Yakima Hops

[JONNYROTTEN]

I've bought hops from just about everywhere and Yakima always seems to smell the best..There the only hops I feel like I could eat out of the bag they smell so good.

After placing an order the other day and calling about a tracking number I asked a few questions.
I said " while placing the order I noticed hops for sale from 2015 for less money. I didn't buy them thinking they were old and loosing AA and wouldn't be as fresh" She said all there hops are guaranteed for 4 years to be as fresh as the day they were packaged. She also said they use NON nitrogen flushed bags. I have no way of knowing but I suspect they're not stored frozen.

My question is...is this possible? Are we overthinking hop shelf life? I realize its a business and they're pushing there product as "the best" but 4 year shelf life in a non nitrogen flushed bag GUARANTEED is a pretty bold statement...then again they sell hops for a living and would know

 

[Homercidal]

Well on the one hand they sell hops for a living, but on the other hand they SELL hops for a living.

I think it's great to pose the question here because while you would like to think you can trust every business out there, they would be dumb to not want to sell all of every years of production if they can. I am not sure of the answer, but I can say that I've recently used 2016 hops from YCH with no difference in quality that I can detect. That's not the same, I realize, but it seems to be in line with every other time I've used older un-opened hops.

I do advise not using old hops if they have been opened and not sealed properly. I've had a fairly noticeable "Cheese" aroma from a package of hops once. I even had them stored in the freezer, but at half a year since opening, it was strong enough that I didn't end up using them.

 

[brew703]

I've bought 2015 hops from Yakima and they smelled as fresh as current years hops. I usually vac seal all my hops once opened and store in a freezer. So far, never had any issues.
I also found a few 4 oz packs that I got from Farmhouse that I used and didn't vac seal. they were rolled up tight with a rubber band and they still smell great.

 

[Totally]

This experiment touches on the idea of old hops that were properly stored, much older than the ones you are referring to but I would suspect that Yakima keeps their hops stored well.

http://brulosophy.com/2015/09/28/the-impact-of-age-hops-exbeeriment-results/

 

[Weezy]

I definitely have an unopened YVH from 2014 in the freezer. Might even be 2013 crop. Willamette or motueka or UK Fuggles...I forget. 8oz bag. Might be time for a smell test and SMASH brew. If it's something common I could go get some new stuff from the LHBS to compare to.

Regardless, yes you'll get some AA degradation and spoiling of oils but, like Homercidal said, you really should smell every bag you open to make sure it smells like it should before you use it.

To add to that. I wouldn't/won't bother brewing two beers with new versus old hops. The smell test is enough to show enough difference between the two. It might show some different level of aromatics between the two. That's all you need to test for. That aroma difference would transfer over to the beer as well.. but really it's either still Fuggles or it's cheese and cardboard

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, YVH has 2022 Citra T90 pellets on sale at $12.75 a pound, making it about the cheapest hops they sell right now.
Cheaper than Chinook and hella cheaper than Amarillo!

Cheers!

 

[Rodent]

I'm hoping to drop by their hybridizing and propagation center sometime in the next month or two. would make a great part time work location for when retirement arrives, even if it's just pushing a broom and watering seedlings