The Great Chinese Hop Buy 2009

[Fourstar]

Its simple, ever try to get a kid to eat green coloured potates, or steak. We are hard wired to look at colour in our food. And yes, for no logical reason, we over-react on colour. Its a human failing. If you dry hops without sulphur, they go pale in colour. Sulphur is used to preserve that green colour, which by all admissions already on this forum, people prefer for no other reason than "darker green means better hops" which as you state, is very VERY misguided.

What it does mean is darker green more sulphur used.

Craftbrewer

Now to contemplate. Do i further dry hop my Black IPA which already has 15g of simcoe and 25g of centennial dry hopped and add an extra 50g of Marco Polo? :icon_chickcheers:

 

[MarkBastard]

If humans didn't have the ability to base their eating habits on colour we wouldn't be here discussing hops, we'd still be living in trees and being hunted by animals further up the food chain.

 

[townsville]

Actually you are dead right Stagga... Really appreciate the sentiment from guys like Sully, NickB, MB etc but I really don't need the damn things plus I have my reasons not accepting your very kind offers which those close to me know why.

Bugger what Chappo says

he missed out and doesn't diserve to. There are a few of us who have missed out, BUT Chappo has paid the highest price. Remember, without him the whole thing would not have have happened. Think of that when you get your hops and brew with them

I say again

Bugger what he says, show the Christmas spirit

I propose.

If any of you can shave a little, 50grams or even 100grams and mail it to him, that would be great, If he wont give out his address, contact his brew friends and mail it to them, and they will force the hops on him

A good Christmas Present.- you know you have plenty to give

Graham L Sanders

 

[real_beer]

Bugger what Chappo says

he missed out and doesn't diserve to. There are a few of us who have missed out, BUT Chappo has paid the highest price. Remember, without him the whole thing would not have have happened. Think of that when you get your hops and brew with them

I say again

Bugger what he says, show the Christmas spirit

I propose.

If any of you can shave a little, 50grams or even 100grams and mail it to him, that would be great, If he wont give out his address, contact his brew friends and mail it to them, and they will force the hops on him

A good Christmas Present.- you know you have plenty to give

Graham L Sanders

I've got Michael's (BribieG) address from sending the Aust. Post satchels, If he lives close to Chappo and doesn't mind me sending them to him, I'll post over 500 g each of Saaz & Cluster in vacuum sealed bags ( love playing with the vacuum sealer :lol: ).

 

[jimi]

We certainly are getting a wide range with our feedback. Could we do a poll or polls with different characetristics and colours available as a response?? It would make collating the feedback a lot easier.

My feedback:
I agree with the supermarket plastic bag comment, my bag of Saaz had split open, but thankfully it was the only one.
My weights were all with about 5g except the MP which was about 50g extra. No complaints here, but I thought it might have been pay back for having a fair bit of dust (again no complaints here)

Although I haven't used much Saaz in the last few years, I thought my Saaz (which was loose) was quite nice with noticeable spice and a touch of earthiness.

Cascade was the least appealling (and I know this conflicts with Townsville). The hops were actually quite hard and brown and there was a musky-ness to them which wasn't attractive. I could manage faint pine and citrus, but only faint (although as others have mentioned aromas might be harder to pick in the surrounds of a few other kgs of loose hops)

MP- Brittle and often powdery, the darkest green of the 3 types of hops I recieved. I had a little of that onion/sulphur odour that others have mentioned but there was also a some citrus, pine and even a bit herbal.

My plans are for a fau lager using the Saaz and a kolsch yeast first. I'll then look to use a mass of them MP.

Thanks very much to all involved especially Townsville. It's been a cracking ride. :beer:

Looking forward to more feebdack post fermentation and the experiences of others. Just to repeat - how about a poll?

 

[planner]

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

Graham

Weighed mine at lunch time before splitting and bagging, 999g - 4g of bag = 995g
In saying that I dont know how accurate my scales are, Iv'e never had the need to calibrate them (I'm happy that they weigh consistantly between batches).
Also note that the freezer bag was intact even though the express post satchel looked as if was tied to the front bumber of the postie truck.


Cheers
Planner (a very happy planner)

Edit : speeling

 

[breaky]

Hi all,

OK, the posties just been - and still no hops

I live in the burbs of Adelaide, so they should ave turned up by now, I can only conclude that they've gone missing.

Anyone else in the same boat?? I think I'm suffering from hop deprivation (sweats, clammy hands etc)

Unfortunately I didnt keep the id tag- didnt know i had to - so its probly on the card with all the others.


hand wringing breaky

 

[Mattese]

Its possible that the postie has succumbed to hop fumes. He'll be there, he just has an uncontrollable urge for beer nuts at the moment. :icon_drool2:

 

[Bribie G]

I've sent Beers to Butters etc and sometimes it takes a couple or more days. With a Continent the size of Australia I'm really a bit incredulous about that 'guaranteed next day delivery'. Seeing as none of the satchels got lost on the way up here I doubt if any of the big bags will actually get lost in the mail on the return trip. Lets hope that in some areas there hasn't been suspicion about what they contain and that they aren't being probed by the Narcs
The speed of delivery is one of the reasons we'll probably be having local State split ups for buy #2.

 

[arogers]

Lets hope that in some areas there hasn't been suspicion about what they contain and that they aren't being probed by the Narcs

Good point.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Hi all,

OK, the posties just been - and still no hops

I live in the burbs of Adelaide, so they should ave turned up by now, I can only conclude that they've gone missing.

Anyone else in the same boat?? I think I'm suffering from hop deprivation (sweats, clammy hands etc)

Unfortunately I didnt keep the id tag- didnt know i had to - so its probly on the card with all the others.


hand wringing breaky

I got mine yesterday, though the delay getting yours could be because services to the southern suburbs are always cut back they're somewhat busy, being near Christmas.

 

[jimmyjack]

My satchel was partially open for inspections. I believe they thought they had a massive drug bust on their hands. I got all my hops in good order. Thanx to all of the organisers for their efforts. Top bulk buy

 

[Mantis]

Imagines the back room of a post office somewhere with stoned posties who thought they had found a haul of hooch :lol:

 

[staggalee]

A serious question, if I may-did we ever establish whether or not the hops are fertilised with human waste? {or "shit" if you prefer}.
Someone posted a link a couple of days ago re. water and feriliser shortages on farms in China , farmers breaking into sewage pipes to boost crops.
Yeah I know the hops wil be boiled {hey, what about the ones I`d use to dry hop ?} but Id still like to know if they were grown .....well...clean.
No shit.

stagga.

 

[arogers]

I ate some home grown lettuce that was grown in 5 years of horse manure last night. Best damn lettuce ive ever had.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Any word on cohumulone levels Graham? (unless I missed it)

 

[KillerRx4]

Still waiting for mine here (Sydney metro)

 

[staggalee]

I ate some home grown lettuce that was grown in 5 years of horse manure last night. Best damn lettuce ive ever had.

have some more. :lol:

stagga.

 

[arogers]

personally id rather eat produce fertilized with some sort of faeces than industrially produced fertilizers. do some reading on heavy metals and fertilizers, already becoming a problem in some countries due to the build up of cadmium etc in the soil.

each to their own

 

[Bribie G]

Re Chappo whip around

Chappo has indicated that he is in a state of embarrassment about this and genuinely would feel bad about people giving up any of their hops. At the end of the day he knows he will be amply and double compensated for, by the next buy in Jan/Feb and not too far away - hey.

Guys please hold off - your hearts are in the right place but Graham and the rest of the crew are looking at ways of getting some hopfen to Chappo, including maybe a direct hop injection via the new samples being obtained and other avenues. If you really want to assist then a brilliant way of putting your foot forward would be to volunteer - in due course - for the State by State hop split ups that will be happening, hopefully, in February with ordering January.

Each one will be a mini-version of the #1 buy and if we can get six centres going, (Tas to be serviced from Melbourne? B) ) will be a very easy job, four guys two hours, going on our experience so far. Oh and a satchel collecting bitch per state.