The Great Chinese Hop Buy 2009

[daemon]

How about...

2x Pick *******

2x check *******

2x pack *******

if you get my drift...

Lots of *******? Sounds like a real distraction for packing and measuring hops

Bulk buys have always been curious to see how they could be better solved by software / computers, as a part time web developer I should look at some sort of system that automates all the non-fun bits. Of course finding time to create such a system would be the hardest part!

My Chinese Cascade Pale Ale is fermenting away, initial tastes are still subdued flavour wise but the bitterness is certainly there. Still hard to tell until the finished product but they're not good enough to stop me buying proper US Cascade at this stage.

 

[pickledparrot69]

This thread is a hilarious, but equally interesting. Sorry for the poor bloke who didn't get his order even though the was a packer, and great brotherhood that wants to make good on his loss. ow much was it, 380kilograms all up. One dollar surcharge per kilo from everyone would make sure every volunteer was rewarded with free pellets for the time spent. That sounds fair if people are offering some labour time. With any luck I will be getting some of the next batch. If its a state to state packing then can NSW organise it to be in a Sydney brewpub, you will have plenty of hands up. Being drunk could bugger the weighing process though. Nice work to the organiser Grahame as well. It will be nice to read about the end results when they appear in a home made beer or fifty. Who is the closest to having a carbonated cold beer from the china hops? That will be the proof of this value. And if they are crap, then still good for bitterness.

 

[bradsbrew]

Just throwing it out there BUT....

generally I only use hops straight from the freezer. They are firm and not crumbly! On packing day the hops where chilled and well kept but i did notice upon packing, that they were a bit more fragile and crumblier than I was used to with the normal hops. But i got the cascade out of the freezer tonight to divey them up int 100g packs and they were solid as and just like normal. So perhaps initial impression of a unfrozen hop is crumbly but freeze some and compare..

Just a thought

Cheers

 

[Bribie G]

Just throwing it out there BUT....

generally I only use hops straight from the freezer. They are firm and not crumbly! On packing day the hops where chilled and well kept but i did notice upon packing, that they were a bit more fragile and crumblier than I was used to with the normal hops. But i got the cascade out of the freezer tonight to divey them up int 100g packs and they were solid as and just like normal. So perhaps initial impression of a unfrozen hop is crumbly but freeze some and compare..

Just a thought

Cheers

Like you say Brad, many brewers have never actually encountered a room temperature hop pellet, being an anal lot we keep our hops in the freezer and probably don't get to handle them unless frozen, let alone smell them at room temperature. I can't see that the treatment these hops have been through in the last few days has had any effect whatsoever on their flavour and aroma. Certainly not in my car AFAIK storage of hops and pellets over time reduces the AA content - that's fairly gospel - but the week or so before hitting your freezer surely has not mysteriously turned them into grey Mummy dust.

 

[bradsbrew]

Like you say Brad, many brewers have never actually encountered a room temperature hop pellet, being an anal lot we keep our hops in the freezer and probably don't get to handle them unless frozen, let alone smell them at room temperature. I can't see that the treatment these hops have been through in the last few days has had any effect whatsoever on their flavour and aroma. Certainly not in my car AFAIK storage of hops and pellets over time reduces the AA content - that's fairly gospel - but the week or so before hitting your freezer surely has not mysteriously turned them into grey Mummy dust.

yep Bribie. These hops have been looked after quite well since hitting Chappo Manor. And the aroma from the hops while splitting tonight has reminded me of a couple of the APA's from the swap so I am not worried about that. I was just interested to see how othwers find their frozen chinese hops as opposed to their usuals.

Cheers

 

[LayMeister]

Glad to see this Hop Buy worked out for everyone involved! Been watching this thread since I found this site several months ago while investigating BIAB.

Happy Brewing,
Paul (Toronto, Canada)

 

[townsville]

Just throwing it out there BUT....

generally I only use hops straight from the freezer. They are firm and not crumbly! On packing day the hops where chilled and well kept but i did notice upon packing, that they were a bit more fragile and crumblier than I was used to with the normal hops. But i got the cascade out of the freezer tonight to divey them up int 100g packs and they were solid as and just like normal. So perhaps initial impression of a unfrozen hop is crumbly but freeze some and compare..

Same here. Had a brewing mate come round last night to pick his hops up. I do respects his smell (dont go there people). His nose is very VERY good. He smelt his order, comment "what are all these people talking about, these hops are fine". Asked about the Cascade and Marco Polo, he thought "the Cascade was down a little, BUT it was definitely cascade". In terms of a mega APA, well he thinks BOTH MP and Cascade together will make a KILLER APA.
On the Saaz the comment was "same ol boring useless Saaz" Got to love the guy.

Finally any unusual smell, well no onion, no sulphur. BUT he got a very slight hydro-carbons, like gasoline he said. Thats a new one. But reconed it ws nothing to worry about. As I tell people you generally only focus on smells your sensitive too, so he mised some, BUT picked up others.

OH and on the freezers, Yes mate, dead right. The samples out of the freezer handled EXACTLY the same as any other hop sample.

I wonder being so fresh, straight out of the drying room, we got them before they generally had a chance to reabsorb moisture, as most hops we get normally do (or even grain).

Craftbrewer
Graham L Sanders
http://radio.craftbrewer.org
Skype "Craftbrewer"

 

[huscre]

My hops arrived yesterday (Illawarra region).
The Marco Polo bag was broken and half empty and the Cascade had a minor hole so I was initially a bit worried about cross hoppination.
I weighed the cascade and it was ~990g so I called the spillage "pure enough" MarcoPolo. I'm sure it'll be fine and I'm stoked to have soo many hops!

I'd just like to offer a massive THANKS to all who got involved, and an equally massive CONGRATULATIONS for pulling it off.

 

[browndog]

Same here. Had a brewing mate come round last night to pick his hops up. I do respects his smell (dont go there people). His nose is very VERY good. He smelt his order, comment "what are all these people talking about, these hops are fine". Asked about the Cascade and Marco Polo, he thought "the Cascade was down a little, BUT it was definitely cascade". In terms of a mega APA, well he thinks BOTH MP and Cascade together will make a KILLER APA.
On the Saaz the comment was "same ol boring useless Saaz" Got to love the guy.

Finally any unusual smell, well no onion, no sulphur. BUT he got a very slight hydro-carbons, like gasoline he said. Thats a new one. But reconed it ws nothing to worry about. As I tell people you generally only focus on smells your sensitive too, so he mised some, BUT picked up others.

OH and on the freezers, Yes mate, dead right. The samples out of the freezer handled EXACTLY the same as any other hop sample.

I wonder being so fresh, straight out of the drying room, we got them before they generally had a chance to reabsorb moisture, as most hops we get normally do (or even grain).

Craftbrewer
Graham L Sanders
http://radio.craftbrewer.org
Skype "Craftbrewer"

Graham,
Bear in mind that there were two lots of cascade, I dare say you didn't get any from the mystery bag that Bribie talked about. These are the ones I was refering to that are pale, very hard even at room temp, and have little aroma. I'm guessing from the comments that the bulk of the cascade was fine.

cheers

Browndog

 

[staggalee]

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This is worth a look. It does seem they`re trying very hard. There`s a few schoolboy howlers with the fractured Engish, but very worth a read.

stagga.

 

[geoffi]

undefined

This is worth a look. It does seem they`re trying very hard. There`s a few schoolboy howlers with the fractured Engish, but very worth a read.

stagga.

In the intro it says someone was planting hops there in 1943.

Holy crap. I'd have thought anybody in China in 1943 might have had a few more things to worry about than planting hops...like WWII. Oh well, the Chinese are famous for their long-term thinking.

 

[staggalee]

Did you see the expression they used for "taking notice"?

"attracting the eyeballs" :lol:

stagga.

 

[Bribie G]

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This is worth a look. It does seem they`re trying very hard. There`s a few schoolboy howlers with the fractured Engish, but very worth a read.

stagga.

I have read that article a couple of times recently, the thing that gives me confidence is the Commo Brother Czech advisors in one of the photos. It's a bit like "Lets set up a blood bank" "hey, Chung Hua, I've got a brother Communist from Romania on the line ... comrade Dlacula I think he said, coming out here to help......." B)

 

[staggalee]

that should attract the eyeballs.


stagga.

 

[bit]

Just came from the local post office with my hops. Wooohoooo Looks like postie did not want to leave the bag with hops in front of my place and forgot to leave note in my mailbox?? Thanks for the effort guys, particularly Graham, BribieG, packing team and note from Chappo - with refund

Beers,
~bit

 

[beerDingo]

I reasantly got some Cascade/Amarillo/Centenial sent from the US. Aus Post lost them for a day, but they got here. I was worried that they had gone bad in the heat, as they didn't smell like cascade/... However, then realised that they were all in 1 post pack bag, and the smells had all mixed together. So, I split them and put them in the freezer. Made a brew with the cascade on the weekend, and when I pulled them out, they smelled great. Better than locally bought ones! My starter smelled so nice! Can't wait to try the final beer!

So, yeah, I kinda agree that warm hops from the post don't smell how you expect, especially if there are multiple type's of hops in 1 bag. Freeze em, re-check em, then make a brew (try a 23 litre one if your worried).

I missed out on this round of Chinese hops, but hoping they make a good beer, as I'm in for next round (depending on reviews).

Good work to all involved!

 

[KillerRx4]

Still no show here :angry: WTF Auspost!

 

[user 11560]

Australia Post are unreliable at the best of times, but particularly so this time of year. Around this time last year I waited 3 weeks for an express post LETTER from BNE->SYD. Pretty shocking.

 

[DiscoStu]

Mine turned up yesterday afternoon, my kilo of cascade was 1005 grams.

Nice green colour, and good aroma reminiscent of US cascade but different. Can't pickup any musty, damp or onion aromas.

Was planning a D-Saaz pale ale today but switched the hops and made an all Chinese cascade pale instead, smelt great on the boil, looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

A big thank you to Graham for making this happen, jumping thru the official hops etc and another big thankyou to the packing and posting crew, you guys did a sterling job :icon_cheers:

 

[sinkas]

Still no show here :angry: WTF Auspost!

Sounds like the RX4 needs to drop one angry monster burnout

 

[I like beer]

The hops arrived yesterday and is all vacuum sealed in 100g bags in the freezer.

Cluster weighed 1016
Saaz weighed 1005
Cascade weighed 1001

 

[bigfridge]

Sounds like the RX4 needs to drop one angry monster burnout

Hardly - isn't there enough anger in the world these days ?

The packs explain it all - just ring their 13 13 18 number, quote your barcode label and they will do a hunt for it. If it has taken longer than the delivery quoted on the pack then you are entitled to a free satchel.

If it never turns up, then you can claim for the value - provided you can show an invoice, payment transfer etc.

Gee it is not rocket science, just normal business.

HTH,
Dave

 

[KillerRx4]

Sounds like the RX4 needs to drop one angry monster burnout

That would require far too much effort.
Will be driving it in anger at Oran Park for the last time in a few weeks though.

Australia Post are unreliable at the best of times, but particularly so this time of year. Around this time last year I waited 3 weeks for an express post LETTER from BNE->SYD. Pretty shocking.

That is not what I want to hear... 3 weeks floating around in December weather cant be good. Also concerned that with constant handling I might end up with a satchel of burst bags.

 

[Steve]

Still no show here :angry: WTF Auspost!

Far out Killer, id be getting in touch with your local post office. No new perlick taps and now no hops! Its a bit of a worry.
Cheers
Steve

 

[KillerRx4]

Hardly - isn't there enough anger in the world these days ?

The packs explain it all - just ring their 13 13 18 number, quote your barcode label and they will do a hunt for it. If it has taken longer than the delivery quoted on the pack then you are entitled to a free satchel.

If it never turns up, then you can claim for the value - provided you can show an invoice, payment transfer etc.

Gee it is not rocket science, just normal business.

HTH,
Dave

That sounds easy enough but... Would need to work out which barcode on that cardboard sheet that BribieG has corresponds to my satchel. Not sure how that will work out.

 

[KillerRx4]

Far out Killer, id be getting in touch with your local post office. No new perlick taps and now no hops! Its a bit of a worry.
Cheers
Steve

Yeah & get this. There is a massive Auspost warehouse & separate office building up the road from my delivery address (work at Wetherill Park). That I suspect is a mail sorting centre.

 

[svyturys]

That sounds easy enough but... Would need to work out which barcode on that cardboard sheet that BribieG has corresponds to my satchel. Not sure how that will work out.

Looks like all those that forgot to remove the barcode tag will need to PM Bribie with the barcode on their envelopes. (Hope they haven't thrown them out.) By a process of elimination all that will be left is the codes of those that haven't received their hops, hopefully only one...Rx4's.

Cheers

 

[townsville]

UPDATE

To All

I think I have isloated "That Smell". Seems if the hops came from other growing areas, they use older methods to dry the hops, and that will allow that onion/sulphur smell to come thru. It totally goes away mind you, otherwise the big Mega brewies wouldn't buy it.

BUT

Hops from XINJIANG farms wont have this, as they use the LATEST TECHNOLOGY in drying. And for those tree hunging hippies, Its also totally organic, nothing at all added

From the source
"I would like to explain the whole drying process: the drying process is the whole natural drying. when finishing the pick-up flowers, all fresh hops flower has been put into drying pond, there are hotairblowers under and surouding. when the water content of hops is lowered down to 7~8%, and the dried hops flowers come out of the drying pond. and then spraying dried hops to make it re-moist a little,
then packed them and stored them in cooler warehouse
in one word, the whole drying process is a natural one, without any SULPHUR. Well, you can make a careful inspection in the lab, if you find any SULPHUR inside, we will repay all money"

From now on, as I am a special Customer, ALL HOPS for us will come from XINJIANG. We are definitely getting the best

Craftbrewer

 

[staggalee]

god bless those little chinamen

stagga.

 

[townsville]

Yeh, the second round people will get even better hops, THE BASTARDS

Craftbrewer