Room Temperature Hop Pellets

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mattman91

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Like many of you, I took advantage of the great Yakima Valley Hops Black Friday deals. Unfortunately, when they were delivered, my wife and I were out of town (just got home). We have been having our neighbor get our mail, so they are currently at his house.

I totally forgot the hops were coming so I did not give him the heads up that they needed to be kept cold. The hops were delivered last Tuesday. Assuming they have been sitting in room temperature for about a week, is it safe to think they are ruined? Am I overreacting? It has been a while since I ordered YVH...does their packaging say to keep cold?
 
Let;s say your freezer is -4F (-20C). And your room temp is 68F (20C). Since staling, Aplha Acid loss, etc. are chemical processes, maybe apply the standard rule of thumb that they go twice as fast for each 10C increase in temperature. Since 20C is 40C (i.e. 4 x 10) higher than -20C...
2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16
3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 81

So, a week at room temp might be equivalent to somewhere between 16 and 81 weeks at freezer temp. 16 weeks would be no big deal. 81 weeks wouldn't be ideal, but my guess is they would be ok to use. What do they smell like?
 
The big danger, I think, is oxidation... Keeping them cold slows that down...

They should be sealed in a nitrogen flushed mylar bag... So as as long they were un opened they should be fine...

Definitely store them in the freezer after opening, though.
 
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Yakima Valley told me 4 years vacuum sealed and frozen. Scott Janish wrote in his IPA book that he had better luck letting some of the hops sit out. I'm sure less than a week at room temp is fine.
 
Anecdote: I found some hops growing wild in the spring. They had been out in the open from about September until April. They still smelled great. YMMV
 
Send them to me and I will dispose of them properly. Seriously though, you have nothing to worry about...it's not like they are yeast.
 
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