The Great Chinese Hop Buy 2009

[brettprevans]

well mine was in the mil box this morning. I havent opened it or anything as i was on the way to work.
measuring could be fun as im 99% sure the hops are all having an orgy...ie bags broke. what kind of bags did you use. $2 shop plastic bags would have done the job.

anyways, no sign of Maple's hops turning up at my joint which is a little odd (they were addressed to me). maybe today.

 

[Hogan]

Also please weight your samples people, I want AND NEED to know, did you get 1. a little under, 2. exactly, or 3. a little over the kilo mark for each order.



Graham L Sanders

Each of my bags was right on the weight.

Cheers, Hoges.

 

[benno1973]

Each of mine was about 995g

 

[townsville]

FINANCES

I was going to post this latter today, BUT its been pushed forward

Refunds

Yes the secret is out. People are getting refunds. After all expenses, including discounts to hard working committee members, we had a refund of $1.70 a kilo.

Instead of having brain cramps dishing this out, it was decided that larger orders got a $2.00 a kilo discount, smaller orders $1.00 a kilo discount, and smallest orders MAY get a $1.00 a kilo discount (luck of the draw).

At the end of the day, the bank account was dry, we have a clean slate, nd all the money accounted for.

COSTING

Here is a quick back of the envelope calculation on cost. I ws going to give you a detailed list, BUT it really makes no sense unless your an accountant. Instead I quickly and roughly (although rather accurately) worked it out per kilogram. You can get an idea where your money went. I have done easy roundings to even dollars so not to confuse.

380 kg ordered

cost out of china

$2895.50

equals $7.62 a kilo on average

COST TO AUSTRALIAN PORT (roughly)

$8.50 a kilo Marco Polo
$7.50 a kilo Others


COST AFTER CUSTOM and DUTY CLEARANCE

$1.50 a kilo

$10.00 a kilo MP
$9.00 a kilo Rest


COST AFTER GST

$1.50 a kilo

$11.50 a kilo MP
$10.50 a kilo Rest


COST TO CLEAR WHARF

$1.00 a kilo

$12.50 a kilo MP
$11.50 a kilo Rest

ADMIN FEES ($4.00 a month for account, Petrol money, food and drinks to packers, discount for hard working committee members)

$1.00 a kilo

$14.00 a kilo MP
$13.00 a kilo Rest

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

 

[QldKev]

Just and idea for the next buy, maybe up front charge the same as ths one started at, but buy at least a couple of kilos of each hop extra. This will allow 1kg of powder waste and help if some goes missing in Aust post, or just at the end of packing the 20kg the 20th bag only weights at 0.5kg. Any left over powder could then be split up between organisers/packers.

QldKev

 

[Fourstar]

Also please weight your samples people, I want AND NEED to know, did you get 1. a little under, 2. exactly, or 3. a little over the kilo mark for each order.

As i noted earlier, a cascade, saaz and marco polo where all 5g~ Over the 1kg ordered.

 

[townsville]

As i noted earlier, a cascade, saaz and marco polo where all 5g~ Over the 1kg ordered.

Ok so your order was 5 grms over the kilo???????????

Craftbrewer

 

[Fourstar]

Ok so your order was 5 grms over the kilo???????????
Craftbrewer

about that! and measured with a gram scale with a .1 resolution

 

[chappo1970]

Pointless weighing what you recieved as we found out on the day there was anywhere between 5 and 10grms difference between everybodies scales because of calibration issues I suggest.

 

[Fourstar]

Pointless weighing what you recieved as we found out on the day there was anywhere between 5 and 10grms difference between everybodies scales because of calibration issues I suggest.

The only reason i was weighing my hops was to portion them out into 500g lots. The 1st was square on 500g and the second was 502, 508, etc

 

[brettprevans]

Pointless weighing what you recieved as we found out on the day there was anywhere between 5 and 10grms difference between everybodies scales because of calibration issues I suggest.

chaps, Graham asked people to measure what they got on the previous page

 

[brendo]

Mine arrived at SWMBO's work yesterday - after qute a few weird looks and comments from customers coming into the office re the smell, she popped them out into the car, which smelt heavenly when I stuck my head in there last night.

Didn't weigh my bags, but will do so tonight.

As to Chappo's dilemma - I am more than happy to be involved in whatever is decided to sort him out for his losses - that really does suck Chapp Chapp!!

Brendo

 

[davewaldo]

Chappo, you're welcome to some of my cascade!

 

[T.D.]

From our comparative aroma testing in the shop (any locals free to come in & trial themselves, as we have it all set up)

Nothing wrong with the intensity of the Chinese Saaz against the European (very similar), they are just nothing like European Saaz, same as Aussie Summer Saaz are nothing like Czech Saaz. That alone is not an issue, you may even prefer the Chinese varient. The bigger potential issue is the musky background aroma that quite honestly doesn't inspire me to put them in any brew. That said, I'm looking forward to trying the beers that Bribie & others are brewing & hopefully they will be a pleasent surprise.

+++

I really don't think sniffing the raw hops is a good enough gauge of their quality/attributes. How many "mainstream" varieties smell a particular way out of the packet but then impart a totally different flavour in the beer?! Challenger to me smells very fruity in its raw form, but that character never seems to come through in the beer. Chinook doesn't give any hint of its grapefruit character when smelling it from the packet. And possibly the biggest bum-steer from sniffing the raw hops have been some of the NZ varieties. NZ Willamette and Goldings smell pretty good out of the packet but frankly I think these are absolutely horrible hops in the actual beer. So yeah, I wouldn't be placing too much emphasis on how the Chinese varieties smell out of the packet.

Nice to see the Chinese feedback, but a little surprised they appear to be admitting the aroma/taste of what they sent us is inferior to stock they could have sent us! You'd think they'd be trying to impress with the 1st shipment.

Cheers Ross.

My impression from their comments was not that the saaz they sent was inferior, but that the other type of saaz they have is closer to the noble saaz character, which is probably what Graham enquired about...

 

[Mattese]

Sorry if this is pushing the point - but what is going on with Chappo's hops. I am more than happy to send some of mine, but would it would be good to get the big fella sorted ASAP.

For the record mine were nearly spot on, a couple of grams under on one, which I think went to 4*. I was weighing mine into 250g lots for ease of consumption.

 

[brettprevans]

chappo - what hops do you want. sour cream and chives , i mean onion, i mean Marco Polo h34r:

I kid.

Ive got cluster, cascade and saaz if you want some.

edit
how does chappo miss out. he order hops. so there should have been hops left over whenn all packed (ie his order worth). unless the order was short, people who didnt order took hops.
IMO either way he's entitled to his hops as he paid. if people were at the packing day took hops and hadnt ordered then they should either reimburse chappo if they hadnt paid, or get their money back and give the hops back
seems simple to me. but im sure my logic will have offended someone.,

 

[Ross]

I really don't think sniffing the raw hops is a good enough gauge of their quality/attributes. How many "mainstream" varieties smell a particular way out of the packet but then impart a totally different flavour in the beer?! Challenger to me smells very fruity in its raw form, but that character never seems to come through in the beer. Chinook doesn't give any hint of its grapefruit character when smelling it from the packet. And possibly the biggest bum-steer from sniffing the raw hops have been some of the NZ varieties. NZ Willamette and Goldings smell pretty good out of the packet but frankly I think these are absolutely horrible hops in the actual beer. So yeah, I wouldn't be placing too much emphasis on how the Chinese varieties smell out of the packet.

Exactly, which is why I stated I'm looking forward the taste tests....

One thing I do know is, I've had plenty of nice smelling hops that have dissappointed in the final beer, but I've never had a musty, stale smelling hop that has shone in the final beer, but here's hoping

Cheers Ross.

 

[Sully]

As humble as Chap Chap is, he wont agree to anything so someone has to take charge and do it and he will have to deal with it when it shows up on his doorstep...

Sorry for putting you in it Chap Chap, but you did put yourself out there to host the packing and shyte so its not fair that you miss out completely...

Ok I will get back in my box now and shut up h34r:

 

[T.D.]

One thing I do know is, I've had plenty of nice smelling hops that have dissappointed in the final beer, but I've never had a musty, stale smelling hop that has shone in the final beer, but here's hoping

Cheers Ross.

I can't say I have ever used musty stale hops in one of my recipes, so can't comment on that...

 

[altone]

Posting just so you know - this is NOT a complaint

Ordered 1k MP 2k SZ 1k Cascade
actually got 1k MP 1k SZ and 2k Cascade

Probably why you had some SZ left over

Now I need to work out what to brew to use up all that Cascade


Shanghai SMASH Pilsner going down this weekend.

Maybe next brew an LCBA style half cascade half saaz - unless someone has a better idea using all Cascade.