Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

I bought a 2 oz. pack of "whole Cascade hops" from Benz a couple of weeks back. Last night, I opened them to use for dry hopping an IPA. When I opened them, there were only about 2 hop cones in the bag. The rest appeared to be nothing but "petals". I have bought whole hops before, and got a bag of dried hop cones. From now on, I am going to stick to pellets. Just a heads up, not sure how many of you ever buy ingredients from Benz.

Tim, who was the distributor for those hops, that would be helpful?
Benz only sells what their distributor sends them, so we all may want to avoid that distributor in the future.

I still have the package at home, I will post tonight. I am not blaming Benz. They are selling what was sold to them. That's just where I got them.

The whole hops I've bought from Freshops.com come in a pound ranging from several ounce clumps to loose petals. The loose should work just as well for dry hopping if you put them in a bag.

tompb wrote:The whole hops I've bought from Freshops.com come in a pound ranging from several ounce clumps to loose petals. The loose should work just as well for dry hopping if you put them in a bag.

They were a pain to deal with, and did not have the aroma I was expecting. The distributor was Brewmaster Wine and Beer Making Supplies San Leandro, CA.

brownbeard wrote:

tompb wrote:The whole hops I've bought from Freshops.com come in a pound ranging from several ounce clumps to loose petals. The loose should work just as well for dry hopping if you put them in a bag.

They were a pain to deal with, and did not have the aroma I was expecting. The distributor was Brewmaster Wine and Beer Making Supplies San Leandro, CA.

We should notify Benz that this occurred, could be a issolated incident, but, would probably still be good that they know that you got shorted. They may do something to make it up to you and turn around and ask the distributor for a rembersment.

You guys need to think about growing some. I get over 2.5 pounds dried last year from my two cascades. I probably won't have rhizomes for the April meeting, but I plan to have a bunch that are free to a good home at the May meeting.

I'm trying. I bought a couple of rhizomes (Mt Hood and Willamette) through NB. We'll see how they do. Might take you up on some of your Cascades.
-Tom

I would love to get a cascade bine going. There was an article in BYO last issue about doing hops in a pot. I want to try their method.

I used some kent goldings from Benz, and I thought they were fine. Well, they were expensive, but I liked them.

Brando wrote:I used some kent goldings from Benz, and I thought they were fine. Well, they were expensive, but I liked them.

I have not had any problems with any other hops from them. These are the only "whole hops" I have bought from them. Expensive, but convenient. Although, I usually hit the Hy-Vee on Center Point and Blairs Ferry first. They are closer.