Wine maker giving beer a try

[JonC]

I've made many wines and now want to give beer a try. I bought a kit thinking it would be easier for my first try. After reading the instructions, (which I will have to read again, seems kinda confusing) I realized that it says I should have put the hops in the freezer when I received it. I bought this kit almost 2 months ago. Its been sitting in the back room where I make wine and that room stays at 70 - 75 deg. Now I don't know if I should start this beer not knowing if I have ruined the hops by leaving it at room temp all this time. How can I tell if everything is still good.
Thanks

 

[Tett_paradise]

Everything is still good. I forgot about a NB chinook IPA kit in my closet for 5 months and it came out delicious.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The real killer for hops is the combination of warmth and oxygen. Keep them away from either one of those, through cold storage or vacuum pack and they'll decline at maybe 20% per year, whereas an open pack at room temperature can decline at anything up to 80% per year. Obviously the ideal is to have them sealed and cold, but you'll be fine, you'll make beer.

The real problem with kits is what happens beforey you buy them, you never quite know how long they've been sitting on the shelf. It's always worth having a sniff of hops (both the pack and after rubbing one in your fingers) to make sure they still smell "hoppy" and not "cheesy" which is a sign of oxidation that means they're "dead". But it's unlikely they will be at the cheesy stage unless you're very unlucky.

 

[JonC]

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and tossed it in the fridge and I'll probably give it a go next week.
Thanks again, I'll let ya know how it goes