Hops Storage

[DigitalGiraffe]

Hi guys,

I am pretty new to the whole home brew experience so please bare with me.

I mixed up my first brew about 5 weeks ago (Little Creature Bright Ale) and I had some Saaz hop pellets left over. I have since stored them in the fridge wrapped in glad wrap and was wondering if they would be ok?

Also I have just purchased the reccommended ingredients for a Pilsner Urquell from the "Brewing Crafts" book. My local home brew shop gave me a generic version of the #62 Czech Pilsner kit converter and I have just discovered it does not have the Saaz hops in it . Is it worth boiling my remaining hops and adding the strained liquid to the mix to compensate for the missing hops or should I just buy a proper #62 Czech Pilsner Brewcraft kit from elsewhere?

any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Paul

 

[manticle]

Hi guys,

I am pretty new to the whole home brew experience so please bare with me.

I mixed up my first brew about 5 weeks ago (Little Creature Bright Ale) and I had some Saaz hop pellets left over. I have since stored them in the fridge wrapped in glad wrap and was wondering if they would be ok?

Yes. Cold temps and low/no oxygen. Minimise light too so alfoil would be better (not that there is a lot of light in the freezer when it's shut).

Also I have just purchased the reccommended ingredients for a Pilsner Urquell from the "Brewing Crafts" book. My local home brew shop gave me a generic version of the #62 Czech Pilsner kit converter and I have just discovered it does not have the Saaz hops in it . Is it worth boiling my remaining hops and adding the strained liquid to the mix to compensate for the missing hops or should I just buy a proper #62 Czech Pilsner Brewcraft kit from elsewhere?

any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Paul

If you have the kit and all you are missing is saaz hops then why not? if you were going to purchase anything extra, why not just purchase extra saaz hops instead of a whole new clone kit? Do you know how much saaz should be included and are there other hops in the kit? Were hops missing from this kit (in which case hit up the shop for the missing parts)

 

[DigitalGiraffe]

I ended up grabbing a fresh pack of Saaz hops and rolling boiled 30grams for 10 mins then strained them into my 1kg of light malt extrac and 500g of dextrose and a bit of corn syrup. Then added a Muntons connoisseur pilsner mix and slowly boiled for a further 15 mins.

Smells amazing and is bubbling away at about 13degrees.

In the end I just guessed the amount of hops to use so fingers crossed it turns out ok!

Thanks for giving me the confidence just to add my own hops instead of relying on a whole kit

 

[manticle]

Hope it works out for you.

For future reference, boiling hops in a sugared solution at a gravity of 1030-1050 will give the best results - optimum balance between extracting the bittering compounds and giving smooth bittering.

Don't sweat it though- each brew is an improvemnt and this one will benefit from the addition of fresh hops.

To get a 1040 wort -Use a ratio of 1 Litre of water to 100g of dried malt extract, bring to boil, add hops and boil for recommended amount of time.

 

[fuddnuddler]

Freezer or fridge storage is best?

 

[Pennywise]

In the freezer mate

 

[bum]

In airtight containers.

 

[fuddnuddler]

freezer it is...thanks

 

[roo_dr]

Picked up a cheap vacuum packer from Kmart - now stored in 50g packs in the freezer. Also used to divide up the 500g pack of US-05 into more manageable amounts - All that in 23L might be termed an over-pitch!!

 

[chemacky]

How cheap is cheap on the vacuum packer?

 

[roo_dr]

Think it was about $40, but saved that already with bulk buys on meat etc packed up in the (now full) freezer. I might have to buy a new freezer!! Will the spending ever end?!

 

[MeLoveBeer]

freezer it is...thanks

Coincidently, I was talking with someone from Ellerslie hops today about this very subject and they strongly recommend not storing hops in the freezer (much to my surprise). The recommendation is to store hops in a dry dark environment at around 3-4 degrees (but an airtight, non transparent container in the fridge would be fine).

The reasoning for avoiding the freezer is that the temperature effects the oils in the hops and causes them to perish quicker (though I've got to admit that I've never experienced this).

 

[GTS350]

.... I might have to buy a new freezer!! Will the spending ever end?!

I went broke trying to save money by brewing my own beer :beerbang:

 

[Pennywise]

Coincidently, I was talking with someone from Ellerslie hops today about this very subject and they strongly recommend not storing hops in the freezer (much to my surprise). The recommendation is to store hops in a dry dark environment at around 3-4 degrees (but an airtight, non transparent container in the fridge would be fine).

The reasoning for avoiding the freezer is that the temperature effects the oils in the hops and causes them to perish quicker (though I've got to admit that I've never experienced this).

Is this for both flowers & pellets/plugs? I'm thinking it might just be for flowers, pellets should surly be more hardy. Interesting none the less

 

[MeLoveBeer]

Is this for both flowers & pellets/plugs? I'm thinking it might just be for flowers, pellets should surly be more hardy. Interesting none the less

The conversation was focused specifically on pellets.