Hops direct already sold out of Amarillo, Centennial...

[herbaljoe]

My only concern would be the oxygen permeability of those Ziploc bags. I couldn't find any info in a quick google search other than "moderate oxygen barrier", but that would be your biggest enemy when it comes to hop storage, especially whole hops. If the bags are indeed as good of an oxygen barrier as the Food Saver vacuum bags then your hops should keep for a year or more in the freezer without a problem as long as you get a good vacuum going.

[Afterlab]

Trouble is, those are 2010 hops. Not necessarily a bad thing, but those of us searching for 2011 varieties mentioned in the original post are gonna have a tough time. I think Hops Direct (aka Puterbaugh Farms) actually sold out almost a month ago now. In time I think places like Norther Brewer and Morebeer will have the 2011 pellets, but it usually takes a little longer (beginning of the year) and they don't always specify the harvest year. Nikobrew may get them earlier as well.

Speaking of Northern Brewer, I was checking out their recipe for the Surly Furious IPA clone and found this disclaimer at the bottom:

LONG TERM STOCK SHORTAGE: This product relies on Simcoe hops. Simcoe hops are scarce and we won't know when this kit is coming back anytime soon. Please be patient, we will update the website as soon as the kit becomes available.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/catalogsearch/result/?q=furious

Not having Simcoe won't make or break any recipes I plan on doing but hopefully this hop shortage trend is only temporary.

[captain carrot]

Freshops.com has most of the varieties you are looking for. Amarillo is limited to 8 oz though.
Good Luck!

Haven't brewed with whole hops yet... just pellets. How well will whole hops store? I would just be using those ziploc vacuum bags in the fridge or freezer.

They come in an oxygen barrier bag and with a twist tie to reclose. I leave them in the original bag and store in the freezer. I usally toss whatever it don't use after a couple of years.

[Charlie]

[They come in an oxygen barrier bag and with a twist tie to reclose. I leave them in the original bag and store in the freezer. I usally toss whatever it don't use after a couple of years.

Are we talking about FresHops? They ship their product in a cruddy plastic bag and , yeah, a twist tie! I bought Simcoe from them the last two years because they were the only one that had them. But I don't care much for their packaging!

I would not store my hops in their bag. If you want to keep hops fresh store them in a mylar (oxygen barrier) bag and heat seal them.

Charlie

[NikoBrew]

Niko would probably be the best to speak to this, but I believe Amarillo, Simcoe, Citra, Chinook and Centennial are all going to be a bit tough to come by in larger quantities, at least earlier in the crop year. I'd imagine some brewers will look to unload some of their surplus later in the year, but until then, they will likely be scarce.

Yes there definitely is a shortage of some varieties this year.

Amarillo: I won't have any until at least the 2011 crop comes in and even then I don't expect to get any, the grower of this contracts out 80% of their supply and came up short this year due to weather
Simcoe: I was able to contract SOME and hope to be getting in, within a couple of weeks. I don't expect supply to last long and I will only have it available in 2oz packs and it won't be cheap, but it will be available. I'm limiting pro brewer's orders to 5 pounds upon request, as I want to try to make my supply last until next year when I MAY get more, or I may end up with the same amount I'm getting this year.
Citra: Same boat as Simcoe, I was able to source about the same amount of both but Citra was pelleted before Simcoe so that's what I offered during our Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, and we sold a ton of it, and I will be offering it in 2oz packs again within the next couple of weeks
Chinook: This is in short supply this year as well. I may end up securing some 2010 crop to help supplement the very small supply I was able to contract. It is fun to offer the newest crop year, but stored properly you really can't tell a difference for years (if in mylar bags stored below freezing which is where my suppliers keep their hops)
Centennial: This will be more of a surprise on the homebrew level and I've been trying to encourage people to stock up on it while they can. A lot of baby Centennials went in last year and even though growers knew they would yield less then older plants, they still yielded less than anticipated. I was shorted on my contract and I hope to get some 2011 in within a couple of months, I don't know how much I'll be getting but it MAY be only enough to offer 2oz packs. Once the lot of 09 crop I have in stock now is depleted, I have one more 44lb box of 2010 crop, after that I will have to wait until Feb (buying it from a farm, they don't get it pelleted as early as the big distributors like Hopunion do), and even then I'm not sure how much I'll have.

I have a good amount of Cascade, and most other varieties that I commonly sell. I hope this helps a little, I know it's not all great news but at least not everything has disappeared. I think Centennial will be the biggest surprise, I know several large online homebrew shops trying to find Centennial right now as well as breweries...so if you find some hiding under a rock let me know a price (of course not really under a rock.. unless it's well protected and very cold under said rock). Brew strong!

[NikoBrew]

I've also heard that Hallertauer was going to be short this year as well.. I have a contract for a good amount..I'll have to wait until Spring to see if it will be filled.

[dunleav1]

Maybe I shouldn't have used 4 pounds of Centennial, Chinook, Cascade and Zeus in my fresh hop batch this year and froze some for later.
Nah, I'm glad I did, It was good.

I agree with Niko, hops stored properly will last for years in the freezer.

[jimlin]

Niko,
Thanks for the detailed post. I'm still a bit of a noob (started brewing when I got a MrB kit last christmas, moved to AG 4 batches ago), so any "insider" type of info is very informative to me.

I ended up just ordering about 6 kinds of hops from one online supplier that sells in 4oz packets. Even with shipping, it all averages out to be about $1 an ounce, which is half what I'd spend at my LHBS, which typically sells 1 oz packets for $2. Supposedly all 2010 hops, so not the new crop. BUT, I was able to grab some amarillo, centennial, cascade, n. brewer (for Tasty's amber and JBA recipes which I expect to brew again), chinook, and magnum.

Ended up with a total of 3 lbs of hops in variety's I tend to prefer, and in reasonable size packets. I'll store them in the freezer.

The price adds up at the LHBS when brewing a hoppy (like any Tasty recipes!) beer. Happy to get my grains and yeast at the LHBS. I can crush them at the store when I purchase, and I can be assured I'm getting fresh yeast packets too.

I'll keep checking in at nikobrew as 2011 pellets become avaible.