How long can hops last in the freezer and be good?

[Trippel-A]

A friend who used to brew a lot, but then stopped, sold me his carboys and gave me a bunch of other random stuff, including years old frozen hops from his freezer. They're all pellets and discs. How long can hops last in the freezer?

 

[nukebrewer]

Depends. How are they packaged? If they're still in their original oxygen barrier bags they'll be good almost indefinitely. If they're vacuum sealed, but not nitrogen flushed, they'll be good for a long while, but they will degrade slightly faster than if there were no oxygen present. Finally, if they're just in a bag without being vacuum sealed and/or nitrogen flushed, I wouldn't trust them past a year in the freezer. Even then, it's pushing it.

 

[Trippel-A]

Some are in original sealed packaging, some are not. Nothing has been vacuum repackaged. Some whole flower hops were there in a zip lock bag, but it had ice crystals inside. Those I threw away.

Can I tell anything about usefulness of the hops from smell?

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[runkelia]

If its been 1 year, you could assume at 20 degrees that the Alpha Acids have lost roughly 20% of their usefulness, ref. Designing Great Beers p. 89.

 

[Clann]

I bought 8lbs of whole hopsthat were cut from the bale. I divided them into 4oz portions in Ziploc bags 3 years ago. Still using them to this day. Been keep in the deep freezer the whole time. They still have good aroma and flavor. Not saying fresh wouldn't be alot better but just sharing my experience with hops in the freezer.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Time to make some sour beer-you need aged hops that have lost most of their bitterness, flavor, and aroma but still have the antibacterial/ antiseptic properties. I believe 2-3 years is ideal. And if you don't want to I promise someone on the lambic forums will take em off your hands!

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[nukebrewer]

If its been 1 year, you could assume at 20 degrees that the Alpha Acids have lost roughly 20% of their usefulness, ref. Designing Great Beers p. 89.

That's actually dependent on the variety of hop. You can find the data sheets for each variety by googling for them and they will tell you what the storage properties are.

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[Trippel-A]

Time to make some sour beer-you need aged hops that have lost most of their bitterness, flavor, and aroma but still have the antibacterial/ antiseptic properties. I believe 2-3 years is ideal. And if you don't want to I promise someone on the lambic forums will take em off your hands!

Ah! Excellent idea! We've been wanting to start a sour.

 

[TNGabe]

Regular frost free freezer is actually worse for hop storage than a refrigerator because of the repeated freezing and thawing. 2-3 years is in fridge, freezer, whatever is not sufficient to condsider the hops debittered, particularly if they are pellet hops. Pellet hops generally require 5-7 years at toom temp or above to be considered debittered, less if broken up.

 

[runkelia]

That's actually dependent on the variety of hop. You can find the data sheets for each variety by googling for them and they will tell you what the storage properties are.

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Which is why is said "roughly" and cited my source so that the OP could make his own informed decision. :cross:

 

[nukebrewer]

Which is why is said "roughly" and cited my source so that the OP could make his own informed decision. :cross:

Right, but a hop's storage index could be be as much as 50% and most hops have a storage index in 40% range so "roughly 20%" doesn't really mean much, which is why I wanted to point it out.

 

[ahurd110]

Regular frost free freezer is actually worse for hop storage than a refrigerator because of the repeated freezing and thawing. 2-3 years is in fridge, freezer, whatever is not sufficient to condsider the hops debittered, particularly if they are pellet hops. Pellet hops generally require 5-7 years at toom temp or above to be considered debittered, less if broken up.

Really? Do you have a source for this info? Not saying you're wrong, buy this contradicts everything I've ever heard regarding hop storage. It seems as long as the hops are kept dry there shouldn't be any negative consequences from deep freeze, only the benefit of slowed degradation.

 

[Trippel-A]

Really? Do you have a source for this info? Not saying you're wrong, buy this contradicts everything I've ever heard regarding hop storage. It seems as long as the hops are kept dry there shouldn't be any negative consequences from deep freeze, only the benefit of slowed degradation.

A frost free freezer (like on most home refrigerators) has regular defrost cycles that partially thaw everything. The humidity changes, too. It's most definitely not the same as a deep freeze.

 

[Trippel-A]

I was just looking at these today, and some of them are dated as part of the 1998 crop, processed and packed in 1999! I didn't realize that I was posting about antiques...

Anyhow, I'll ask the guy who gave me all these brewing oddments if they're all so old.

 

[RonPopeil]

according to LHBS if they're nitro packed then they can't really go bad. frozen nitro packs should last quite awhile.