Vacuumed hops: freeze?

Hello all,

I just vacuum sealed some homegrown dried out hops I had on hand.

My question is, if I'm going to use these for dry hopping in a secondary within the next 7-10 days, should I even bother freezing them since they're sealed?

I'm not really experienced with fresh hops! But I've also heard to throw them in the keg to dry hop that way?

Which way should I go?! Any and all advice is appreciated.

Cant hurt to freeze them and retain as much "goodness" as possible. Probably wont hurt to just throw them in the fridge either, considering it is only a week or so. Report back on your dry hop results.

jmich24 said:

Cant hurt to freeze them and retain as much "goodness" as possible. Probably wont hurt to just throw them in the fridge either, considering it is only a week or so. Report back on your dry hop results.

Click to expand...

Alright, they're sealed and in the freezer!

Another quick question though...once I want to use them in the secondary for dry hopping, do I thaw them out? I assume using them frozen won't be ideal.

I've gone straight from freezer to keg without waiting for the hops to thaw. I can't imagine it makes any difference...

Cheers!

Fridge would be fine, freezer doesnt hurt. You can toss them right in from the freezer but I wold let them get room temp so you don't shock any potential active yeast doing their thing

It's all about the thermal mass. I rather doubt the yeast in 40 pounds of wort would bat their eyelashes at a few ounces of frozen hops - especially when nearly all of them are snoozing at the very bottom of the fermenter by the time the dry hops are added...

Cheers!

(eyelashes? )

Mike_Diesel said:

Alright, they're sealed and in the freezer!

Another quick question though...once I want to use them in the secondary for dry hopping, do I thaw them out? I assume using them frozen won't be ideal.

Click to expand...

If they were dried properly, there shouldn't be much, if any moisture in there to worry about. I just used some that were vac sealed from 2011 and you really couldn't feel any coldness at all since they were so dry.

Hey all, just wanted to give everyone a little update...

Last night I pulled my hops out of the freezer and racked my beer to the secondary. It was tastes and smells amazing from all of the fresh hops I added to the boil.

Now we wait two weeks for the dry hopping to complete!

Mike_Diesel said:

[...]Now we wait two weeks for the dry hopping to complete!

Click to expand...

Two weeks is a bit on the long side when dry hopping at room temperature, imo...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

Two weeks is a bit on the long side when dry hopping at room temperature, imo...

Cheers!

Click to expand...

What is your recommendation, sir? This is my first time dry hopping...

Mike_Diesel said:

What is your recommendation, sir? This is my first time dry hopping...

Click to expand...

You might find after two weeks dry hopping at room temp you're getting some veggie aromas. I'd recommend giving the fermenter a good sniff after a week, and if it meets expectations rack it off the hops. If you want to push it, keep checking daily, and at the first sign of "grass" 'n' stuff yank the beer.

As a rule, I go one week dry hopping at room temperature, followed by a cold-crash for a couple/few days depending, then rack off the hops to a keg, and get it in my carb fridge and on the CO2.

If I'm going to dry hop in the keg I'll wait 'til it's carbed up and nearing its turn in the keezer, then put whole hops in a sanitized muslin hop sack and just toss it in. I've left hops in serving kegs for a month and have never gotten any grassy notes, so temperature must be a key factor...

Cheers!