Amarillo hops ruined!?

[BullGator]

So I bought 3lbs of Amarillo hops a few months ago and had them in a friends freezer. Well, he put an oil based paint roller in there and now I smell a petroleum smell when I smell in the bag. They shipped the hops in a bag that was only twist tied close. I was eventually going to vacuum seal them but I hadn't gotten to it yet. So are they ruined?

I am thinking of letting them sit out over night to help release some gases. Then tomorrow, vacuum seal them and freeze them. At some point I will boil an ounce on the stovetop and taste. I might cold steep some and taste as well.

Any thoughts?

 

[BullGator]

Here's a pic.

 

[bottlebomber]

Not good. They may or may not be ok, you'll have to get them away from the paint any find out later. I don't recommend airing them out, that's not going to change the problem. Just separate them and smell them in a few days. And if they are ruined make your buddy buy more.

 

[logan3825]

If you can find a place that will sell 3lbs.

 

[E-Mursed]

Any thoughts?

Yeah....three.

1. Buy your hops from a better supplier.
2. Get your own freezer for storing hops.
3. Get you friend some help for his paint sniffing addiction.

 

[bottlebomber]

Yeah....three.

1. Buy your hops from a better supplier.

This. That's the worst packing job I've ever seen.

 

[badlee]

Im with bottlebomber on that.
Sir, I shall hold a wake for you dearly departed Amarillo!

 

[Chug]

Mind if I ask what supplier in their right mind would distribute hops packaged in such an absent minded manner? I'd hate to buy from them in my future purchases. But yeah, I'd definitely consider those a loss.

 

[lumpher]

ouch. coincidince i'm listening to "It only hurts me when I cry" right now? maybe not...

 

[BigRob]

I'll just say not to bother. Had some "helpful" cooks DIY fix a freezer with construction adhesive, and then put all the food back into it. Threw out a bunch of crap a week later when we realized everything was permeated with that oily solventy smell/aroma/taste.

 

[TahoeRy]

Placed a used paint roller in a freezer? Ha ha. Are you serious? Why would anybody in there right mind put a used paint roller in a freezer. Was he drunk or on something? I'd be pissed off and make some tweeker comments to any friend who did that. Word of advice, Never store your hops with a person who has any chance of stashing a used paint roller in the freezer.

 

[bottlebomber]

Placed a used paint roller in a freezer? Ha ha. Are you serious? Why would anybody in there right mind put a used paint roller in a freezer. Was he drunk or on something? I'd be pissed off and make some tweeker comments to any friend who did that. Word of advice, Never store your hops with a person who has any chance of stashing a used paint roller in the freezer.

It's pretty common if you plan on painting again later..

 

[BullGator]

Mind if I ask what supplier in their right mind would distribute hops packaged in such an absent minded manner? I'd hate to buy from them in my future purchases. But yeah, I'd definitely consider those a loss.

The bag they are in now is a trash bag that we transferred them to because we thought the original bag my have absorbed the solvent/oil smell. But the original bag wasn't much better. They came twist tied close so no vacuum seal. I thought that was strange myself. When I first heard he did it I never thought this would be a problem because I thought they would be sealed (they shipped right to his house so I haven't seen them until now). The hops were from Freshop.com. I've ordered from them before and each pound was sealed separately. But this time, they dumped all 3 lbs in one big bag.

So basically I'm screwed? I'm still going to try boil and taste just to make sure. I won't be able to throw out 3lbs of Amarillo until I try every last thing? Any other suggestions?

 

[TahoeRy]

Really, why does putting the roller in the freezer allow you to reuse it? I usually clean mine really good and dry it overnight. I would be worried that exactly what happened to your hops would happen to meat, ice and anything else in there. Still sounds pretty weird.

 

[guldalian]

Seriously. Wrap the roller up tight in a plastic bag. Done.

 

[BridgeBrew]

Bullgator just make a small one gallon batch or steep the hops and make a hop tea and see if you can taste or smell that nasty aroma. Make sure your palate is clear of the smell before you sample so you arent biased. What a bummer man.....

 

[bottlebomber]

Really, why does putting the roller in the freezer allow you to reuse it? I usually clean mine really good and dry it overnight. I would be worried that exactly what happened to your hops would happen to meat, ice and anything else in there. Still sounds pretty weird.

It's not weird if you don't want to waste a few ounces of paint saturating your roller again. For reals, a lot of people do this.

Seriously. Wrap the roller up tight in a plastic bag. Done.

I'm guessing he did that, and then put it in the freezer.

 

[nutty_gnome]

Yeah, i do this with rollers and brushes. Also tubes of caulk. It makes picking up a half finished job that much easier and faster.

Too bad about the hops though.

 

[BullGator]

Right before I vacuumed sealed them I smelled them and the strong oil smell has subdued to barely noticeable. But that strong hop aroma was also low probably because they set out all night. There might be some hope though.

Not sure when I'll be able to boil some and taste but I'll report back with the results. May be a few months as I'm in the middle of a move.

 

[TahoeRy]

Wow. I hope your hops are ok. That's one of those things that made no sense at all but if people do it, please keep the rollers away from the hops!! Good luck!! I hope they are still good.

 

[BullGator]

If anybody cares I ended up throwing them out. The 2013 crop came along and I couldn't justify the time to see if these were any good.

 

[BreezyBrew]

Probably what I'd do too. However, my experience with the 2013s is they taste kind of odd even when fresh. May just be one farm though, who knows. Let me know how the beer turns out with the new hops.

 

[BrewWNC]

I had a somewhat similar incident happen. I'll spare you the details. Bottom line is I had a bunch of homegrown hops that smelled like chemicals.

I didn't dump them and have used them multiple times with no problem (even got a 32 at a comp using them). The smell eventually subsided and the smell was never apparent in any of the beers the hops were used in.

People worry about a paint smell but ingest harmful chemicals daily through water, food, medicine, ...I just don't get it.