Hip Hop You Don't Stop

On Monday night I bottled my homebrew beer which is a clone of a 60 minute Dogfishhead IPA. Yesterdays, New York Times had an article on the growing trend of adding more and more hops to beer calling it extreme brewing. In fact Dogfishhead sells ingrendiant kits for their famous beer at a store called Xtreme brewing.

Hops are what make beer bitter. In the case of IPA, the 60 minutes referrers to adding hops for 60 minutes, Dogfishhead also makes 90 minute and 120 minute, with more hops. The 60 minute has twice as many hops as any beer I have ever brewed.

I love hops, maybe not 120 minutes worth of hops. But I have been hearing rumors of hop shortages and rising prices on the homebrew discussion board. The end of the article describes the trend well,

“….the brewing world is now facing an international hops shortage. No, it’s not because of the daunting amount of hops used in many extreme beers. It’s more a result of the normal cycle of supply and demand.

Overproduction of hops in the early 1990s resulted in excess supply and depressed prices, said Ralph Olson, a hops dealer based in Yakima, Wash. As a result, world hop acreage has fallen from about 234,000 in 1994 to 113,000 in 2006. It may take several years, Mr. Olson suggested, for hops production to be able to meet current demands.”

For a while I have wanted to grow my own hops, now I have even more reason to try it. Only I’m not sure they’ll grow in the apartment.

The Economics of Homebrewing

This weekend I’m extremely excited to brew a 60 minute Dogfishhead IPA clone. The beer is known for its awesome amount of hops. A couple of thoughts on homebrewing and beer economics. My Vanilla Porter also just matured and it is one of the best I have brewed.

1. In DC even with shipping cost homebrewing saves you about 0.20 a beer over similar store brand beer. To brew 50 beers you have to purchase $30 worth of ingredients, plus some bottle caps and sanitizing supplies. There is also an initial fixed cost of about $100 for a fermenter. To recoup the $100 fixed cost for equipment you would have to brew 500 beers. I’m actually getting close to that after 6 years of brewing. We might also think about the opportunity cost of the time spent brewing, but I have too much fun brewing to worry about that.

2. In my intro to economics class, I often give an example that some product is found to prevent cancer, which increases demand for that product. It appears hops help prevent cancer, I just learned that the day I prepare to make the most hop filled beer I have tried.

3. I think I have finally figured out how to allocate my brewing resources so that I never run out of home brew beer. I can drink and give away about a 6 pack a week, so I brew a batch of 50 every two months.