NZ Hops - freshness and best practice - where do you get your freshest hops?

[Mike Cole]

Hi everyone

Well after trying to perfect IPAs for a while now and never quite succeeding with that fresh hop aroma a friend of mine brewed up an all Nelson Sauvin IPA/PA with wheat. Oh my gosh! It has all the aroma of the best IPAs and when I looked at his recipe the amount of hops he used was much lower than what I have been using (including timing from during the boil to late hopped to hop bursted). 

So my question is: was this success mainly down to the fact that these were fresh nelson hops straight out of a new order or some other reason? The nelson hops he used had fantastic, strong aroma, which was way more pronounced than even Amarillo and Simcoe hops from the same retailer but sourced from the US. 

Secondly the retailer does not vacuum store hops, instead they just sit in 100g bags in a fridge. Is there anywhere to source hops in NZ that are vacuum sealed? Where is the best place to get well cared for and high quality hops in NZ? How do you guys tackle the reduced aroma problem? Up your dry and late hops to compensate?

I realise there are a lot of questions here but it feels like I might finally be figuring out the problems with my IPA aroma, and looking for the expertise found here to help! 

Cheers!

[Grant R Baker]

Firstly I buy sealed hops... but they are going to degrade anyway over time even if you don't open the bag.

Once open I try to vacuum pack the unused hops and freeze them, but if the amount is too small then they go into a ziplock bag and into the fridge.

 

I have also start dating my hops in the freezer just so I know what is what and can then use the hop freshness calculator to help compensate for IBU loss over time (I think BS has one built in) otherwise there are a few about (http://www.brewerslair.com/index.php?p=brewhouse&d=calculators&...)

[Nicole Jenkins]

Hi Mike. We have a great range of hops both NZ and imported and we vacuum pack in 100g, 50g and 25g packs. Can also do sizes to order.
Check us out http://www.againzt-the-grain.nz

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Brewshop.co.nz sell vacuum sealed hops, in fact I got some today they are Amarillo Hops, sold in 100g lots for $10.95.

[Nathan]

Been in your shoes before mate......DONT buy the vacuum packed hops order them from a seller who will sell you what you need 100g of any single hop is a lot unless doing a SMaSH brew. If they are moving small amounts they will be fresher than a vacuum pack.

I struggled for ages to get my PA's right. Then I rang Kerry at Brewtopia and had a LONG chat to him as to why and he gave me a simple recipe to try using one hop (simcoe) and one malt (gladfields pale ale)...Turned out to be the best beer i had ever made up till then.....

Ring him or email him.......

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

That's awesome cause I'm expecting my Simcoe and my American pale ale malt from him today!! He sells it in any quantity from 1gram up.