Storing leaf hops

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fsinger

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I just purchased four pounds of leaf hops (4 varieties) from a hop grower in my state. I've used the little 1-oz packages for brewing, but these are HUGE 1-pound sealed packages. Each is about the size of a pillow.

I'm making the standard 5-gal quantities, and want to store these darned things to use over the next year or so. Should I freeze them??

My thought would be to re-package into smaller bags and freeze, but maybe that will screw the aroma, etc. I'd like to keep them for a year or more worth of brewing as long as they stay fresh enough to use. I'll never, EVER use all of these hops - seemed like a good idea until I saw how much you can buy for around $25 or so from a grower. Amazing - I've got about 10 years' supply at the rate I brew.

Thanks for any input.
 
fsinger said:
I just purchased four pounds of leaf hops (4 varieties) from a hop grower in my state. I've used the little 1-oz packages for brewing, but these are HUGE 1-pound sealed packages. Each is about the size of a pillow.

I'm making the standard 5-gal quantities, and want to store these darned things to use over the next year or so. Should I freeze them??

My thought would be to re-package into smaller bags and freeze, but maybe that will screw the aroma, etc. I'd like to keep them for a year or more worth of brewing as long as they stay fresh enough to use. I'll never, EVER use all of these hops - seemed like a good idea until I saw how much you can buy for around $25 or so from a grower. Amazing - I've got about 10 years' supply at the rate I brew.

Thanks for any input.


You can definitely freeze them--in fact that is recommended. If you separate them and put them in smaller bags, make sure its airtight. A regular ziplock won't do the trick, it'll have to be vacuum sealed to preserve the flavors/aromas, and especially to keep moisture out.
HTH.

BTW, I wish I had a hop grower near my house. That sounds awesome.
If you don't mind me asking, who was it, and do you know if they ship?
 
I purchased a vacuum sealer. Works great :) I've heard that freezing whole hops can damage them and that refrigeration is best. I haven't the experience to back this up, just something you may want to get more opinions on.
 
Actually, the farm has a website, and they are very professional. I got the hops the next day as promised, all sealed and marked as to variety, etc. I just went thru their website for Puterbaugh Farms at www.hopsdirect.com

They sell all kinds of hops, most they grow there, but I guess they must import some. All are around $4.50 to 6.00 per POUND! They charged me $6 to process and ship, I can't complain at that price. I have years and years worth! Let me know how it works for you. Oh, they also sell pelletized hops

Leaf Hops

Bullion Leaf Hops
A/A 9.4%
Cascade Leaf Hops
A/A 4.4-5.7%
Chinook Leaf Hops
A/A 13.1%
Cluster Leaf Hops
A/A 6.8%
Columbus Leaf Hops
A/A 12 - 16.6%
Crystal Hop Leaf
A/A 3/1%
East Kent Golding Leaf Hops
A/A 5.0%
Fuggle Leaf Hops
A/A 4.0%
Galena Leaf Hops
A/A 13.2%
Hallertau Leaf Hops
A/A 2.8%
Liberty Leaf Hops
A/A 4.1%
Magnum (GR) Leaf Hops
A/A 15.1%
Mt. Hood Leaf Hops
A/A 4.4%
Northern Brewer Leaf Hops
A/A 7.5-7.6%
Nugget Leaf Hops
A/A 15%
Perle Leaf Hops
A/A 8.5%
Willamette Leaf Hops
A/A 3.9-6.7%
 
Freezing is your best option. Also, I see a vacuum sealer in your future. A great upside on vacuum sealing, besides preserving, is that it will compress them down to about 1/4 of their original size. Removing air and reducing the temperature are the only two methods that we have available to preserve hops, especially whole hops. Additionally, if you got these in April, they are already at least 6 months old. Hops are only harvested once a year in late August/early September. Better get brewing!

Prosit,
 
DyerNeedOfBeer said:
I purchased a vacuum sealer. Works great :) I've heard that freezing whole hops can damage them and that refrigeration is best. I haven't the experience to back this up, just something you may want to get more opinions on.


I've read both things, that freezing is best, AND that it can damage the lupin sacs and destroy the hops. I went with what I thought was best and bought a foodsaver vacuum sealer and put them in sealed bags, and froze them. It worked AWESOME so far. The bags are compressed really nice. I just brewed a batch with the frozen hops and it seemed to turn out fine. We'll see in another few weeks when this is done conditioning. ;)
 
folks close to each other could certainly still score.

i would not need more than say 8oz of any one of those...who wants to trade halves?

ill buy 2lbs, you buy 2 lbs, and we will just trade half a lb of each.
@ 30/lb that works out to a $1.88 an oz, still cheaper than $4.50 an oz... maybe after all the shipping around it would not be cost effective

ohh well. about all i can use a lb of is cascade :(
 
I read this one too, saw the pirce, clicked the link, even tho I was on their site last night. Got me excited. That didn't last long. Bummer.
 
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