Brew UK Forum | General Brewing Discussions
Hop Stability - Does anyone bother?
Hey peeps,
Well Ive been a geek and inventoried all me bits n bobs and chucked some stuff that was uber old and its got me wondering about hop stability. So basically depending on storage conditions hops loose there bittering properties bit by bit. Does anyone adjust for this? Its quite amazing as some of my hops may have lost 20-30% of their bitterness.
Just thought I would get peoples opinions!
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Member
It's something I've thought about but never done. I keep my hops as airtight as possible (opened bags) and in the freezer. Is there a chart that shows how different hops behave over time in these conditions?
A good excuse to up the hops in every brew though, just to be on the safe side!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
I don't tend to but to be honest I don't tend to use hops which are very old.
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
http://brewerslair.com/index.php?p=brewhouse&d=calculators&id=cal16&u=si - Ive just found this calc and seems like a good place to start. I am going to use some willamette that I used for tonys twibute.
They are 196 days old stored at 13c in a cable tied sealed but not oxygen free bag = was 6.7 aa now 4.96!
As I only brew when weather, kids, wife and life dictates I tend to keep my hops (and the fact I never, never,NEVER throw anything away) for a bit! I will use most of em for aroma anyway so it wont matter, but things like the willamette and challenger with are half a year old must still have good left in em according to the loss.
Plannin'-
Loads a beer after an upgrade!
nathbrew@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
This is why I'm trying to come up with a sensible shopping list for this year's brew schedule. It makes no real sense to spend £50 on hops and then leave them lying around to go off. I am going to try to decide on 1 or 2 bittering hops and, as Nath said, the aroma hops are not so much of an issue. I really can't see how a calculator is going to give an accurate figure because everyone's storage will be different. I also can't see how the IBU can be consistent in successive brews as we use such small quantities there are bound to be differences. The real answer is to plan it out so you don't open the packs until you have a good chance of using them up in a month or so.
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
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