How to properly age hops

From the discussion in the "aged hop donation" thread, I decided to start this. I have no experience in this, so those who know please chime in.

Here is what I have gathered from reading and the other thread:

According to Jeff Sparrow (author of Wild Brews), cheesy hops are in fact NOT good for lambic or wild brews.

While using a low AA% hop will work, we are all about replicating they style, so lets keep this on how to properly age them, not about if you really need them.

I have some 07 Halletaur in my freezer.... how should I go about aging them down?

Lambic breweries just leave them in their attic for 3 years...

I'm interested in this as well. I have some older hops I've stored in freezer vacuum packed that I wouldn't mind trying to start aging.

I suspect for ideal aging they need to be exposed to oxygen, so maybe putting them in a paper bag and tossing them around regularly

I've got some old window screens I used to dry out my homegrown hops. I wonder if spreading them out on one and leaving it in the rafters of my garage for a while would be ideal.

I really need to pick up Wild Brews sometime. I think I've got an amazon gift card sitting around somewhere

Edit: Did some googling and found some info
http://belgianstyle.com/mmguide/brew/hops.html

I asked an instructor from the American Brewers Guild about aging hops once during a weekend Brewing Science for the Advanced Homebrewer seminar. Although planning ahead is always a good idea, three years ahead is pretty challenging. He told me very confidently that sticking them in a 150 degree oven for 1 hour would do the same thing years of aging would. The book USING HOPS by Mark Garetz from HOPTECH suggests this process might take closer to 12 hours - but it still beats 3 years!

Click to expand...

I have some styrian goldings that I have had in the freezer for about a year and I have really been thinking of brewing up some funk (a flanders). I think that I have read some where about ageing them in a paper bag and to keep them at room temp, but Im really looking forward to any better ideas. I have the hops and the time.

i am going to put some hallatauer in a paper bag in my crawl space. I don't have an attic unfortunately.

I'm told this works fine (Jamil Show). I'm curious if there are any tricks to getting passed, or altogether avoiding that 'cheesy stage'.

I know you don't use cheesy hops, but they're likely to get a little funky before they truly age.

I'll update on my success/failure. But it might take a year!

Yeah just leave them in your attic for a year...

alright. yesterday i put 4 ozs (mix of old centennial, fuggle and magnum) in the cellar in 2 paper bags. I will revist them next May when I try to make my first lambic.

As a side-note, aged hops (complete loss of flavor and aroma while still retaining preservative qualities) are only appropriate in a lambic, not in a Flanders Red/Oud Bruin/Flanders Pale.

ok, im on vacation, but since this thread is active..... how much do you need for 5 gallons of lambic? just want to make sure I have enough. then again.... i cant set more aside, until i get back anyways. and I could check a recipe then

here's a great article by Steve Piatz, a well-regarded lambic homebrewer.

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Beer Styles - Lambic Brewing

his 5 gallon recipe calls for 3 oz.

I think the amount is somewhat 'negotiable' as you don't get many IBUs if any at all - its really just for the anti-bacterial effects. You could probably get away with 2 oz, and it probably wouldn't kill you if you used 4oz.

For reference Jamil's lambic recipe in brewing classic styles calls for 3 oz too, but it's very much based on Steve's recipe, and that is explicit.

I put 3oz of Fuggles in a paper bag in my attic here in the Florida heat 3-weeks to a month ago.
I shook them up a few times.
When I got them out to brew today, they have no aroma at all. Not cheesy, not hoppy.
I haven't decided if I should use all 3oz or not.

If I have a 2019 hallertau Mittelfruh (3.8%AA) in the freezer, how much time should it take me to use them ase aged hops? Im planning a kind of a wild brew this next week. they al already a lilttle cheesy

Aged hops are typically stored at room temp, and open to the air. This is how they oxidize. If yours are 2019 (relatively fresh) and have been stored sealed and in the freezer, their AAs likely haven't degraded that much. I'd take them out, open up the bag and leave them somewhere for a year or two.

Wait - 2019 stored frozen Mittelfruh that already have a cheesy aroma? Wth??

My best advice is don't age pellets unless you're patient or you pulverize them, it's actually quite easy to find old whole leaf hops. If you have some pro friends, you can mention you're looking for any whole cone hops that got too old for them to use. I've offered to pay but they always end up giving them for free since they are truly value free and it's usually just a 1lb bag, or maybe a 4lb. 1lb is enough to make about 1 bbl (31 gallons), so that goes a long ways.

I just put mine in a paper bag or burlap coffee sack (I roast coffee so these come easy), hit it with a bamboo skewer like I'm patrick bateman passing a homeless man. Every couple months as I'm doing my sour maintenance I'll give the bag a shake to make sure everything is getting oxygen exposure. I don't want to bother testing the AA% so I give them a full two years, or more if possible.

T-90 pellets don't get great oxygen exposure inside the pellet, or at the very least it's an inconsistent process like a rare steak, so you probably want to pulverize or turn into powder... which is not fun because hops are resinous! And even then, you have to lay it out fairly thin. Pellets just don't work as well as whole cone.

PS - @day_trippr your avatar reminds me of Oxbow's Wild Rivulet!