Storing hops properly: freezer, foil and a quick sniff test
Hops are harvested once a year, so whatever you buy has to last you until the next season. A recent post on the BeerSmith blog walks through how hops age and how to slow it down, and I found it a handy refresher.
Dried hops are mostly cellulose with about 10 percent water, plus hundreds of flavor compounds. The alpha acids give bitterness and the aroma oils give that fresh hop smell, and the aroma oils are the more fragile part, so they usually fade first. The article names four enemies: heat, light, moisture and oxygen. Heat is the big one, since decomposition roughly doubles for every 15°C (27°F) rise. Oxygen is what turns hop aroma into that stale, cheesy smell.
The Hop Stability Index tells you how much alpha acid a variety loses in six months at 20°C, and the usual rule of thumb is that hops are still fine for bittering until they have lost about half of it. BeerSmith even has a Hop Age tool to estimate this.
The advice itself is simple. Keep unopened hops in their original sealed foil bag in the freezer, where they can last a year or more depending on the variety. On brew day, smell and taste a little before you add them, even if they are brand new, because packaging or harvest problems happen. For opened packs, vacuum seal them in a freezer bag or purge a resealable bag with nitrogen or CO2 from your kegging setup, then freeze it in the dark. And use opened hops as soon as you can.
None of this is exotic, but I like that it is easy to follow. A vacuum sealer and some freezer space may protect your hop budget better than any fancy gadget.
Source: BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog
Dried hops are mostly cellulose with about 10 percent water, plus hundreds of flavor compounds. The alpha acids give bitterness and the aroma oils give that fresh hop smell, and the aroma oils are the more fragile part, so they usually fade first. The article names four enemies: heat, light, moisture and oxygen. Heat is the big one, since decomposition roughly doubles for every 15°C (27°F) rise. Oxygen is what turns hop aroma into that stale, cheesy smell.
The Hop Stability Index tells you how much alpha acid a variety loses in six months at 20°C, and the usual rule of thumb is that hops are still fine for bittering until they have lost about half of it. BeerSmith even has a Hop Age tool to estimate this.
The advice itself is simple. Keep unopened hops in their original sealed foil bag in the freezer, where they can last a year or more depending on the variety. On brew day, smell and taste a little before you add them, even if they are brand new, because packaging or harvest problems happen. For opened packs, vacuum seal them in a freezer bag or purge a resealable bag with nitrogen or CO2 from your kegging setup, then freeze it in the dark. And use opened hops as soon as you can.
None of this is exotic, but I like that it is easy to follow. A vacuum sealer and some freezer space may protect your hop budget better than any fancy gadget.
Source: BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog
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