Old Hop Pellets

[pandar]

Hi All,

Well, I've been unable to brew for a couple of years but am now in a position to start up again. I have enough hop pellets to not want to throw them away, but they are 2 years old.

During that time they have been kept constantly in the freezer ..... but I am worried about deterioration and accurately calculating IBU using them.

Any experiences that you can pass on would be greatly appreciated.

 

[razz]

Welcome to AHB pandar. I used a pack of cascade that were in the freezer for 12 months and I thought they were fine. If you are using brew software then you can calculate how much to allow for in a brew when the hops are getting on in age.

 

[Bribie G]

Welcome Pandar, many of the hops on offer are from harvests a couple of years ago and seem fine and fresh. I currently have some USA Newport hops from 04 harvest but bought recently, and they certainly work as a bittering 'workhorse' hop. Probably been in suspended animation like your own.

If in doubt and you know what the AA percentage is for the pellets maybe just use them for bittering in a 60 min boil and buy some fresher hops for flavour or aroma.

Cheers.

 

[TidalPete]

Hi All,

Well, I've been unable to brew for a couple of years but am now in a position to start up again. I have enough hop pellets to not want to throw them away, but they are 2 years old.

During that time they have been kept constantly in the freezer ..... but I am worried about deterioration and accurately calculating IBU using them.

Any experiences that you can pass on would be greatly appreciated.

Old hops seem to do well in a Scottish. That said, it might be an idea to allow for an average of around 30% loss of alphas in pellets after a period of two years depending on the hop variety?
Plenty of other opinions coming up, I'm sure.

TP :beer:

 

[wambesi]

Yeah just use them, as mentioned Beersmith (and others most likely) can adjust the levels, but I haven't bothered with mine which were up to about 1 to 1.5 years old and the brews turned out fine. They apparently lose some bitterness but I was hard pressed to notice it.

I think the main thing is the way they have been kept, and the freezer is good so go ahead.

 

[Screwtop]

I'm still using 05 hop pellets. They have aways been kept in the freezer I use the hop age tool in Beersmith due to the fact they have been kept in the freezer in zip lock bags. Have trialled a number of ageing tests and finally settled on 50% of the storage time for hops that have always been stored in the freezer. Results at 50% ageing for storage time (2 years = 1 year) have been good for bittering, flavour and aroma.

Cheers,

Screwy

 

[Darren]

Hey Pandar,

What hops were they?

Have a look at this and see whether they are described as "good storability"

http://www.hopunion.com/hopunion-variety-databook.pdf

cheers

Darren

 

[newguy]

If they are in good quality airtight bags, then they'll be fine. I recently cleaned out my freezer and used up some hops that I bought in the summer of 2004. [Who knows how long they were in the store's freezer.] They still smelled great last year, but now their aroma had lost their edge.

If they're only 2 years old and were constantly in the freezer they're fine.

 

[pandar]

Thanks to all that have replied.
I am going to be using beersmith so will have a play with the aging option as suggested.

As for the types of hops .... a range but including Northern Brewer, Saaz, Cascade, EKG ,Fuggles, Hersbruck from memory. Might be one or two more.

Again. Thanks to all that have replied.

 

[Bizier]

You could brew a Belgian recipe that requires aged hops.

 

[pmolou]

lambic :beerbang: