eltorrente
Well-Known Member
Well, what do you know.. I found 3lbs of hops in the back of my freezer.
1lb Cascade Pellets
1lb Columbus Pellets
1lb Magnum Pellets
All of them I bought from Hops Direct in the fall of 2011, and they were the fresh 2011 harvest hops.
They are unopened and sealed, and have been in the freezer the entire time.
How viable are they? I've never used 2 year old hops before, and while I was excited to find them, I'm wondering how much they may have degraded - despite being sealed and frozen all this time.
Anyone have experience using hops this old?
I've been formulating a monstrous double IPA, and was thinking about altering the recipe for use with these hops. I was planning on using 2 ounces of Warrior for bittering, so Magnum would be a great substitute. Cascade and Columbus would work well together also - I'm just a little worried if they may have lost some flavor or degraded over all this time.
It probably wouldn't matter too much actually - since this recipe will have 8 ounces of flavor hops (1 ounce 10 mins, 1 ounce 5 mins, 2 ounces 2 mins, and 4 ounces after boil) - plus 6 ounces dry hops. I've never dry hopped with pellets, but maybe I'll give it a try.
1lb Cascade Pellets
1lb Columbus Pellets
1lb Magnum Pellets
All of them I bought from Hops Direct in the fall of 2011, and they were the fresh 2011 harvest hops.
They are unopened and sealed, and have been in the freezer the entire time.
How viable are they? I've never used 2 year old hops before, and while I was excited to find them, I'm wondering how much they may have degraded - despite being sealed and frozen all this time.
Anyone have experience using hops this old?
I've been formulating a monstrous double IPA, and was thinking about altering the recipe for use with these hops. I was planning on using 2 ounces of Warrior for bittering, so Magnum would be a great substitute. Cascade and Columbus would work well together also - I'm just a little worried if they may have lost some flavor or degraded over all this time.
It probably wouldn't matter too much actually - since this recipe will have 8 ounces of flavor hops (1 ounce 10 mins, 1 ounce 5 mins, 2 ounces 2 mins, and 4 ounces after boil) - plus 6 ounces dry hops. I've never dry hopped with pellets, but maybe I'll give it a try.
But seriously, If they are sealed and frozen I would use them. Should be fine.
