hops and age

[Darrin Smith]

I have a couple of bags of opened hops in the freezer inside a zip lock bag that are about 4months old.  What are they likely to do if I brewed them?  one is high alpha about 12% and other about 5%.  I want to use them for a Belgian strong ale.

[JoKing]

I'm glad you put those links I sent you to good use.

[Ian]

I am not experienced in the way the regulars on this forum are, but here's my penny's worth. I bought grain and hops well over a year ago (probably closer to two) and a boatbuilding project got in the way of brewing. Since the project was done I have brewed the two batches I had the ingredients for and the result is most satisfactory. I kept the hop pellets in plastic in the freezer all that time.

  I can't tell you what the difference in quality and efficiency would have been, only that the hoppiness of my ale doesn't seem to have been much compromised by the hops having been kept all that time.

[warra48]

My last brew used some Cascade hops from the 2007 vintage.

They've been kept in plastic bags, inside a tupperware type container, in the freezer.

They worked out just fine. The colour of the pellets was still green, just like fresh ones, and the aroma was much the same as fresh pellets.

My beer was bittered to 35 IBU, and the beer certainly reflects that.

 

For me, I don't make any adjustment for the age of my hops in BeerSmith, and just use them as if they are fresh ones. Seems to work just fine.

 

Off topic, but I now have some fresh home grown hops, donated by a fellow brewer. Will be using them soon for a late addition in a Golden Ale style brew.