hiphops
Well-Known Member
I have a bunch of old hops that I've kept in the freezer in a ziplock. By old, I mean up to 6 - 9 months.
Are these usable for dry hopping or are they too old?
Are these usable for dry hopping or are they too old?
Dry Hopping With Old Hops Kept in the Freezer
- Thread starter hiphops
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They probably won't do you very well for dry hopping. I try to use my freshest hops for that and save the old ones for the bittering/long boil hops. But if you want to experiment...go for it.
boo boo
Well-Known Member
6 to 9 months old. Cripes, I use leaf hops stored in the freezer that are 2 + years old sometimes and win medals with them. Just have to adjust for AA loss for bittering... Beta acids keep better that Alpha acids so I would expect it to be better for dry hopping that bittering up to a point.
mkling
Well-Known Member
If there 6-9 months old, they are exactly the same age as any (Northern hemisphere) hops you'd buy anywhere. All 2010 hops were harvested last August-October -- there are no newer hops anywhere.
The only relevant issue is how these hops of yours are stored. Ziploc bags? Mason jar? Vacuum sealed bag?
The only relevant issue is how these hops of yours are stored. Ziploc bags? Mason jar? Vacuum sealed bag?
The OP said the hops are simply in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Dry hopping is about extracting the oils from the hops both for flavor and smell. Therefore logic would dictate that fresher is better. The hops will have to be adjusted for using in the boil because of age, but for dry hopping older doesn't mean better. I think Zymurgy has a nice article on dry hopping in the latest issue.
I agree 100% with Hammy. I have gotten very choosy with my hops. I believe the first thing to fade is it's aroma. Dry hopping is about aroma, so the freshest hop you have for this is ideal IMO.
Bittering is not so much an issue.
Bittering is not so much an issue.
boo boo
Well-Known Member
Excatly.
I agree the fresher the better, but the only real way to get fresh hops is to pick them yourself or get them as soon as they are available from the grower.
boo boo
Well-Known Member
Not going to agrue with you on this as I also agree. I switched from leaf to pellet due to the extended storage of pellet vs leaf. I personally found a huge flavour difference using pellet vs the leaf I used to buy.
I still have 2 year old hops to get rid of though and use them ( bitterness adjusted by software ) for now.
mkling
Well-Known Member
I absolutely agree with you (though I did miss the part about the ziploc). The point I was trying to make is that hops are only harvested one time a year, so to a great extent age is irrelevant. The harvest year matters, but if I have 2010 hops that have been in my freezer 2 months or 6 months, the amount of time in my freezer is relatively unimportant; they're all really the same age. How the hops are handled matters massively more than hop age. I've used 4 year old vacuum sealed hops that produced a lot of aroma in dry hopping.
But, to the OP, ziplocs aren't all that friendly to hops so you might have lost a decent amount of aroma from these hops.
I hear ya.... I guess I go with how old the hops are relative to how long I've had them. I vaccuum seal, so I treat the first ones I've opened as the oldest. (Though they may be the youngest....)
