Have my hops gone bad?

[SamInNJ]

I just brewed my second beer - a northern English brown and had some concerns about my hops from their aroma.

The first beer I brewed was an APA. When I opened the hop packets (simcoe) the aroma was strong, fresh and pleasent.

Tonight I opened east Kent goldings and fuggles. Both smelled less strongly than the simcoe and were very earthy/peaty. Seemed generally less pleasent.

All hops in both batches were pellets. They were all still green. Bought from the fridge at my lhbs and put directly into my fridge and not opened until they were going to be used.

I'm concerned that the hops were 'bad' in some fashion and are going to ruin my beer.

any insight hbt?

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Actually, your descriptions of the hops are pretty much spot on. Simcoe is a higher AA hops and has a fresher, stronger aroma and the English hops are earthier and less pungent with lower alpha acids. If they are all still green and you trust your LHBS, you should be fine.

 

[lumpher]

Aging hops usually start turning yellow. As long as they're still green, even if they're old, they may be weaker in AA, but are still good. They age very slowly while kept cold.

 

[unionrdr]

That's why I keep'em in the freezer in a ziplock freezer bag. They last a bit longer, as freezing slows down degradation the most.

 

[SamInNJ]

Thanks. I was slightly panicking about it. First time using english hops. :/

Will post how it turns out when I drink some

 

[mredge73]

How are you storing them?
Store them in a sealed container well below freezing and you should be fine.

My preferred method of storage is this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/cheap-and-easy-hop-storage.html

If you want to estimate your AA I built a handy spreadsheet that you can use:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1owBGBJq4QoTRcbAHfI7Vj-Wc5NcSQxIs9hhGRfQjxfI/edit?usp=sharing

Some hops hold up longer than others, most people will discard hops once they drop below 50% of their original AA.

 

[m00ps]

yeah, if your simcoe hops vs EKG and fuggles smelled remotely similar, I would question the quality of your simcoe or your entire general ability to sense things