Author: Marshall Schott

One of the easiest ways to stretch one’s brewing budget is to buy ingredients in bulk, which can reduce the price of many of the most common hops by 50% or more. While that’s all fine and dandy, most homebrewers aren’t blowing through an entire 16 ounces of a single hop for a 5 gallon batch of beer, making proper storage techniques worthy of some consideration. With the commonly accepted wisdom that oxygen and heat are the enemies of hops, many homebrewers vacuum seal and store them in the freezer, a method that seems to work quite well based on numerous anecdotal reports.

In an effort to isolate the impact age alone has on hops, we performed an xBmt comparing old Willamette hops to fresher hops of the same variety, both of which had been stored under optimal conditions. The response when we shared that tasters were unable to reliably distinguish between beers made with either was barely mixed, with the large majority expressing some degree of surprise, while others offered speculative explanations as to why the beers were so similar. Around this time, I was contacted by homebrewer Ryan Casey who said he had a few varieties of old hops lying around including some 2005 Simcoe. Given the reputation Simcoe has developed for sometimes producing interesting characteristics, I chose that and asked for more details, which Ryan was quick to give:

This bag of Simcoe wasn’t opened at all until a couple weeks ago. It was in the freezer the whole time and I just opened it up for a Pale Ale I did. It was then resealed in the chamber vacuum and placed back into the freezer.

I received the bag of hops a few days later and noticed a couple things immediately– they were darker and smaller than I was used to, plus the bag appeared to have lost its vacuum seal. To be sure, I asked Ryan if the bag was airtight when he shipped it, he swore it was, which is when the purpose of this xBmt was settled.

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between fresh hops that have been stored well and old hops that have not been stored well when used in beers of the same recipe.

| METHODS |

Since Simcoe is most commonly used to make hoppier styles, I designed a simple single hop American Pale Ale for this xBmt.

Simcoe Pale Ale

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5.5 gal 60 min 59.6 IBUs 5.6 SRM 1.055 1.009 6.1 % Actuals 1.055 1.007 6.3 % Fermentables Name Amount % Pale Malt, 2 row (Gambrinus) 10 lbs 85.11 White Wheat Malt 1 lbs 8.51 Honey Malt (Gambrinus) 12 oz 6.38 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Simcoe 12 g 60 min Boil Pellet 11.6 Simcoe 30 g 15 min Boil Pellet 11.6 Simcoe 30 g 10 min Boil Pellet 11.6 Simcoe 30 g 5 min Boil Pellet 11.6 Simcoe 120 g 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 11.6 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090) White Labs 80% 65°F - 68°F

Using my preferred calculator, I made a large enough starter of WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast to split between two carboys with enough leftover to harvest for future use.

The following evening, after collecting the brewing liquor and making adjustments to achieve my target profile, I milled the grain for the entire batch.

Upon waking up the next morning, I immediately hit the flame under my kettle to bring the water to strike temperature before retreating inside to make some coffee.

About 20 minutes later, the water was ready, so I transferred it to my MLT and, after a brief pre-heat, stirred in the grains to hit my target mash temperature.

Since the variable for this xBmt would be introduced during the boil, I opted to perform a single 10 gallon MIAB batch sparge, the sweet wort from which would be homogenized and evenly split between two kettles.

I prepared the hop additions for each batch during the 60 minute saccharification rest and noticed the older Simcoe pellets were quite a bit smaller and darker than the fresh pellets. They also smelled… different.

On the bag the old hops were stored in, Ryan had indicated they were at 11.7% AA, which was only 0.1% higher than the 2014 hops. Similar to the first hop age xBmt, I chose not to deviate from the recipe by trying to calculate for AA% depletion over time, thus both beers received just about the same amount of hops. I started the old hop boil 20 minutes before the fresh hop to make managing my brew day easier. Both went for 60 minutes with the hops added at the same times in each before being rapidly chilled.

I transferred the slightly warmer than fermentation temperature worts into sanitized 6 gallon PET carboys and placed them into my cool fermentaiton chamber where they sat for a few hours to finishing chilling before yeast was pitched. Fermentation began and progressed similarly on both. I raised the temperature from 66°F/19°C to 72°F/22°C three days into fermentation and noticed waning activity three days after that, so I took initial hydrometer measurements, which matched those I took after another three days.

I proceeded to cold crash the beers, fine them with gelatin, then transfer them to kegs just short of two weeks from the day they were brewed.

The filled kegs were then placed in my keezer and hit with 45 psi of CO2 for about 20 hours before I reduced to serving pressure. Just a couple days later, the beers were nicely carbonated, beautifully clear, and ready for serving!

| RESULTS |

In all, 15 people of varying experience levels participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 2 samples of the fresh hop beer and 1 sample of the old hop beer then asked to identify the sample that was unique. Given the sample size, 9 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to correctly select the old hop sample as being different in order to reach statistical significance. A total of 13 tasters (p=0.00003) – all but two – accurately identified the unique sample, meaning this panel was indeed able to reliably distinguish a beer made with 10 year old hops that were stored in less than ideal conditions from one made with fresher hops stored well.

For the first time since I’ve been doing these things, every single taster who made the correct selection during the triangle test endorsed the beer made with fresh hops as being the one they preferred, using terms congruent with Simcoe hops– citrus, pine, resin, delicious. Easily the most common comment about the beer made with old hops had to do with how harsh it was, with tasters reporting a very sharp bitterness that lingered long after the sip was swallowed… or spit out.

My Impressions: From the moment I first opened the bag of old hops on brew day, I was pretty sure there’d be a difference between the beers. I’ve heard some describe poorly stored hops as “cheesy,” which I didn’t get, but rather a strong wet hay-like grassy aroma that wasn’t pleasant at all. The fresh hops smelled like what I expect from good Simcoe. In both cases, the finished beers followed suit. Frankly, I couldn’t stomach the old hop beer, it was horredous, to the point I actually felt bad serving it to participants. The beer made with fresh Simcoe was good, slightly one dimensional, but certainly not a dumper… like the old hop batch.

| DISCUSSION |

The results of this xBmt provide support for the idea that proper storage techniques may prolong the life of hops, in particular reducing the amount of oxygen the hops are in contact with. The issue then turns to what caused the old hops to be so different than the fresh hops. While it’s possible Simcoe hops have simply evolved over the last decade, hunch is the real explanation has to do with a lesser known hop compound known as beta acid.

In an effort to avoid regurgitating information that’s been written about numerous times elsewhere, I’ll refrain from going too deep into hop chemistry, but I think it’s relevant enough to touch on. Whereas alpha acids require heat to isomerize into the bitter iso-alpha acids we know so well, beta acids are known to become bitter when introduced to oxygen, most often as a result of poor storage. And it’s well documented that oxidized beta acids impart a bitter character known to be harsher than the bitterness that comes from alpha acids. Sound familiar?

There’s a reason hops come in nitrogen flushed and vacuum sealed bags. I recently drank a beer made with 5 year old Centennial hops that had been stored well, it was fantastic and could potentially have been indistinguishable from the same beer made with fresher hops. I’m compelled to believe this would not have been the case if the hops had been stored in a less ideal environment. As such, a vacuum sealer seems cheap insurance for those who prefer buying hops in bulk.

If you have any thoughts on this xBmt, please share them in comments section below!

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