Selling hops question

[Hounds]

OK. I am still a newbie but have grown my own hops for 6 years now, ever so slowly expanding the yard to where I now have 180 healthy plants and plan to have 300 within 3 years.

I now want to start selling them. I HAVE been selling them but to friends and what not for cheap or christmas presents stuff like that.

What is a good starting point to sell them for to small homebrewers and friends via the internet?

What is a common wholesale price? -10% ? -20%

I do not have a pelletizer yet but working on it, just a vacuum sealer.

I do not want to sell huge volumes, but rather by the ounce or quarter pound,etc. which I feel is really the only way to actually turn a decent profit with only 180 plants.

Can organizations such as Northeast Hop Alliance help you sell your product? Or simply move it in bulk for $15 per pound or whatever like the breweries want. ?

Thanks.

 

[m00ps]

what varieties did you plant?

I'd try talking to your local brew store and maybe you can post flyers with your contact info. I'm sure brewers would love to use locally grown hops

 

[Hounds]

Thanks. I have talked to them already and they may buy some or all. I have 5 varieties, with the heirlooms already have been tested in a lab so they know what to expect more or less.

However, not sure what to charge on a wholesale ?

Centennial
Cascade
Magnum
hierloom Brattleboro VT
hierloom Fred Smart ( Central NY )

I really dont want to go overboard with varieties until I get a feel. Also, since its local maybe it doesn't matter too much that I do not have a pelletizer yet. I do have a nice vacuum sealer though.

Thanks.

 

[derrick45123]

With that many plants, I would try selling fresh hops. With a harvester you could have that all picked in a day and to the brewery within 24. Also with the wet/fresh hops, you get the handicap of selling water weight.

Pelletizers are pretty expensive, and require drying which once air touches the hops a inspector has to get involved. To get that far, I believe you would have to grow a lot, a acre or more. Fresh/wet hops is a good option for small scale growers.

 

[feinbera]

You're, what, a hearty spit in a high wind from Syracuse, and no more than an hour or two away from Rochester and Ithaca? All those university towns, there must be a dozen brewpubs and microbreweries who'd love to brew a fresh-hop ale with your local, artisanally-grown hops. You could probably charge an extra $1/pound if you show up in a vintage red panel truck.

 

[GVH_Dan]

My first advice is to look into local and state regulations. I know NY has regulation for licensing of hops processing facility, which usually means pelletizing. A cone that is picked, dried and sold whole is usually considered an ag product and thus not subject to health code. Once you grind it up or in some other way do something to it to alter its state is where regulations step in.

You should also look at state of NY farm brewery licence requirements. Some breweries are paying a pretty penny to be involved in a farm so they can have a farm brewery license. Take advantage of that possibility.

When it comes to wet harvest, the logistics are a PIA. First, they need to be used within a couple hours of being picked, otherwise they will begin to oxidize (rot). That means 1 variety only because its rare for hops to all come ripe at the same time. If you go that route, have everything lined up with the brewer including a good estimate of how much you will harvest.

Pelletizing is expensive to set up plus you will probably need a food processing license. We are sitting at 65 mature acres of our own and others that we process plus a bunch of contract stuff ans we still are around 50% of capacity. You need a lot of acerage to make it pay. You could look around. I know there are others in the NY region that are doing processing and NEHA may be one of those.

Whole cones dried is a route but think of your own home brewing. They make a mess. For that reason a lot of brewers don't want them.

1 oz packages for homebrewers at $4/ oz seems awesome, right? Way better than $15/lb. Here's the problem. If you sell through a homebrew shop, they will give you $1 to $2.25/oz. Still sounds good but I've seen costs for packaging run $.75 to $1. Then there's the cost of growing, harvesting and what not are factored in and the profit margin goes down. So then some set up a website to sell directly to the homebrewer but its a lot of time and effort to get that customer...then three years later they give up homebrewing and move on to new hobbies. You start all over again. Suddenly $15/lb to a stable brewery customer looks pretty good.

I'm NOT trying to discourage you. Just giving you the reality of selling them.

 

[beernutz]

My first advice is to look into local and state regulations. I know NY has regulation for licensing of hops processing facility, which usually means pelletizing. A cone that is picked, dried and sold whole is usually considered an ag product and thus not subject to health code. Once you grind it up or in some other way do something to it to alter its state is where regulations step in.

You should also look at state of NY farm brewery licence requirements. Some breweries are paying a pretty penny to be involved in a farm so they can have a farm brewery license. Take advantage of that possibility.

When it comes to wet harvest, the logistics are a PIA. First, they need to be used within a couple hours of being picked, otherwise they will begin to oxidize (rot). That means 1 variety only because its rare for hops to all come ripe at the same time. If you go that route, have everything lined up with the brewer including a good estimate of how much you will harvest.

Pelletizing is expensive to set up plus you will probably need a food processing license. We are sitting at 65 mature acres of our own and others that we process plus a bunch of contract stuff ans we still are around 50% of capacity. You need a lot of acerage to make it pay. You could look around. I know there are others in the NY region that are doing processing and NEHA may be one of those.

Whole cones dried is a route but think of your own home brewing. They make a mess. For that reason a lot of brewers don't want them.

1 oz packages for homebrewers at $4/ oz seems awesome, right? Way better than $15/lb. Here's the problem. If you sell through a homebrew shop, they will give you $1 to $2.25/oz. Still sounds good but I've seen costs for packaging run $.75 to $1. Then there's the cost of growing, harvesting and what not are factored in and the profit margin goes down. So then some set up a website to sell directly to the homebrewer but its a lot of time and effort to get that customer...then three years later they give up homebrewing and move on to new hobbies. You start all over again. Suddenly $15/lb to a stable brewery customer looks pretty good.

I'm trying to discourage you. Just giving you the reality of selling them.

You are doing a dang fine job too!

j/k I realize that was likely a typo.

 

[madscientist451]

Make 4 oz vacuum sealed packages and sell at competitive prices what others charge.
Everyone shops around and if your prices are good the product will move. A local hop farm near me charges $4-5/OZ. I'm not paying that much, I'll shop for a lower price.
Maybe they sell all they can for that, I don't know.
I'd sell internet only, flat rate shipping using the free mailers from the post office.
If you don't want to do all that packaging and handling and mailing ect, I'd hook up with brew pubs/breweries within 100 miles from you. (use super pages search by distance) Sell it in 10 lb increments or whatever amount they want to buy and price it reasonably so it all sells. You don't want to sit on a pile of old hops trying to get a better price. Go online and get wholesale pricing to see what others are charging.
Become a Homebrewtalk vendor and sell it here, if the hops and prices are good it will sell.

 

[GVH_Dan]

You are doing a dang fine job too!

j/k I realize that was likely a typo.

Awe CRAP....yeah, I did mean to type I DON'T mean to discourage you...

I'll edit.

 

[Hounds]

Thanks folks. Greatly appreciated. I DID sell almost all hops wet to a local brewery a few years ago and it was a mess of logistics but it worked. I figured out I probably lost money. After the trucking it and time, effort, etc..( 3 trips 40 min. each direction ) Maybe this time around with a bit more it might work out favorable.

 

[TheCADJockey]

You might consider contacting some of the local breweries. There are so many opening up around here. With any luck, there is a good chance one of them will just want to buy your entire crop. The breweries here in Buffalo are very friendly and a couple are quite young.

If you end up keeping it on a small scale, I'll buy a few pounds of something... or trade you some of my Nugget although I've only got one established plant right now. A few new ones growing this year though.

 

[rekoob]

I agree with the vender bit on HBT... only for my own personal interests of course. But honestly, if the prices are reasonable I'm sure a lot of us would jump on in.
That along with a few small breweries or brew pubs that are pretty close to you should take care of whatever you could grow.

In any case, I hope it works out for you. Good luck.

 

[TeeJo]

I would suggest looking closely at the actual costs of using a courier company (FedeEx/UPS) to pick up and deliver your parcels to the brewery. Like as not, with an account with them, you will come in cheaper than driving the deliveries there yourself, plus it is a easy receipt for tax purposes.

Unless you have a hankering for a red panel truck, of course!

TeeJo

 

[GVH_Dan]

NO, No, No, nonononononononono!!!!! Wrong. If a brewer is buying your hops, you always deliver in person. Inevitably, you drop off the hops and they say, "Thanks, hey wanna beer?" 4 hours later you are wondering who you could call to pick you up. Don't overlook the perks of the job.

 

[brian4508]

"Thanks, hey wanna beer?" 4 hours later you are wondering who you could call to pick you up. Don't overlook the perks of the job.

been there, done that! delivery is the best part, especially after a long season!

 

[brian4508]

I want to make a couple corrections/additions to Dan’s post, but he hit most of the points exactly for NYS. I apologize for my short comments in advance, as I’m at my day job! This is meant to be informative, not derogative!

1) Selling wet hops, no NYS AG20-C licensing required as it is a food product in its natural form.
2) Pelletizing hops: NYS AG20-C required for both changing the form of the hops, and the packaging of said hops.
3) Drying hops to whole leaf: NYS AG20-C license is required in NYS for packaging whole dried hops, as they consider drying a change from its natural state – even if selling to home brewers! Once you sell, you are a commercial entity in the eyes of NYS. Think of herbs etc. all this required AG20-C licensing for packaging. This information comes directly from NYS AG department. (Dan was incorrect on this item…I forgive him &#61514
4) To get a NYS AG20-C license for hops, there is a variance letter that you need to have a copy of (available from Steve Miller) It states specifically that hops need to be dried to below 12%. Anything higher in moisture than what is stated is not allowed to be packaged or sold in NYS. Without this letter, you will not receive a NYS AG20-C license to package dried hops.
5) There are specific regulations on what can and cannot be sprayed on a hop farm…remember, it’s a commercial food product
6) highly recommend having an actual company formed prior to selling hops (commercial food product)

One of the biggest issues we see, is NYS hop farms not knowing the regulations, selling improperly dried hops, packaged out of a ‘garage’ and giving all of the farms in NYS a bad reputation among the breweries. Dan is aware (thank you again), that our farm is fighting hard to figure out how to obtain the best results/end product possible with what is available in NYS.

Just an example of what a commercial farm needs to comply with in NYS.

 

[Hounds]

One of the biggest issues we see, is NYS hop farms not knowing the regulations, selling improperly dried hops, packaged out of a ‘garage’ and giving all of the farms in NYS a bad reputation among the breweries. Dan is aware (thank you again), that our farm is fighting hard to figure out how to obtain the best results/end product possible with what is available in NYS.

Just an example of what a commercial farm needs to comply with in NYS.[/QUOTE]


Greatly appreciated Brian. Huge help, thank you. I've had my hops tested the past several years and it is always in the 8 to 10% moisture range but more importantly the wet hopped delivered to the door might be the way to go.

Also, who picks your hops Brian? ( Down there in Fabius ) Do you have a hop harvest 'party' with free food and beer? Just wondering. Because I end up with 1/2 to 3/4 of it picked that way and still have a bunch left to do myself. Mechanical picker such as the HopsHarvester ? I would think mechanical pickers tend to beat the s&%$t out of the hops? Unless its destined for a pelletizer anyway.

Maybe try to get the Matt's over here. LOL

 

[Hounds]

One of the biggest issues we see, is NYS hop farms not knowing the regulations, selling improperly dried hops, packaged out of a ‘garage’ and giving all of the farms in NYS a bad reputation among the breweries. Dan is aware (thank you again), that our farm is fighting hard to figure out how to obtain the best results/end product possible with what is available in NYS.

Just an example of what a commercial farm needs to comply with in NYS.[/QUOTE]


Greatly appreciated Brian. Huge help, thank you. I've had my hops tested the past several years and it is always in the 8 to 10% moisture range but more importantly the wet hopped delivered to the door might be the way to go.

 

[brian4508]

We hand harvested the last two years. It sucks, but feel that every farm should do it once. It builds 'character' lol. This year (if all goes as planned) we will have a harvester. No more hand picking for us!! Keep an eye on our FB page for more on that in July. Now to figure out a much larger dryer...!