Hops life span?

So I have about 10 ounces of hops I bought for planned brews back in February. Unfortunately, I never got to use them as having time to brew wasn't in the cards. I now have a planned brew day next weekend. Each ounce is individually packaged, never opened from Hop Union. I've had them in the refrigerator since I bought them. Are they still good, and will the alpha acid content still be about the same? Or will I need to get a new supply of hops for brew day? Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

They are just fine... the AA may have dropped a tad, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

maffewl said:

They are just fine... the AA may have dropped a tad, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

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Seconded. Shouldn't have any problems. Even if the AA dropped a bit, it's likely not even enough to change the IBUs by enough to be noticeable to the human palate, though this is highly variety dependent. Some varieties lose their AA faster than others. The fridge should have kept most of the deterioration at bay, though.

Remember that hops are only harvested in the fall, so even if you bought them last week, unless they were from the 2013 crop (and they aren't pelletized yet, as far as I know) they were all from 2012 anyway. It's not like the hops at the store now are any fresher than the ones you bought back in February.

If you keep your hops sealed in the original packaging or vacuum seal them yourself and put them in the freezer, they will last a LONG time. Years. In the fridge, they will still last a long time with no issues at all.

Glad to see this here, I bought a buttload of hops late last year and got extraordinarily busy. I had grand plans to make a couple barleywines and play around a little... I managed to finish a couple bocks and a premium american lager (which is waiting around to be bottled), which used approximately zero of the hops.

Just yesterday I was just wondering whether I'd hosed myself and wasted some money (and a couple half-pound bags of hard-to-get hops I bought on a whim just to try out). Fortunately, they're all vacuum sealed and have been in the freezer. Sounds like I should be good. W00t.

What Yooper said. I only buy hops as the new crop comes in the fall. I keep them in the deep freeze till I need them. Air, light, and heat will degrade them.

Thanks for all the replies. Greatly appreciated.