Old hops, still usable?

[MakeMoreBeer]

I found a cache of old hops when I was cleaning out my brew closet and am not sure if they are still good to use. The hops are all vacuum sealed in foil and air-tight bags, but they are from 2007. Can I still use them in my homebrews or will they not have the flavor/aroma/bitterness anymore?
Cheers!

 

[PsiNyde]

If they were properly dried and vacuum sealed, they should be fine.

 

[JLem]

At what temp were they kept? The colder the better.

Oxygen and heat are the two biggest enemies of hop freshness. Kept vacuum sealed, preferably nitrogen-flushed, in the freezer, hops will last a while. However, even then hop flavor, aroma, and bittering all decrease over time. If they smell ok, you should use them for a flavor addition or even an aroma addition depending on how fresh they smell. You could use them for bittering , but the alpha acid level % will be lower than when they were fresh...after 6 years, it is probably considerably lower. There're are some online calculators out there to estimate the AA% of old hops if you want to go that route.

 

[Jmarsh544]

I believe that aroma and even flavor will slowly degrade over time. Being sealed, purged of O2 and frozen slows down the process significantly. With that being said, I would only use them for additions above 20 mins. Or for non-hoppy beers. It's just not worth the risk with all the time and effort it takes to brew a beer.

 

[MakeMoreBeer]

Awesome, thanks for all the info