help with old hops brew

[CliffMongoloid]

Morning,

I would like to use some older hops i have up. I have at least a half pound of nugget and fuggle. About 2 years old and have always been in the freezer in zip lock bags.

Can i make a brew with these? or should i toss? anybody care to provide a recipie for kicks?

Thanks

 

[lostcheesehead]

Let them thaw and give them a sniff. If they smell like something you'd want to drink then go ahead and use them. If they smell like cheese, they've already gone to the big hop trellis in the sky, so don't feel bad about dumping them.

If you do wind up using them, I know BeerSmith has a calculator to estimate effective alpha acids, and I am sure there are others out there.

 

[TheCanisDirus]

If they've been out of their sealed mylar bags and just in a ziploc in the freezer... they'll be toast. Sounds like you'll be brewing a lambic in the near future. But seriously... if they're past the funky cheese state then they're perfect for a lambic! I say go for it!

https://byo.com/stories/item/975-lambic-brewing

 

[CliffMongoloid]

yea im prolly gonna toss them

thanks

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I brew a "fire sale stout" every year with the previous years harvest. Whatever is left in the freezer gets put in the brew. It's a delicious way to stay on top of inventory :-D

 

[CliffMongoloid]

I brew a "fire sale stout" every year with the previous years harvest. Whatever is left in the freezer gets put in the brew. It's a delicious way to stay on top of inventory :-D

recipie?

 

[johngaltsmotor]

Brewtoad is a pain to get recipes out of so the formatting is bad, but... Here is the recipe I used last fall to clean out 2012 hops before freezing 2013 harvest. Nugget and Zeus are real similar so as long as the hops have some life left (i would think) you should be ok.

Efficiency: 75.0% Batch size: 5.5 gal
Bairds Maris Otter 17.0 lb
Briess Black Barley 1.3 lb
Dingemans Special B® MD™ 1.0 lb
Briess Chocolate Malt 1.0 lb
Weyermann® CARAMUNICH® I 0.5 lb
Briess Rye Malt 0.5 lb
Simpson's Roasted Barley 0.2 lb

Hops Boil time: 90 min
Zeus (US) 2.0 oz 90 min First Wort Leaf 7.8%
Nugget (US) 1.5 oz 60 min Boil Leaf 9.8%
Zeus (US) 1.0 oz 45 min Boil Leaf 7.8%
Nugget (US) 1.5 oz 30 min Boil Leaf 9.8%
Zeus (US) 1.0 oz 15 min Boil Leaf 7.8%
Nugget (US) 2.0 oz 5 min Boil Leaf 9.8%
Zeus (US) 2.0 oz 1 min Boil Leaf 7.8%

Yeasts
Safale US-05 Fermentis US-05 70.0%

Mash 156.0 °F 60 min