Old Hop Donation thread

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Reverend JC

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Let me be the first in this delicious thread to ask, beg, plea for your old hops so that I can make a lambic.

:tank:
 
I have an ounce each of Northern Brewer and Saaz I could send you. I inherited them with some extra equipment I bought. I have absolutely no idea how old they are. They were in the nitrogen flushed shrink sealed packages until last week. As far as I know, they were sitting in this guy's garage for 5 + years. I opened them last week just to see how they held up. Theyre still pretty green, but definitely not fresh.
 
That is awesome.

Do they smell cheesy or just not fresh? Cheesy is no good, but just plain not fresh is perfect.
 
Theyre cheesy. I guess a no go then? I've never found a good resource on how old hops should look/smell.
 
They will just be kind of stale. A bit grassy, but none of the other characteristics that you find when you open a fresh bag and sniff in all of those wonderful aromas.

but not cheesy.
 
Dang Puterbaugh was selling those debittered hops real cheap a while back, I wonder how they would have been.
 
They will just be kind of stale. A bit grassy, but none of the other characteristics that you find when you open a fresh bag and sniff in all of those wonderful aromas.

but not cheesy.

Really? I've always thought that those cheesy hops were valued for lambics? Perhaps I'm misinformed! :)
 
The Jamil Show (6-2-08) on lambics (about 33 minutes into it) talks about aging hops.. he talks about going *beyond* cheesy.. mostly talks about whole leaf hops stored in a brown paper bag; possibly dehydrator or *low* heat oven to drive off the aromatics
 
I guess I need to go back through Wild Brews on hops. I focused more on the organisms my first read through.
 
yeah. Cheese=bad

I think cheesy can be OK. Well, OK in the fact that it can be a stage in the progression towards what you are looking for. But, I think the cheesy can also mean something went wrong, so I would not mix them with the 'god' hops.

I put 3.75 oz of hops in a paper bag in June and threw them in my attic. I would smell them every couple weeks, they definitely went through a cheesy stage, but that went away. Now, they smell very much like dried herbs. The strong aromatics are all gone. I hope I am on track to brew a pLambic sometime in the next 6-8 months.
 
Thanks for some clarification Beerific. I have some hops a member sent me over the summer. They were sealed by him in one ounce packs by a foodsaver. They were old when he sent them to me (for free), but good. I guess a hot summer + shipping + ups trucks didn't agree with them. When they arrived, they stunk to high hell. I still have 3oz hanging out in my closet. I guess they need more time to mellow out and attain the proper profile.
 
I used 2oz of artificially aged hops in the lambic I brewed back in late October that worked well.

After 4hrs at 200F in a toaster oven, they'll turn yellow and lose all aromatic properties. And, stink up the house in the process... :eek:
 
there really isn't much need to use aged hops unless you are spontaneously fermenting. the idea is to use a lot of hops, debittered from aging, to get the maximum amount of preservative effect and limit unwanted wild bugs. your airlock will take care of that. just use a small amount of low alpha hops.
 
An update-

A friend has about 5 lbs of funky old hops. I am in no need now.



there really isn't much need to use aged hops unless you are spontaneously fermenting. the idea is to use a lot of hops, debittered from aging, to get the maximum amount of preservative effect and limit unwanted wild bugs. your airlock will take care of that. just use a small amount of low alpha hops.

I disagree. The traditional brewers of lambics would just use the low alpha hops then. Sure it can be done, but why not try to find the authentic hops.
 
I made a lambic a while ago and could not find the old stale hops. So I baked whole hops in a toaster oven for a few hours at 150-200. I also had to leave them out in a open bag in the sun for a few days. I guess the longer the better. The toaster over did a good job on making them nice and stale.
 
Back in November Jeff Sparrow (author of Wild Brews) responded to me about this. His exact quote on the subject was, "Cheesy hops have no place in any beer. You will see aged but not cheesy hops at the classic lambic breweries. Frank Boon, for example, ages his hops in the bale, limiting exposure to oxygen. Cheesy hops make cheesy beer."
 
Good to know. Now this begs the question: What is the correct way to age hops? To make things easier for people searching, I'm going to go ahead and start another thread on this topic.
 
You guys must have missed this thread. When I made that thread I had no idea anybody ever used aged hops. I still haven't opened that bag (BTW - it's only 1/2#)...a bit skeered.:D I put it back in the freezer. I'm not exactly sure of the best way to handle/store them once I open it so that's why I haven't. Those hops should be about 10 years old (scroll down...I posted pics).

So if they're bad they'll just stink really bad and 'I'll definitely know'...is that correct? If they're not bad I'd be willing to share...I just bought a couple of pounds from Puterbaugh so I've got a lot of hops right now.:)
 
I disagree. The traditional brewers of lambics would just use the low alpha hops then. Sure it can be done, but why not try to find the authentic hops.

they didn't even know what alpha acids were, let alone have access to a multitude of hop varieties.

even low alpha acid hops would add way too much bitterness at the quantities needed to ward off infections during spontaneous fermentation. if you are not spontaneously fermenting, you don't need the preservative effect.

i doubt that any contribution in terms of hop flavor would be perceptible in a properly aged lambic, as the yeast profile should absolutely dominate all other characteristics.

sure, if you have access to aged hops, go for it. but it's very hard to find properly aged hops unless you age them yourself, which is a noble goal. i'm simply trying to point out that it probably isn't worth worrying about if you can't get them.
 
they didn't even know what alpha acids were, let alone have access to a multitude of hop varieties.

even low alpha acid hops would add way too much bitterness at the quantities needed to ward off infections during spontaneous fermentation. if you are not spontaneously fermenting, you don't need the preservative effect.

i doubt that any contribution in terms of hop flavor would be perceptible in a properly aged lambic, as the yeast profile should absolutely dominate all other characteristics.

sure, if you have access to aged hops, go for it. but it's very hard to find properly aged hops unless you age them yourself, which is a noble goal. i'm simply trying to point out that it probably isn't worth worrying about if you can't get them.



No they didnt know what AAs were, but they also only brewed once, maybe twice per year as they knew during those specific times the right "bugs" would be floating in the air AND im betting they didnt have food savers thus their hops would have been sitting out and stale from the fall harvest when they brewed in the spring and then again in early fall.

There was a video on the shelton brothers website that followed the head brewer around at Cantillion for a brew day and he said they only brew druing certain times of the year. I can not find the video for the link though.

And you are right, if you can not get them then dont worry about it, but asking never hurts.
 
BUMP! I want aged hops. Anyone?!?!?!

I've got some sitting in the basement. But this rate it will 2 years until I drink my first lambic homebrew, and 3-4 years for a Gueze! Can't bear the thought!
 
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