homebrewandbeer.com

You guys all have access and experience with hops... I don't! The guy that sells my my extract gave me some hops pellets last time I bought extract. The packet was opened when I got it, I don't know for how long, what temp it was stored at, or what variety hop pellets they are. It seems as if they came from abroad (I assume AU) because of the quality foil like plastic bag they came in but I have no Idea about the shipping conditions either... I assume it was not refrigerated though.

I have had the package sitting in my refrigerator for a month or so in a quality ziplock bag (but the normal household kind, nothing special). I am looking at trying to use some of these hops in a brew on Sunday

Anyone want to give me any advice as to if they should be trashed or what I can do to evaluate their usefulness? I dont know what hop pellets are supposed to smell like so I dont know if they are good or not!

how would you describe the smell? grassy? piney? passionfruit? citrusey?

i'd suggest using them for flavour/aroma additions only, as you don't know the AA% to calculate bitterness. if they're citrusey for example, you might like to do a wheat beer or pale ale.. grassy - you might want to try an english ale. just suggestions, play with them as you like

And if you smell cardboard or other rancid smells, then they're probably not much good for anything.

If you don't know what they, are or what condition they are in CHUCK THEM. No point risking ruining a batch for a few bucks worth of hops.

Cheers Ross

Hahahah! That's what I am trying to avoid - ruining a batch of perfectly good beer. But I would like to be able to make some kind of relatively hoppy beer (my favorite brews being IPAs) but this kind of hops is all I will ever have access to unless I move back to a western country. I think I will check them out tonight and see what they small like - if i think they're usable I will go ahead and give em a try. If not I will continue with what I have been doing and use cooking spices for more personal/unique flavoring.

We supply brewers in Japan & Singapore with fresh hops, is there a problem buying into China - postage is cheap.

Cheers

Ross
CraftBrewer

Despite being on an Australian forum me being American prevented me from considering buying things from abroad other than the US. I guess I just assumed shipping would be ridiculous regardless of which country the goods were originating from. Shipping from the US to China is not worth it but I just checked out the craftbrewer site and that looks feasible. Looks like you got another international customer. I will contact the other local brewer I know and maybe we'll make a joint order.

The mystery hops smelled fine. I don't know how to describe the smell but it was fresh smelling, not rancid or like cardboard. I ended up using 12g yesterday in a Cascade Pale Ale at 10 min, 12g at flame out and plan to dry hop the last 10-12g after a week in primary.

I can almost guarantee you that when you open your first bag of hops from Ross, you'll chuck this bag out immediately!

Cheers,
TL

His Amirillo, Chinnook and Green Bullet have really got some kick, all in all a very good bloke to do business with.

The bag of pellets the guy gave me only had 35-40g. I will be dry hopping the last few grams this weekend! I am also trying to work out buying my extract kits directly too. I just found out that those Coopers original series kits cost just over $10 AUD in Australia; I have been paying $28 AUD for outdated cans here! I think I am going to be able to buy the tins as well as DME directly from a HBS in Australia and have it shipped here for roughly the same price as buying an outdated kit here and using pure glucose as additional sugar. I am still awaiting some replies from a few shops to see if it is feasible or not though.

If your can source a few different types of dried malt extract e.g. light, amber, dark... and hops, you could skip the kit cans altogether and save yourself the cost of freighting the water in the cans. I'm sure we could help you out with some extract recipes if required.

Check out http://www.ibrew.com.au/ for malt if you haven't already.

I was considering that but I'm only on my 5th batch at the moment. I would like to get a few more batches done before I consider starting from dry extract and doing my own hop profile. It's something I think I need to look into though. I may be able to find a Chinese malting company, then all I would have to import would be the hops!

Just don't tell Kevnlis that you're thinking of doing all dry extract brews - you'll cop a flogging!!

Cheers,
TL

earle wrote:If your can source a few different types of dried malt extract e.g. light, amber, dark... and hops, you could skip the kit cans altogether and save yourself the cost of freighting the water in the cans. I'm sure we could help you out with some extract recipes if required.

Check out http://www.ibrew.com.au/ for malt if you haven't already.

Before we go any further, I can assure you right now,the prices for dry malt on his website, and what you pay when you buy it, are two different things.
I`ve queried it since buying there but you might as well talk to a brick wall.