# Whats the deal with hops? Are they expensive? What about calories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-hops-are-they-expensive-what-about-calories/537840 "2010-04-30T06:29:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PsychedelicSanta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@PsychedelicSanta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PsychedelicSanta)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-hops-are-they-expensive-what-about-calories/537840/21 "2010-04-30T19:06:42Z")
Triple hopped probably only means that they put in hops three times during the wort-boiling process. Hops put earlier on provide most of the bitterness. Late added hops give a green-taste and not much bitterness. So you could have a triple hopped beer with not much bitterness. Though I doubt that Miller Lite actually goes through all that. It’s probably just a marketing phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-hops-are-they-expensive-what-about-calories/537840/22 "2010-04-30T19:11:24Z")
> [@PsychedelicSanta](#): > > Though I doubt that Miller Lite actually goes through all that. It’s probably just a marketing phrase. That seems pretty specific (and easily verified) to me. I can’t imagine they wouldn’t get the pants sued off if they claimed a beer was triple-hopped and it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-hops-are-they-expensive-what-about-calories/537840/23 "2010-04-30T19:35:21Z")
To Miller, triple-hopped probably means they used three hop cones per batch. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-hops-are-they-expensive-what-about-calories/537840/24 "2010-04-30T19:36:41Z")
You know why Australian beer is so good? They use kangaroo hops. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-hops-are-they-expensive-what-about-calories/537840/25 "2010-04-30T19:48:50Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Been there, done that. It’s fun but not exactly cheap to do. > I can buy a 4 pack of Keystone pints for $1.88 around here, and a **case** of Mountain Creek for $5.99 when it’s on special. Try brewing it for that. I used to brew 6% beer for less than $0.50 a bottle. The secret is lots of corn sugar. I knew a guy who managed to get it down to $0.25 per bottle by buying sugar and malt in bulk. Unfortunately, when he moved from Alabama to Mississippi, he found he got far more off-flavors with his recipe. I found the same thing happened with mine when I moved to Texas, so it would appear that your local water has a lot to do with how happy you’re going to be throwing a lip over a brew that cheap. But maybe lots of hops would cover the tartness. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-hops-are-they-expensive-what-about-calories/537840/26 "2010-04-30T20:24:17Z")
Blech. The whole point of home-brewing is to be able to **avoid** crap like corn sugar and rice adjuncts in your beer. You’ll never be able to compete with a mega-brewer on a cost per buzz basis, so you brew for taste instead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-hops-are-they-expensive-what-about-calories/537840.md?page=1)