If there is such a thing as hop hoarding, I’m probably guilty. I had some carry over from last year. I don’t think that will be the case this year.
I hate it when I can get something. It’s always the ingredient I can’t get that makes the beer. :) Last year Simco is the only hop I ran out of and couldn’t get.
I really like Hops Direct. I placed my order this year at 8 am on 10/5. Good thing. Appears they sold out of some varieties of whole leaf quickly. They’re so great to deal with. I’m sure they’re upset at having to limit orders.
Hops seem to keep well. I don’t rebag. I just open the mylar bags, take out what I need for a batch or two, then I reseal the bag with a hair straightener ($5 from Goodwill). I purge the bags with N2 before I reseal. CO2 would also probably work, but I have both. I prefer to brew with leaf but pellets take up less room in the freezer. I bought some Galaxy pellets before they sold out. Haven’t tried them yet, but will soon.
Except for 2006 or 07 I have never seen them carry Simcoe. I think they did have Citra this year, but I have about 1.5lbs of that from last year still, so I skipped over it.
Hopsdirect has released some of their 2011 crop in pellets on their website today. Among those listed… Amarillo, Centennial, Chinook, Citra. Get 'em while you can.
Ain’t no Citra. Can’t believe they’d be out of it already…I have 4oz of it that I got from NB last week. I’ll try doing a single hop APA with it to check them out.
