Really Old Hops

[NickTheGreat]

Hello world!

I'm ready to re-enter the Homebrewing world after a 5 year hiatus. My girls are starting to be able to give me some free time. And I have some extra free time now, it seems.

I was cleaning out the beer/keg fridge to make keg space. And found I still have some hops from my last brews. So this stuff is at least 5 years old. I last brewed in March or April of 2015. I don't know the varieties off hand, but they are labeled clearly. Some Warrior, some Simcoe?, some Centennial, maybe some Amarillo? All pellets except one bag of Williamette leaves, which I assume aren't much good.

I've got my stuff bought for my two brews here sometime soon. So I'm good there. But do these hops have any value? They've been in the fridge at 39 degrees since then. in clear ziploc bags, the door being opened several times a week for 5 years.

I'm tempted to make another brew with some base malts, and toss it all in and see what happens. I did this once with some spices and made a fantastic BBQ rub that I could not duplicate!

Any advice is appreciated. Worst case, I waste some time and make a lousy beer. Or just toss out and waste $20 from 5 years ago.

 

[cmac62]

I'd say if they smell good they should work. I don't have any experience with hops that old, but again if they smell bad I'd guess they would be okay to use.

 

[bracconiere]

toss em in the boil...if it doesn't work, can always dry hop with fresh.....

 

[khannon]

If they smell OK, pop them in a paper bag and leave them for a while at room temp. Then make a sour with aged hops.

 

[Calder]

If they had been in a freezer and vacuum packed or in an inert gas, then I would say there were OK to use, just add extra to compensate for loss of oils. But in fridge temps in a ziplock bag ...... they are not going to be very good.

Sure, use them if they seem OK, but add the regular hops, and hope these give you something extra.

Simcoe has one of the better storage abilities. After 60 months at 40 F in a plastic bag, Beersmith says it loses 60% of it's alfa acids. Centennial looses more than 90%, Amarillo looses 75%.

 

[NickTheGreat]

LOL. Aged hops. I like it

I'm afraid to mess up these beers I've got planned. But I will try them in my next brew. I'm guessing that they'll add little to nothing to the beer.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

Make this recipe, but use Amarillo instead of Cascade. Depending on how much hops you have, maybe you can use twice as much to account for the age.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/foothills-hoppyum-ipa-clone.313705/

 

[mashpaddled]

If they smell ok I would use them. I have some fairly old hops going back to the early 2010s that have been in the freezer in ziploc bags the entire time. They work just fine and you would be hard pressed to taste the beer and say something seems off about them. At fridge temps I would be less confident in their quality but smell and decide for yourself.

 

[Ultryx]

If they smell okay then use them. The alpha acid (AA) levels will have decreased quite a bit, but they should remain usable.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Well I put some of these in the middle of my boil on Saturday, just a Pale Ale. Sure didn't smell or taste like much, so I'm guessing they'll add zero to the beer.

The beer is fermenting now, so time will tell!