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ILOVEBEER · 07-07-2011, 02:54 PM

Hi guys,

Headed to the beer store today to buy some ingredients for 20 gallons of AG. I have several ounces of hops in the freezer that I vacuum sealed 14 months ago.....yes that is right over a year ago. The vacuum is still holding and I am wondering if it is worth even using them for my brews or tossing them and starting with new......let me know what you think. I have atleast 12oz of cascade and 8 ounces of US Golding

Thanks
Joe

**luke2080** · 07-07-2011, 02:58 PM

From another thread:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/hop-shelf-life-224443/

Quote:

Originally Posted by SumnerH

http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.1/garetztable.html#1 lists the Hop Storage Index for various types of hops--that's the %aa lost after 6 months of storage at room temperature without being sealed in a bag.

http://www.brewerslair.com/index.php?p=brewhouse&d=calculators&id=cal16&u=eng has a hop aging calculator--enter the HSI for your hop, how they were stored (ziplock, shrink wrapped, neither) and the temperature they were stored at.

Storage temperature is more important than shrink wrapping. A typical hop (HSI near 40) will lose about 13% of it's alpha acids if you store it for a year in a ziplock bag in the freezer at 0F. That drops to about 9% if you shrink wrap it.

So that calculator, and the hops table, should help you find the AA remaining pretty easily. Then it is a matter of how much to use to hit the IBU's you want.

ILOVEBEER · 07-07-2011, 03:09 PM

Very cool link...thank you. It shows my cascade went from 5.7%aa to 5.16%aa in 400 days vacuum sealed and stored at 0*F. Not sure how accurate it is but F it.....I'll use them and they should be fine...I HOPE.

Thanks again for the help

HomerJR · 07-07-2011, 03:11 PM

I had a few ounces of Amarillo zip-locked in the freezer for about a year. I used them for an APA, and found that they were still good for bittering, they had lost most of their aroma. It was still a good brew, just not very aromatic.

ILOVEBEER · 07-07-2011, 03:17 PM

I had a bag of golding (purchased at the same time and vacuum sealed the same time) that lost its vacuum seal while sitting in there. I dumped it the other day but not before opening it. It smelled as good as the day I unzipped the pound bag from hopsdirect and it had the same aroma. I'll give it a shot, I think I'll be ok.

Thank you guys for your help

Vance71975 · 07-07-2011, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILOVEBEER

Hi guys,

Headed to the beer store today to buy some ingredients for 20 gallons of AG. I have several ounces of hops in the freezer that I vacuum sealed 14 months ago.....yes that is right over a year ago. The vacuum is still holding and I am wondering if it is worth even using them for my brews or tossing them and starting with new......let me know what you think. I have atleast 12oz of cascade and 8 ounces of US Golding

Thanks
Joe

I would use them, I have 4lbs or so of pellets in the freezer that were NOT vacuum sealed and they still work great with no noticeable loss in bitterness.Mine are Pellet Hops. So i would have no problem using the ones you have!

ILOVEBEER · 07-07-2011, 03:31 PM

Very cool...all the better.......

bknifefight · 07-07-2011, 04:54 PM

I agree with most people here, go for it. I have many hops in the freezer which are probably a little too old which I still use and have good results.

ILOVEBEER · 07-07-2011, 11:02 PM

I went for it....I bought all my ingredients for my failsafe (blacklab recipe) orange cascade apa and my newcastle clone that was tweaked by my local beer store's gurus. IMO it tastes better than the original....not so flat and sweet....I'll let you guys know how it turns out with the 400 day old hops

Thanks for all the help

Joe