Hop longetivity in IPAs

[seehuusen]

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if some of you fine gentlemen could please share some of your experience.
I've been brewing a fair few hoppy IPAs, and none seem to last very long due to me drinking them
Now that I've moved to a larger brewery, I don't intend on drinking them all, and perhaps storing some for a bit longer... (yeah right LOL)

OK, the thought of ageing a few bottles has occurred to me on more than one occasion and I'm wondering if you could shed some light on a few questions I've got?
I tried some aged IPAs (1 & 1.5 years old) about a month ago, and they seemed to have lost most of their hop profile.

1. How long would it take for the hop flavour to start dropping noticeably? Weeks? Months?
   (I'm not talking about the bitterness from izomerised AA, but rather the aroma)
2. What attributes to this loss?
3. Does the grain bill contribute to this? if so, is there certain grain types to stay away from.
   E.g. Using a mix of Crystal and pale, rather than 100% pale, has a tendency to oxidise faster, thus affecting the flavour.
4. Hops, adding a preservative property to the beer, would generally mean you could store the beer for about how long? (this could be a how long is a piece of string type question, I'm sure)

Thanks in advance for your input!

Cheers,
Martin

 

[black_labb]

I tend to use more late hopping than dry hopping in my IPA's because dry hopping flavour tends to dissipate quickly and my batches tend to stick around for a while.

 

[NewtownClown]

From Stone Brewing


BEER FRESHNESS INDEX
We have some high standards when it comes to beer, and many of our creations are intended to be consumed fresh. We stamp each bottle the day it's filled with an "Enjoy By" date. Below is a chart with the "code lengths" of our beers...


BEER

CODE LENGTH

Stone Pale Ale

90 Days
after bottling

Stone Smoked Porter

120 Days
after bottling

Stone IPA

90 Days
after bottling

Stone Cali-Belgique IPA

120 Days
after bottling

Stone Ruination IPA

90 Days
after bottling

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale

120 Days
after bottling

Stone Levitation Ale

90 Days
after bottling

OAKED Arrogant ******* Ale

90 Days
after bottling

Arrogant ******* Ale

90 Days
after bottling

Stone Enjoy By IPA

35 Days
after bottling

Stone RuinTen IPA

90 Days
after bottling

Stone Go To IPA

90 Days
after bottling

Stone Saison

120 Days
after bottling

 

[leighaus]

Best before 6 months is my general rule

 

[Yob]

Stored cold the hops will last longer than at ambient, for every 10'c it will stale twice as fast.

Bamforth

 

[technobabble66]

Similar to Black Labb, my (very) limited experience indicates the hops aroma (esp from dry hopping) dissipates fairly quickly (over several weeks?). Whereas the hops flavour (from late hopping) seems much more stable (maybe influenced by yeast as well?).
My batch of a huge DIPA we did at the Melb xmas case swap last year seemed to maintain the hops flavour really well several months later, and the malts etc smoothed out really well with the extra age. I'd say the aroma had suffered significantly by then though.
The way i see it: chemically, it might be that the late hops additions in the boil form more stable compounds combining with the components from the grains, whereas the aroma compounds haven't been bound to these various components and hence are less stable.