Using less than fresh hops for dry hopping?

I was in the process of making an IPA when I had a terrible stuck mash. I tried to recover it but long story short after my second failed attempt I tried to dump the contents of the igloo cooler mash tun into 5gal buckets and ended up with it all over my shirt. I had already prepared my hop additions and they were open at room temp. When I finally made the IPA a few days later I didn't want to use the hops I had originally intended to use because I've been disappointed with how much hop character I've been getting so I didn't want to wonder if it was the way I had handled the hops.

So, all that said, what I'm wondering is if it would be okay to use the hops that I had open for dry hopping? I order bulk hops from hops direct and split them up using mason jars and an adapter for a foodsaver to vacuum seal them in 2-4oz portions. So I have 3oz in a jar that I didn't re-vacuum seal and put back in a fridge, not a freezer. They've been that way for 2.5 weeks.

Good to go? Thanks in advance for giving me a little piece of mind. This is my first time dry-hopping.

If you buy "fresh hops" in August, they're 11 months old (or more).
I'd go ahead and use those hops and never look back...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

If you buy "fresh hops" in August, they're 11 months old (or more).
I'd go ahead and use those hops and never look back...

Cheers!

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So I guess the question is, hops lose their ability to bitter before they lose their flavor or aroma? I should still get good aroma out of these not so fresh hops that were not so fresh to begin with?

I was only going to use 2oz, but ended up adding the additional 3oz of already opened hops. So for 10 gal of 6.5% IPA with estimated IBUs of 110, I'm using 5oz of 6.4% cascade hops to dry-hop.

If in doubt, use more hops just like you were planning on =)

Gameface said:

So I guess the question is, hops lose their ability to bitter before they lose their flavor or aroma? I should still get good aroma out of these not so fresh hops that were not so fresh to begin with?[...]

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Generally, as hops oxidize, the aroma character turns decidedly unpleasant at a certain point, discouraging one from discovering whether the flavor characters are equally affected. But I would think the bittering components would persist...

Cheers!

It seems as though you're removing most of the oxygen with the food saver attachment so I would think oxidation wouldn't be a huge issue. I do almost the same thing however I flush the jar with CO2 while filling it with hops and then quickly use the attachment. In my mind I think at that point what I'm really extracting from the jar would be Co2 and there should only be small amounts of Co2 left. I have had excellent results with this method. Long and short of it is... Go ahead and use them if your nervous use a little more.

Check my sig to see the (approximate) affect a couple weeks in a fridge w/ o2 on them for the variety you have.