought some through for me and had them seized, he got a lecture about getting them sprayed/heat treated, getting a $150 permit etc. Then the fools realised they had messed up and returned them via post with an apology. That's just with pellets. 

I'd hate to think what would happen with flowers. If you check the AQIS site I think you'll find they have to be 'processed' ie. pelletised, or you need a permit.

Hop Pellets/Extract & AQIS - No permit required: AQIS Hop Pellets
Hops Dried (Flowers) - Permit & Heat treatment required:AQIS Dried Hops

Tassie on the other hand should be fine. It's bringing hop material into Tassie & WA that is the issue from what I understand, but happy to be corrected on that one.

Hopper.


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## Nick JD (8/3/12)

I bought hops back from Washinton state and the AQIS guy at the airport was really cool about it. I said I'd looked up the AQIS website and told him that it said pellets were cool by them and he said, "great, saves me from looking it up." Then he asked about what kind off beers I was making with them. 

He looked at the labels on one of the vac packs that said pellets and waved us through. The other two could have been filled with crack for all he cared.

Most of these guys work on profiling and how worried you are.


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## Flewy (8/3/12)

QldKev said:


> into Oz from Tassy



Last time I checked Tassie was actually part of Oz...  

You shouldn't have any quarantine issues bringing plant matter out of Tas onto the mainland, but you do have to declare any plant matter on the way into Tas (not relevant in this case).

P.S. enjoy your trip QldKev


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## QldKev (8/3/12)

Flewy said:


> Last time I checked Tassie was actually part of Oz...
> 
> You shouldn't have any quarantine issues bringing plant matter out of Tas onto the mainland, but you do have to declare any plant matter on the way into Tas (not relevant in this case).




Naaa, it can't be part of Oz.. We don't have two heads up here h34r: 

Next you will be telling me WA is also a part of Oz?





I was more thinking it not being part of the Australian mainland.




QldKev


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## Paul H (8/3/12)

Flewy said:


> Last time I checked Tassie was actually part of Oz...
> 
> You shouldn't have any quarantine issues bringing plant matter out of Tas onto the mainland, but you do have to declare any plant matter on the way into Tas (not relevant in this case).
> 
> P.S. enjoy your trip QldKev




You might want to check what currency they use??

Cheers

Paul


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## Flewy (8/3/12)

Don't take the bait, don't take the bait...


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## QldKev (8/3/12)

Flewy said:


> Don't take the bait, don't take the bait...




only jk  

Sorry stillscottish for getting offtopic



I've sent AQIS an email asking to clarify that it would be ok to bring hop flowers in, 
pellets we know are ok.

Then we just have to find someone to sell them to us. 
I've been trying to get a local down there to go up to some farms and ask for me, but it seems to hard for them.


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## TasChris (8/3/12)

QldKev said:


> only jk
> 
> Sorry stillscottish for getting offtopic
> 
> ...



see link attached for what you can/cannot bring into Tas. ( not sure about the grain, hops etc us brewers bring into the state, best not to ask perhaps)

Taking things out of Tas is an issue for the state your taking things into...maybe mainland states need Devil Facial Tumors and lying Greens?

DPIPWE web site

Cheers
Chris


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## Malted (8/3/12)

Speculation only:

Perhaps the issue might be that if you could buy directly from the growers, you would need to buy a 5kg bag the same as the repackaging middlemen do? Might be that most growers would not package into anything smaller? 
Sort of like trying to get a couple of kilos of wheat from a grain grower: if you know them they will let you bring your own bag and fill up but if you are not known to them... 

The other problem is it seems that a lot of the farms are owned by big companies. I guess the smaller farms don't need websites etc because they don't need to advertise etc because they probably have forward contracts for all of their crops?


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## pk.sax (8/3/12)

HoppingMad said:


> Jeez you must have got lucky. In my experience both airport customs & AQIS (mail) get very nosy when my hops have come in.
> 
> Hop Pellets/Extract & AQIS - No permit required: AQIS Hop Pellets
> Hops Dried (Flowers) - Permit & Heat treatment required:AQIS Dried Hops
> ...


wow. My package was approx 30X15X15 full of some rather fresh cascade flowers that were meant for a micro who stood up the shop in Christchurch. It's labelled - Cascade Cone hops. They didn't even look inside the bag, not even touch or handle them at all. I put it into the x-ray and I pulled it off the belt. Just a couple of questions - what are the hops for? - beer. From new Zealand? Yes. Go through.

Sorry for the OT guys. Seems like a lucky dip out there.


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (8/3/12)

Malted said:


> Speculation only:
> 
> Perhaps the issue might be that if you could buy directly from the growers, you would need to buy a 5kg bag the same as the repackaging middlemen do? Might be that most growers would not package into anything smaller?
> Sort of like trying to get a couple of kilos of wheat from a grain grower: if you know them they will let you bring your own bag and fill up but if you are not known to them...
> ...



Nothing wrong with a 5kg 10 minute IPA, is there?


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## jlm (8/3/12)

Well you can buy some hops from me if you want. I mean, a lot of them came from the Craftbrewer shopfront and came down in the container when we moved but they'll be fine. Cheap rates. Hardly used.


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## Malted (8/3/12)

Lord Raja Goomba I said:


> Nothing wrong with a 5kg 10 minute IPA, is there?




Maybe for a 23L batch but might be too much for a 19L batch.


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (8/3/12)

:lol:


Malted said:


> Maybe for a 23L batch but might be too much for a 19L batch.


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## pmash (8/3/12)

Check this link.http://www.hopco.com.au/contact-us.html 

and you can find Sandy Ross on facebook

but 5 kg boxes.............better get brewin',,,,,,,,BIGtime


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## QldKev (8/3/12)

Malted said:


> Maybe for a 23L batch but might be too much for a 19L batch.



That's not a Randall, that's my fermenter


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## QldKev (8/3/12)

wally said:


> Malted,
> 
> Some years ago there was a bulk buy of local hops.
> 
> ...




That was the 06 buy, they were really awesome hops.


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## philmud (23/2/13)

Just wanted to bump this topic - anyone know if you can buy hop flowers from the farm gate in Tassie? I'm here for a few days and would love to brew with some local hops


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (23/2/13)

I'd love to know too.


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## TasChris (23/2/13)

Phil Mud said:


> Just wanted to bump this topic - anyone know if you can buy hop flowers from the farm gate in Tassie? I'm here for a few days and would love to brew with some local hops


I thought I was getting close to getting hops from the farm gate last year through a mate who is an agronomist for some of the hop districts. At the last moment the deal fell over and nothing happened. Will try again and see if I can get some contacts.

Cheers
Chris


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