Consolidating Hop Inventory

[BrewLizard]

I'm sure we all suffer from wanting to try everything new and exciting in the realms of hops, and it's definitely great that places like Triple J Homebrew sell hops in 50 g quantities to minimise wastage in test batches.

However, it's still much easier to store (and find!) 10 kinds of hops than 25. It also means you can buy a smaller range in bulk and save money.

Just interested in others thoughts' about what hops/hop combos they've found to reduce SKUs in their freezer.

For example, in my time brewing, I've accrued: Amarillo, Bru-1, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra, Columbus, EKG, Fuggles, Galaxy, Hallertauer, Magnum, Mosaic, Perle, Sabro, Simcoe and Warrior.

To simplify my inventory a bit, I'm phasing out Magnum for Warrior (higher AA/gram and hence AA/$), and I'm dropping Fuggles as EKG is good enough for me for my occasional UK styles. I'm also dropping Hallertauer for Perle, as pretty much all my Hallertauer brews have boiled it for 60 minutes anyway, and I think Perle is more interesting if I need a later addition.

Equally, I'm sure those that brew fewer American APA/IPAs, would look at my list and find it gratuitous to have Cascade AND Centennial AND Columbus.

Cheers.

 

[razz]

My addiction, I mean problem, was similar to yours BL but I made a change to my attitude. Rather than try and have a combo of hops to keep I now just have enough for the next couple of brews. I unsubscribed from some hop suppliers and now just grab a couple of 100g packets at a time when I make purchases from the Melbourne suppliers. It also helps to try the new release hops that seem to hit the market more frequently than say 20-30 years ago.

 

[MHB]

Worth noting that its really Hallertau Magnum, and Hallertau Perl, both bread out of Hallertau Mittlefruh.
Hallertau Magnum is my go to bittering hop for anything German (even European) but I would like to have at least one of the noble hops (add Saaz) So Mittlefruh, Hersbrucker, Tetnang, Spalt and Saaz available.

Hard to live without Simcoe, all the rest it would just be a matter of personal taste.
Lucky for me I have a very good local home brew supplier who has a good range in good condition that I can pick from, so rather pay a couple of dollars more and have the best choice I can.
Mark

 

[BrewLizard]

Thanks fellas.

Rather than try and have a combo of hops to keep I now just have enough for the next couple of brews.

Oh, don't get me wrong – that's how I started doing it. But the problem is the leftovers from various packets leads to making a decision onto whether to make a "leftovers brew" or to restock that hop.

Things also changed a bit when I went from buying 3-4 batches of pre-milled grains at a time, to dusting off the machine tools and building a grain mill so I could stock a few basic grains (including bulk base malt) and brew whatever I want, when I want (with 10% more efficiency!). That meant also keeping more stock of hops.

Addiction indeed.

Worth noting that its really Hallertau Magnum, and Hallertau Perl, both bread out of Hallertau Mittlefruh.

Good point, and I should have said Hallertau Tradition in my list above.

 

[MHB]

My LHBS supplies hops by the gram with the recipe, they are all well looked after (better than most home brewers treat their hops) no leftovers, same with malt, I order a recipe, get to choose the crack to suit my needs, all packed in barrier bags... Have stored orders for months and cant see any deterioration in the malt or the hops.
Brewman is a site sponsor so Ya Brewman, there are a couple of hundred recipes on the website, you do have to register to get into them. Good alternative to storing, weighing milling and all that.
Mark

 

[scomet]

I'm dropping Fuggles

Sacrilege + i think you should have some Sazz.

ps Good post btw

 

[kadmium]

I just put down a Fuggles Best Bitter hahah.

But either way, I would suggest (in my opinion) on using Magnum as bittering and ditching the Warrior. The $ saved is negligible and I find Magnum to be a very clean and neutral bittering hop.

Hard to go past Citra and Simcoe.

Sabro and Bru-1 don't do much for me, i've used em both and they are good but it's hard to go past Galaxy / Citra / Simcoe

Good post, and I am similar to MHB in that I order only a small stock at a time, not by the gram though.

I am a bit strange, and will alter my recipe to pretty much use up multiples of 5 and best case 25 / 50 so for instance I went with 25g of Fuggles for the end, and I went with 7 (I know I know) of Magnum. The reason? I can then use 100g for 4 brews if that makes sense? I did the same with Saaz, and use 80g per recipe, buy it by the 250 and just chuck a gram in here or there so I use up a whole bag. I hate having 3g of this and 12g of that floating in the freezer.

I guess I also pick a style and brew a few iterations of it, and then move on. (Other than Pils) so I guess I do phases. For instance I just went through a Hazy phase and I am all hopped out so now i'm headed towards the West Coast IPA / English Bitters phase! BRING ON SUMMER!!!!!

 

[BrewLizard]

Bumping this a little while on with some more findings.

Despite best efforts to consolidate my inventory, I since acquired Lemondrop and Motueka. The former I liked in hop water, but hated in a single-hop NEIPA (tasted like soap or chemicals or something). The latter, I've yet to use.

I still have some of my original 100 g of Magnum, and have been alternating it with my bulk (500 g) of Warrior for bittering. I haven't noticed any difference in "cleanliness" in APAs, IPAs, ambers, browns, porters and stouts with one or the other.

I made a Bell's Two Hearted clone, which was delicious. So between that and SNPA, I have experienced a single hop beer (other than bittering) with both Cascade and Centennial – just not side-by-side. I'm wondering if both are really needed on-hand? Also, while Centennial is more potent for bittering, I don't think it is necessarily more potent for flavour/aroma (or at least not by the same proportion). May only need to use 10-20% more Cascade to get a similar effect.

Most of the other hops taste unique in some way to me:
- Citra is a cheater hop. Zesty mixed citrus.
- Mosaic is a cheater hop. Amazing fruit salad that tastes phenomenal (provided you don't taste the dankness/catpiss that some people do).
- Amarillo is orange.
- Cascade/centennial/columbus are all delicious and grapefruity, but I'm not sure how they quite differ. I'm thinking about doing a Basic Brewing Radio-style hop sampler with pure DME to taste them side-by-side. Again, I don't care about AA%, as I use them for flavour/aroma.
- Simcoe has mixed characteristics with a pleasant blueberry note
- EKG is subtle floral/spicy
- Hallertauer varieties/perle: I still don't know. I've only used them in boozy Belgian or wheat styles, which are dominated by yeast character.
- Bru-1 is unique and delicious/pineapply
- Sabro...dunno. I don't get coconut from it, so it's not like it says on the box.
- Chinook is piney, which I love in the right amount in an IPA

I'm jealous of those who can just buy what they need. My freezer is a mess.

 

[Hangover68]

I haven't experimented much with hops and have only kept stock for the styles i have brewed so far and have some planted that will hopefully yield enough to use at the end of summer.
This will probably change as i expand my repertoire.

My current stock is -

Pellets
Saaz
Cascade
Mosaic
Halletau original
EKG
Styrian Wolf

Plants
Saaz
Cascade
Fuggle
Chinook

 

[clickeral]

Current Hop inventory, all vacuum sealed in the freezer been doing some recipe development lately so needed to have a few things on hand

Thought I had more EKG then that so might need to double check the freezer, and I gave away about 1kg of Simcoe so need to update my inventory on
Beersmith for that. If I only have 40g of EKG I may need to just use it up on something, maybe some form of english beer with so MO (need to have a look)

I am also abit of a hop hoarder

 

[yankinoz]

Current Hop inventory, all vacuum sealed in the freezer been doing some recipe development lately so needed to have a few things on hand

Thought I had more EKG then that so might need to double check the freezer, and I gave away about 1kg of Simcoe so need to update my inventory on
Beersmith for that. If I only have 40g of EKG I may need to just use it up on something, maybe some form of english beer with so MO (need to have a look)

I am also abit of a hop hoarder

View attachment 121090

With that collection you could open a hop museum.

 

[BrewLizard]

Wow, that's impressive, clickeral.

I thought mine was bad enough, having to rummage through between 25-150 g of most hops, with just Warrior and Citra bought in 500 g bulk packets. Let me know if you have a better solution than just having it all in a freezer drawer for the rummaging, ha.

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

Wow, that's impressive, clickeral.

I thought mine was bad enough, having to rummage through between 25-150 g of most hops, with just Warrior and Citra bought in 500 g bulk packets. Let me know if you have a better solution than just having it all in a freezer drawer for the rummaging, ha.

Move to Greensborough (Vic) and let Dave at Greensborough Home brew store them and weigh them out when you need them

 

[clickeral]

Wow, that's impressive, clickeral.

I thought mine was bad enough, having to rummage through between 25-150 g of most hops, with just Warrior and Citra bought in 500 g bulk packets. Let me know if you have a better solution than just having it all in a freezer drawer for the rummaging, ha.

I have a dedicated stand up freezer and typically keep in 500g Lots, I roughly know where everything is and its all labelled

 

[TheCraft]

It’s all about inventory control at the end of the day - most brew software has that built it, but also just as easy in Excel if you update the weight each time you perform a brew.