Storing Hops?

The recipe I used used only 1 ounce of a two ounce bag. So I have an ounce left. I was able to re-vacuum pack the bag it came in using my food saver. The next time I will be able to brew will be 2 weeks. The question is will the hops make it? If so how should they be stored?

Cheers!!!

They'll be fine, just toss them in the freezer.

Freezing is best, but most hops will be good for months in the fridge or even room temperature. I tend to buy all of my hops for the year right after the harvest and freeze them.

Yah, freeze em, I still have over a pound of Hallertau in my freezer... they will last and last

When is the harvest?

Chris_Dog said:

When is the harvest?

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Late summer/early fall.

Many of the brewing softwares (ProMash, for example) will calculate the loss of your hops bittering potential based on storage time and conditions.

A couple examples of resulting apha acid levels, starting with 10% alpha whole hops:

Stored 3 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 0F (freezer): 9.7%
Stored 3 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 40F (fridge): 9.2%
Stored 3 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 65F (room): 8.5%
Stored 3 months, plastic bag, at 65F (room): 8.1%

Stored 6 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 0F (freezer): 9.4%
Stored 6 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 40F (fridge): 8.5%
Stored 6 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 65F (room): 7.3%
Stored 6 months, plastic bag, at 65F (room): 6.6%

Stored 12 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 0F (freezer): 8.8%
Stored 12 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 40F (fridge): 7.2%
Stored 12 months, barrier pack/airtight, at 65F (room): 5.3%
Stored 12 months, plastic bag, at 65F (room): 4.3%

Basically, you can estimate losing ~1% of your alpha per month under ideal storage conditions, roughly 2x that in the fridge, and 4x at room temp.

Nice, thank you!

The Pol said:

Yah, freeze em, I still have over a pound of Hallertau in my freezer... they will last and last

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Is that all????

I have over 3 lbs of Hallertau, 1 lb Cascade, 1 lb Fuggles, 1 lb Saaz, 1 lb kent East Goldings...and others...and I wil try my best to use them all before the year is out...

Yes, all frozen...