Old ingredients--time to replace?

[interrobang]

Hi folks,

Right after I bought ingredients for a double IPA last March, my work schedule went crazy and I haven't been able to find the time to brew the damn thing. I think I'm finally about ready for brew day and I'm trying to determine if I should get new ingredients. All of the hops have remained in their original vacuum sealed packaging (and refrigerated) and some of the specialty grains are also in their original sealed bags. The base malts are of course in a regular plastic bag (unsealed). Most of the discussions of this topic on HBT revolve around hops that have been opened and then re-sealed (which is not my situation) so I wanted to make sure I didn't unnecessarily trash good hops.

What (if anything) can I keep and what should I discard?

Thanks!

 

[peterj]

The hops will be fine. Keeping them in the freezer would have been better, but I think they'll still be fine having been refrigerated and unopened.

Was the grain already milled? Where were you storing it? What was the temperature and humidity like? Cool and dry is best for grains. If they were unmilled then I would probably say they'll be fine. Milled might be a different story. Eat some of them and see if they taste good or if they're stale tasting or anything.

Did you get yeast in March? If it was liquid you probably need a new vial, but dry you would probably be fine.

 

[interrobang]

Thanks! I actually waited on getting yeast so thankfully no need to replace that. The grains were all stored in a cardboard box in our apartment in San Francisco so it should have been relatively cool. Still, I'll give it the old taste test to see if they're stale.

Regarding the hops, does it make sense to modestly increase the aggregate AA content over what I initially intended in case there has been any diminution in potency?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Likely it is fine, or "fresh enough". You could consider adding an additional couple ounces of fresh hops to the recipe for late addition or dry hopping "just in case".

 

[peterj]

Regarding the hops, does it make sense to modestly increase the aggregate AA content over what I initially intended in case there has been any diminution in potency?

Yeah, maybe. I've heard it said that the AA content decreases with age, but I don't know much about that topic. I haven't ever really looked into it so I have no idea how much you would want to increase it.

But, with this being a double IPA I would imagine you'll pretty much be maxing out the IBUs anyway (you can't physically get more than ~80-100 IBUs to dissolve into wort) so it might not be too big of a deal.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Hop degradation calculator linked below if you want to go through the effort. Looks like approx 15% loss figuring sealed hops in the fridge for 6 months....not a huge deal breaker IMHO....
http://brewerslog.appspot.com/HopAlphaCalc

 

[interrobang]

Thanks much!