Sunday, May 9, 2010

Hops Inventory

Well, I decided to take a hops inventory today to figure out just what I have. I really like the cost savings when buying in bulk (up to 85%!), but I also don't really brew enough to use up bulk-bought hops. So, here's what I have laying around:

Stored in sealed-up freezer bags:
Cascade, 5.4% AA - 315g (11.1oz)
East Kent Goldings, 5% AA - 152g (5.4oz)
Hallertauer, 3% AA - 368g (13oz)
Nugget, 13% AA - 407g (14.4oz)
Saaz (Czech Republic), 3.5% AA - 296g (10.5oz)
Willamette, 4.5% AA - 176g (6.2oz)

Vaccuum-packed 1 pound bags from the wholesaler:
Cascade, 5.4% AA
Fuggles (US), 5.1% AA
Galena, 11% AA
Tettnanger (Germany), 3.2% AA
Willamette, 4.5% AA

All of these are pellet except for the EKGs, which are dried whole leaf hops. Note that the 1 pound bags seem to contain a lot more than 450g of hops -- anywhere from 490 to 530, it seems.

Some of these bags have been opened as long ago as October or November. I feel like I should be using these more, although at the wholesale prices I'm getting it actually is still cost effective even if I have to throw away hops after using just three ounces per one-pound bag.

I could burn up all my Nugget in a 460 IBU Imperial IPA, for instance. I'm also using my noble hops pretty slowly, so perhaps I could do what I did with EKG IPA and try brewing massive one-hop IPAs with them. Sadly, most of my brews on the horizon are relatively low-hop styles. I guess we'll just see; for now, though, I will simply try to brew styles within the confines of the hops I've already got open, rather than opening up those others.

No comments:

Post a Comment