Using 2 Year Old Pellet Hops - Frozen and Vac Sealed?

Any drawback to using these 2 year old pellet hops I have found in my freezer - if I can calculate the lost AA% using beersmith? (which I can!)

Found 8oz. (8, one ounce vacuum sealed pouches) of hops - 2 each of nugget, columbus, cascade, and pearle.

Amazingly when I threw these into the beersmith "hops age" calculator, some of them haven't lost that much being vac sealed and frozen. I ran the calcs at 25F (which freezer is actually colder) and while the cascade would have dropped from 6.9% to 4.3%, the pearle would supposedly only drop from 7.8% to 7% - i guess they are less "volatile".

They still appear green, didn't open any to see aroma, but just curious if I should use these, or just toss them and buy new hops. I really don't want to spend 5-6 hours brewing and have a lifeless pale ale with no ibu and low hop aroma...

I've used 2 year old hops that were properly stored without any issue at all. When you go to use them, give them the sniff test to make sure they still smell great. If they've lost aroma, or smell cheesy, toss them.

Actually, some of my "newer" hops are nearly two years old, come to think of it. Last fall, hopsdirect had a big sale on their 2008 hops. So, I bought about 5-6 pounds. They came in great vacuum sealed bags, and I separated them and used a food saver and stuck them in the freezer. I bought both leaf and pellet hops. Technically, they are nearly two years old and they are perfect!

YooperBrew said:

I've used 2 year old hops that were properly stored without any issue at all. When you go to use them, give them the sniff test to make sure they still smell great. If they've lost aroma, or smell cheesy, toss them.

Actually, some of my "newer" hops are nearly two years old, come to think of it. Last fall, hopsdirect had a big sale on their 2008 hops. So, I bought about 5-6 pounds. They came in great vacuum sealed bags, and I separated them and used a food saver and stuck them in the freezer. I bought both leaf and pellet hops. Technically, they are nearly two years old and they are perfect!

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Awesome, I was looking for some first hand experience, and looks like I got it!

I never thought about people buying in bulk might not use them that quickly.

I will give them the sniff test and roll with them if good. Any thoughts on the lost AA% calc that Beersmith runs perhaps?

RoaringBrewer said:

I will give them the sniff test and roll with them if good. Any thoughts on the lost AA% calc that Beersmith runs perhaps?

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Oh, you know me. I always have thoughts on everything................

Two things come to mind. One is that even though some hops are known to lose more AAUs with time, I've never had it noticeable. I just use the same amount, with good results.

I was talking to Reverand JC last summer and he calculated the lower AAUs of older hops for his commercial brewery. He was wrong- the beer was much more bitter than he planned! He said something like, "I guess the hops didn't lose as much AAUs as I calculated. I would have been better off to just use the regular amount".

I guess the moral of that story is that- there really isn't any way to be sure. Assuming that "normal storage" reduces the AAUs is probably good practice but in the freezer and vacuum packed I don't think it loses as much as Beersmith assumes. Even if it does lose some, I don't know how many IBUs would be discernible anyway. I know I can't tell the difference between 45 IBUs and 50 IBUs, all things being equal.

YooperBrew said:

Oh, you know me. I always have thoughts on everything................

Two things come to mind. One is that even though some hops are known to lose more AAUs with time, I've never had it noticeable. I just use the same amount, with good results.

I was talking to Reverand JC last summer and he calculated the lower AAUs of older hops for his commercial brewery. He was wrong- the beer was much more bitter than he planned! He said something like, "I guess the hops didn't lose as much AAUs as I calculated. I would have been better off to just use the regular amount".

I guess the moral of that story is that- there really isn't any way to be sure. Assuming that "normal storage" reduces the AAUs is probably good practice but in the freezer and vacuum packed I don't think it loses as much as Beersmith assumes. Even if it does lose some, I don't know how many IBUs would be discernible anyway. I know I can't tell the difference between 45 IBUs and 50 IBUs, all things being equal.

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Yeah, I figured it was a crapshoot whether I used the normal amount at original AAU or the revised amount per Beersmith.

Surprisingly the nugget and pearle barely lost any per the calcs. I think the nugget went from 13.2% to 12.0% or something and the Pearle from 7.8% to 7% per Beersmith. The Columbus and Cascade they had more loss - from 10% to 7.1% and from 6.9% to 4.3%.

My plan was to use the Pearle to bitter the pale ale since it is relatively stable, and use the columbus and cascade primarily at 15 and 5 minutes, so the IBU not impacted much either way...

RoaringBrewer said:

Yeah, I figured it was a crapshoot whether I used the normal amount at original AAU or the revised amount per Beersmith.

Surprisingly the nugget and pearle barely lost any per the calcs. I think the nugget went from 13.2% to 12.0% or something and the Pearle from 7.8% to 7% per Beersmith. The Columbus and Cascade they had more loss - from 10% to 8% and from 6.9% to 5.2%.

My plan was to use the Pearle to bitter the pale ale since it is relatively stable, and use the columbus and cascade primarily at 15 and 5 minutes, so the IBU not impacted much either way...

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Sounds like a good plan..............that's probably what I'd do.

I wonder about the difference in the losses. If you look, some varieties experience 50% loss, some 10% loss, etc. Different hops have different storage properties. Perhaps high AAU hops have more preservative qualities? Just a guess but I'm guessing that a low AAU noble hop variety will lose more than warrior, for example.

YooperBrew said:

Sounds like a good plan..............that's probably what I'd do.

I wonder about the difference in the losses. If you look, some varieties experience 50% loss, some 10% loss, etc. Different hops have different storage properties. Perhaps high AAU hops have more preservative qualities? Just a guess but I'm guessing that a low AAU noble hop variety will lose more than warrior, for example.

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I only looked at the hops I was messing with. Appeared the american C-hops lost 50%... while the Pearle was only at 15% loss... definitely different properties, but not sure if high AAU versus low is generally a trend.

Anyway, here is the recipe I was going to shoot for if you have any comments on that. Hop AAU is based on the loss amount. Doing a partial mash to ease back in, plus its a little quicker (doing a stovetop mash instead of breaking out all my igloos, etc) and I'm busy this week:

5.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 67.80 %
2.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 27.12 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3.39 %
0.125 lb (2oz) Special Roast (50.0 SRM) Grain 1.69 %
0.75 oz Pearle [7.00 %] (60 min) Hops 18.7 IBU
0.25 oz Pearle [7.00 %] (30 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [4.30 %] (15 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [7.10 %] (15 min) Hops 3.1 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [4.30 %] (5 min) Hops 1.5 IBU
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [7.10 %] (5 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale