freezer hop life.

[MitchD]

So I have some hop pellets stored in zip bags in the freezer and I was wondering how long they will stay fresh.

 

[waggastew]

Hmm, fresh is a relative term.

Fresh enough to be used as a bittering hop - 12+ months (although AA goes down slowly over time)

Fresh enough to be used as the main flavour hop - 6+ months (stored in freezer with most air excluded from zip lock and well away from prawn heads)

Fresh enough to be used as the dominating hop of a very hoppy beer (DIPA etc), crack a new pack

Times posted above are completely arbitrary and depend on some many factors. Fresher hops will give better results for aroma and flavour but unless you are brewing for a comp/future wife/beer nerd I would probably smell them. Look out for cheesy aromas or just a distinct lack of aroma. Try putting a pellet in a cup of hot water and see what it smells like.

 

[Yob]

Zip lock bags aren't the best for storage, ok for very short periods of time.

I have hops I bought (as a brewer not a retailer) over 2 years ago that are still fine, vacuum sealed and always frozen.

Much of it depends on how you store them, if you are buying in bulk, do yourself a favour, get a vac sealer

 

[sponge]

As yob said, grab a vac sealer. You can tell the Mrs it's for food, etc.. Money very well spent IMO

 

[Feldon]

Some good information on hop storage in this Brewing Techniques article: http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.1/garetz.html#return

In particular, see the accompanying data sheet which shows how to calculate the loss of alpha acids (bittering potential) of hops at various temps with or without barrier packaging: http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.1/garetztable.html

For example, stored at 20° C with no barrier packaging hops lose the following percentage of alpha acids after 6 months.


[SIZE=medium]Variety - Percent Lost (%) [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Cascade 50 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Centennial 37 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Chinook 32 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Cluster 17 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Crystal 49 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]East Kent Goldings 45 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Eroica 40 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Fuggle 37 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Galena 15 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]German Spalter 45 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Hallertauer (domestic) 45 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Hallertauer Hersbrucker 40 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Hallertauer Northern Brewer 25 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 46 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Hersbrucker (domestic) 50 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Liberty 55 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Mt. Hood 45 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Northern Brewer (domestic) 20 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Nugget 25 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Perle (domestic) 15 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Pride of Ringwood 44 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Saazer (Czech) 50 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Spalt (domestic) 50 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Strisselspalt (France) 35 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Styrian Goldings 37 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Tettnang Tettnanger 42 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Tettnanger (domestic) 42 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]Willamette 37 [/SIZE]

 

[Midnight Brew]

Vacuum sealed and frozen has a good storage life for the hops I've used so far. I still have, use and am pretty pleased with some 2009 US Crops.

 

[hellbent]

Vacuum sealed and frozen has a good storage life for the hops I've used so far. I still have, use and am pretty pleased with some 2009 US Crops.

So my 2012 Vacuum sealed and frozen Citra and Centennial would still be ok then??

 

[Midnight Brew]

So my 2012 Vacuum sealed and frozen Citra and Centennial would still be ok then??

Absolutely! My beer that I entered in the 2014 vic case swap had all 2009 hops and got some good feedback. I just use the beer smith hop age tool to give an estimated AA% level. I suspect that figure is ballpark but I must say it does taste pretty spot on.

I'll also add that it is worth checking the beersmith value in which that particular hop degrades with age as is found the values don't match the spec information, which would give you a false reading. I noticed this mainly with Apollo.

 

[Spiesy]

Life's too short (and beer too important) for old hops.

 

[stux]

Just cracked some vacuum sealed frozen Amarillo 2010 (a good year) for a DSGA, smelled as fresh and divine as I remember and the colour was still good.

Zip-lock bags. Not so good.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

A trick you can do with zip lock bags if you haven't got a vacuum sealer is put a straw in the corner of the bag and suck the air out of it and quickly seal the corner.