Possible hop shortage for homebrewers ahead.

[feldmann]

http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=fa480629967d080e4927184ad&id=1ba7ba4775&e=b89c7e10f9

Seeing a few vendors within Canada and the US now posting similar messages. Earlier this week OBK was saying theyve been getting their orders cut by upwards of 90% since April. Since I didn't stock up looks like I might be brewing more sours!

[robcoombs]

Yikes, I've ordered some already from Yakima. But not enough to last that long!

[robcoombs]

Here is a reply I found (link provided) that Yakima posted on a homebrew forum just yesterday.

It looks like all hops will still be available, you may just have to order from Yakima directly. I'm sure they can use all of this to increase prices.


https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSIONID=bd7c23390a44523e9e2c23428130e463&topic=25577.15



Hey All, we here at YVH feel the need to chime in. Let's talk about the facts.

Total crop yields this year were up overall from 1,520 lbs/acre in 2014 -- 1,613 lbs/acre in 2015. Did we have drought? Yes. Did some varieties do better than others? Yes. Are there less hops overall that would slow down availability to you the homebrewer? Not really. There is no hop shortage, the shortage is in the dedication to supplying to homebrewers vs. the bigger guys.

This is an excerpt from the USDA National Hop Report for 2015 -

Production for Idaho, Oregon, and Washington in 2015 totaled 78.8 million pounds, up 11 percent from the 2014 crop of 71.0 million pounds. Production increased in all three States; 30 percent in Oregon, 26 percent in Idaho, and 6 percent in Washington. Acreage increased in all three States; 22 percent in Oregon, 30 percent in Idaho, and 11 percent in Washington. United States yield at 1,807 pounds per acre, decreased 61 pounds from a year ago. These are the highest acres harvested and production on record in Idaho going back to 1944 and the highest acres harvested on record in Washington going back to 1915.

Washington growers produced 75 percent of the United States hop crop in 2015. Cascade, Zeus, Simcoe, Centennial, and Columbus/Tomahawk, were the leading varieties in Washington, accounting for 52 percent of the State's hop crop. In Oregon, Nugget and Cascade were the major varieties, accounting for 47 percent of the State's hop production. In Idaho, Zeus, Cascade, and Chinook were the major varieties, accounting for 44 percent of the State's hop production. 

Here is a link to the USDA National Hop Report for 2015 if you would like to read more;  http://usahops.org/userfiles/image/1450466405_2015%20National%20Hop%20Report.pdf

Yakima Valley Hops buys directly from the farms and producers (pelletizers etc). And then we turn around and offer them up to you guys. We are here in Hop Central - Humilis lupus Ground Zero. We are dedicated to the home brew community period. This is our bread & butter.

There was a comment earlier in this thread about - no 2015 hop crop being available, and if it was, it was 2014 being passed off as 2015. This is not true for YVH customers. We believe in transparency. We put the crop year on all of our packaging. We have been getting in the 2015 crop since October.

We'd also like to say thank you to our loyal customers and those of you who buy from us. We are a new(er) outfit and we've had some growing pains. But we want each and every one of you to know that we are dedicated to the home brew community, and we appreciate your continued support.

We do sell to the craft brew community as well. Yet, our focus here is on helping small startup breweries get their hands on the same quality and variety of hops as the big breweries. Without sacrificing availability, variety, and crop year to the homebrewer. Lets face it, the real innovation starts at home, some homebrewers are the next craft brewery.


Take Away
- YVH has the current hop crop available to home brewers before anyone else.

- We buy directly from the farms and producers (pelletizers etc).

- We are transparent with crop year, we put it on all of our packaging.

We welcome any questions or comments

Cheers & Happy Brewing

YVH

[jdueck]

Looks like farming hops in New Brunswick could be a good industry to get into....

[Draveur77]

I will have to grow more!

[ECH]

I will have to grow more!

Me too. Got a decent harvest from 2nd year plants....enough Chinook probably for a 5gal batch (may have to add some flavor hops), and plants that are in 5gal buckets at that. Spring of 2016, they are going in the ground, so I expect them to flourish once I do. Couple of good things about them being in a 5 gal bucket, plants are off the ground which makes it harder for insects to climb up them, and makes it easy to put away for the winter, but they don't grow as fast.

Have 2 Chinooks, a Fuggles and a Golding, and looks like my "guy" is going to have some Centennial (2) and Cascade (2) for me this spring (and possibly a Columbus if I am lucky, but I am #2 on his list, so looks promising), hopefully the snow doesn't stick around as long as it did last year.

[Draveur77]

I'm not to organised but still got 3#. I planted them to close so didn't know what was what. Finally still made beer!