Hops storage question. Are these still good?

Hey guys I do not know much about hops as everything that I have purchased thus far has been pellets in 1oz increments that I use right away.

How are hops supposed to be stored? (leaf hops not pellets)
How long can they keep if stored correctly?
How do you know if hops are spoiled? or do they spoil or just lose their potency?

My questions arise because my friend has a hop farm and gave a few pounds of hops to my father and he had been keeping them in the garage for about 4 months (without tell me he got them ) .... He just told me about them now and I was excited to use them until I received them and they are pressed into little 6inch by 6 inch bricks then wrapped in brown parchment paper... they are def not as pungent as the pellet hops I have used in the past, and I am figuring that they have been ruined

any input helps! thanks!!

Oxygen exposure and heat will degrade the potency. That said, try breaking one open, make some hop tea see what its like. If its still good, vacuum seal them if you can or freezer bag them and keep them as cold as possible till use.

hmm i will give that a try!

If you store the hops in the original vacuum sealed packages, they'll keep a long time, especially in the freezer. If you have a food-saver and reseal then after you open them, and pop them back in the freezer they'll also stay a very long time. I'm still using up some of the 2008 hops I bought. My freezer is FULL of hops- I have more than 156 ounces of hops in my freezer at this moment.

When you open them, smell them. If they smell good, and not "cheesy" or stale, they should be fine.

If the hops you have were dried properly, and frozen properly, they should be ok. But they should still be aromatic and "fresh" smelling. If they haven't been frozen, but just kept in a hot garage, they're probably not something you want to use.

yeah they have never been vacuum sealed and have just been in a hot garage..

they do smell like hops.... but not as pungent as others ive smelled.

i made a tea with some... like a handful to a cup of boiling water... and it barely tasted like anything but water...

oh well

4 pounds of hops to the dumpster

heiman5 said:

yeah they have never been vacuum sealed and have just been in a hot garage..

they do smell like hops.... but not as pungent as others ive smelled.

i made a tea with some... like a handful to a cup of boiling water... and it barely tasted like anything but water...

oh well

4 pounds of hops to the dumpster

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Bummer. But............NEXT year you can grab them, dry them yourself, vacuum seal them, freeze them, and use them!

will do! excited to see if he has anymore kinds too!

from this batch there was 1 pound each of nugget, willamette, cascades, and milleniums

woah i just tried to make tea with some milleniums (same amount as before) and it was so bitter it is barely drinkable