Best Bulk Hops Buying - Local Or O/s

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I've found that buying from American suppliers can be hit or miss - for example never buy their re-exports, I've been lumbered with pound bags of Saphir and Hallertau that were actually far surpassed by the dreaded Chinese hops. :ph34r: And how long does it take one man to get through a pound of Galena? been on my current bag for three years. I'm not a huge Yank hop user nowadays, having gone onto NZ Cascade flowers for my American Wheats.

At the end of the day, taking into account the fact that I've only ever been able to use 3/4 of my order, plus the postage, I've personally found that paying $35 a pound from CraftBrewer for my most used varieties such as Challenger, and ordering in with other items to spread the freight, isn't breaking the bank.
 
Yakima Valley is GREAT

Also I actually emailed Customs about importing hops and pellet form is all sweet but whole flowers/cones will be held and destroyed :eek:
 
Bribie G said:
I've found that buying from American suppliers can be hit or miss - for example never buy their re-exports, I've been lumbered with pound bags of Saphir and Hallertau that were actually far surpassed by the dreaded Chinese hops. :ph34r: And how long does it take one man to get through a pound of Galena? been on my current bag for three years. I'm not a huge Yank hop user nowadays, having gone onto NZ Cascade flowers for my American Wheats.

At the end of the day, taking into account the fact that I've only ever been able to use 3/4 of my order, plus the postage, I've personally found that paying $35 a pound from CraftBrewer for my most used varieties such as Challenger, and ordering in with other items to spread the freight, isn't breaking the bank.
You actually post these days with out plugging craftbrewer ?? :lol:
Nev
 
Bumping an old thread. I ordered 3.5 pounds of hops from Yakima a few months ago. So far I've brewed with Cascade, Chinook, Simcoe and Citra and have been pretty disappointed. To be honest, I'm not sure if it's my brewing or the hops, but I'm finding that I've get very little hop aroma or flavour despite multiple late boil additions. The American Pale I'm drinking at the moment had 50 gms of hops added in the last 20 minutes of the boil (over several additions) and has very little aroma/flavour, despite a simple grain bill.

I've never had an issue with hop aroma or flavour before (hops from G&G) but I have made the transition from extract to AG. That said, my first AG brew used centennial from G&G and the hop aroma/flavour was fairly prominent, despite only having 25 grams of hops (23l batch). My summer brewing will be mainly Saisons with no late additions, so i'll continue using the hops for bittering. But I'll be interested to see if things change when I buy new hops next year.
 
I've been very happy with what I'm getting from hopdealzaustralia.com. No affiliation, blah blah. I prefer to spend my $$$ on our shores and Yob has a newfound addiction to getting more and more types of hops.
 
JoshRunciman said:
Bumping an old thread. I ordered 3.5 pounds of hops from Yakima a few months ago. So far I've brewed with Cascade, Chinook, Simcoe and Citra and have been pretty disappointed. To be honest, I'm not sure if it's my brewing or the hops, but I'm finding that I've get very little hop aroma or flavour despite multiple late boil additions. The American Pale I'm drinking at the moment had 50 gms of hops added in the last 20 minutes of the boil (over several additions) and has very little aroma/flavour, despite a simple grain bill.

I've never had an issue with hop aroma or flavour before (hops from G&G) but I have made the transition from extract to AG. That said, my first AG brew used centennial from G&G and the hop aroma/flavour was fairly prominent, despite only having 25 grams of hops (23l batch). My summer brewing will be mainly Saisons with no late additions, so i'll continue using the hops for bittering. But I'll be interested to see if things change when I buy new hops next year.
Probably (edit, make that definitely) last years crop or even earlier. Remember their seasons are back to front compared to us, they are probably starting to pick about now and would clear out old stock first, of course, and a few months ago that old stock might consist of even older stock.
 
DU99 said:
have you tried Hop Dealz...
Not yet. I'm going to brew mainly saisons over summer so no late additions - I'll use my current hops for these. I might also do a few APA's and cube for next winter and just do a 15 min boil with a big addition so that I get through the hops.

My next order will be through Hopdealz. I'm not fussed about buying in Australia - I'm more concerned about getting good hops. It's not worth saving $4-5 a brew when the grain bill is costing me $30-40 anyway.

Having said that, I like the fact that Yob is active on this forum and often gives new brewers like myself advice. I'm happy to pay a bit extra for hops based just on that. Oh, and no affiliation blah blah blah.
 
Bribie G said:
Probably (edit, make that definitely) last years crop or even earlier. Remember their seasons are back to front compared to us, they are probably starting to pick about now and would clear out old stock first, of course, and a few months ago that old stock might consist of even older stock.
I kind of hope this is the case. If not, I've got an issue with my brewing technique. And I didn't even consider the brewing seasons, which could explain why most of the hops I bought were on sale.

Oh, and thanks for the reply.
 
It is truly amazing to me the loss of aroma and flavour contribution from hops after just six months storage, even if vac sealed and in the freezer.

Bribie G said:
Probably (edit, make that definitely) last years crop or even earlier. Remember their seasons are back to front compared to us, they are probably starting to pick about now and would clear out old stock first, of course, and a few months ago that old stock might consist of even older stock.
 
Mostly Ellerslie and Hopdealz for larger amounts (both local) and GG for smaller amounts when I want to try something new (although hopdealz also do smaller amounts).

Have been part of mini buys from hopsdirect (US) but most of my hop buying is either easy to get US like cascade or UK, euro and noble.
 

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