So I picked up my hops in 4oz packages and I'm brewing a Coffee Brown Ale so I don't need the whole packaged. I do have about 1.5 oz of Columbus and 1.5oz of Willamette left over from the boil. I have two thoughts in mind with the hops, one could be either throwing the Columbus on the malty lager I got from the Lakefront AHA rally and packaging the Willamette away. Or, I could package em both seperatly and tuck em away. I've got the freezer in my kegerator that stay chilled and out of light but I also want to make sure I can pack em safely to use at a later brew possibly in a few weeks. Thanks!
Hop Storage
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Suthrncomfrt1884
Well-Known Member
They'll be fine. Just seal them up good in a ziplock.
SumnerH
Well-Known Member
Yeah, even a few months isn't a big deal in the freezer.
Excellent! Thank you!
ThreeTaps
Well-Known Member
How long -would- be a big deal in the freezer? I've got about 1/2oz of Fuggles and 1oz of Willamette that's been in a ziplock in the freezer for probably 7 months now...is that too long?
Suthrncomfrt1884
Well-Known Member
Smell them. If they still smell like normal hops, they're probably okay. You'll know when they're bad. They get a real cheesey smell to them.
ThreeTaps
Well-Known Member
Mmmm...cheese...I may be on to something here: HamHop Sandwich (hops aged to cheesey perfection). I'll sell it for $12.99 as a specialty food item!
SumnerH
Well-Known Member
Short answer: Willamette and Fuggles both have a 37% HSI. After 6 months in a ziplock bag in the freezer, they'll lose about 12% of their alpha acids (e.g. going from 5% AA to 4.4%).
Long answer:
Hops are rated with an HSI, which is the AA% they'd lose in 6 months of storage at 68F in an open (not vacuum-sealed) environment. Typical values are in the 15-50% range.
A 25% HSI hop that's 8% AA would be at 6% AA after 6 months sitting in an unsealed paper bag on the kitchen counter.
For every 27 degrees Farenheit that you lower the temperature, aging is cut in half. So in a fridge that's 35F, you'd expect the same 8% AA hops to be down to about 7.2% AA after 6 months.
A zip-lock bag or vacuum sealing will reduce the AA loss even more.
http://brewerslair.com/index.php?p=brewhouse&d=calculators&id=cal16&u=eng can do the calculation for you.
