DO YOU WANT TO USE THE FRESHEST HOPS AVAILABLE ? -

NOW YOU CAN

AS YOU KNOW, the most perishable ingredients in beer are the hops; bittering, flavoring, and aromatic. They unfortunately are harvested only once a year - and are stored by either the grower, processor, the wholesaler, the retailer, or you the brewer, until ready for use.

The primary and secondary factors affecting hop deterioration during all that storage are oxygen and warm temperatures. We have minimized the negative influence of these factors as much as is possible. The regular polyethylene bags are not very effective in maintaining the quality of the hop aroma, flavor, or bitterness. If you can smell any hop aroma when you sniff an unopened bag of hops, quality has already been lost - regardless of whether or not the hops are refrigerated. In addition , if there is any air within the pouch, the air will continue to oxidize the hops, even under refrigeration. Hops can lose over 50% of their effectiveness within six months - if not properly stored.

Therefore, the best that can be done to maintain the freshness of the hops are the following:

Storing the hops in oxygen barrier pouches.
Removing any air in the package.
Storing the hops under refrigeration (the necessity to refrigerate the hops is diminished if the first two steps are followed).

All of our hops come to you labeled with the alpha acid content and country of origin. As the alpha acid content of all hops is quite variable, the price list can only indicate the approximate alpha acid content of the hops, while each individual package lists the actual alpha acid content.

One last thing - PRICE. Film/foil/film pouches cost more, vacuum packaging costs more (the new cost of our vacuum packaging machine is over $5000.00), and so does refrigerated storage. However, we think you will find our prices unusually competitive - even with all these advantages.