hops in freezer

[dps51]

why but hops in freezer if they are in a foil vac pac surely they will be ok out of a freezer

 

[Gunge]

Only opened packs go in my freezer. Getting ridiculous now though, I've had to chuck out loads of the missus' food to make way for them. It's all about priorities.

 

[dps51]

Only opened packs go in my freezer. Getting ridiculous now though, I've had to chuck out loads of the missus' food to make way for them. It's all about priorities.

you could always eat the food to make room
or see if you could make a brew from it :grin:

 

[IainM]

My understanding is that there are four things which contribute to the degradation of hops.
1) Evaporation/sublimation of aroma compounds (less pungent / flavourful).
2) Chemical reactions with air (oxygenation / cheesy smells).
3) Thermal degradation of alpha acids and aroma compounds (loss of pungency and cheesiness).
4) Photo-chemical reactions of alpha acids with UV light (skunking).

Vacuum sealing will help with (1) and (2), and keeping them in the dark helps with (4), but only correct temperature helps with (3). Incidentally, it appears that vacuum sealing is the more important than cold storage. In Stan Hieronymous's Hops book he says that an open bag of cascade pellets will last five weeks in the freezer but only two weeks in the fridge. If vacuum packed, though, they will last 5 years in the freezer and two years in the fridge, so it does seem that keeping the air away is more important than keeping them below freezing.

 

[geetee]

As a general rule freezing slows down the rate of any chemical reactions and therefore degradation into bi products and off tastes. Excluding oxygen will prevent oxidation mainly but for sealed and unsealed packs freezing should make them stable for longer

 

[Irishwizard]

As a general rule freezing slows down the rate of any chemical reactions and therefore degradation into bi products and off tastes. Excluding oxygen will prevent oxidation mainly but for sealed and unsealed packs freezing should make them stable for longer

surely there is a chemical reaction going on the very moment they are picked and most hops are 2 years old when we come to use them. Here in Ireland everything is old and knackered

 

[Gunge]

Here in Ireland everything is old and knackered

I wouldn't say Ronan Keating is that far gone.

 

[Tanzanite]

I wouldn't say Ronan Keating is that far gone.

WHO! was he the backing singer for Dana in the Eurovision song groaning contest.:mrgreen:

 

[Gunge]

WHO! was he the backing singer for Dana in the Eurovision song groaning contest.:mrgreen:

Lol he was the only irish dude I could think of. Apart from Tom Jones.

 

[Tanzanite]

Lol he was the only irish dude I could think of. Apart from Tom Jones.

Tom Jones didnt he drive a steam engine ???

 

[Wabby]

Lol he was the only irish dude I could think of. Apart from Tom Jones.

Isnt Tom Jones Welsh? Lol

 

[Fore]

IainM covered it well there. Freezing will simply slow the degradation. Temperature isn't the only factor involved in degradation, and probably not the most significant contributor, but it's one of them. If you have room in your freezer, there is no reason not to put your vac packed hops in the freezer. I never saw any comment saying "my beer tasted of freezer burn".

 

[Irishwizard]

Lol he was the only irish dude I could think of. Apart from Tom Jones.

Fecf off,,we work hard, looking after the old folk, whilst digging spuds and peat.
Im knew to this game and trying to get my head round all the chemical stuff that you can only buy from mars

 

[Gunge]

Fecf off,,we work hard, looking after the old folk, whilst digging spuds and peat.
Im knew to this game and trying to get my head round all the chemical stuff that you can only buy from mars

Excellent! Anyways I've got some Marynka hops at the bottom of the chip drawer which have been there as long as the ice, but rest assured they'll get used.... one day.

 

[BeerCat]

My understanding is that there are four things which contribute to the degradation of hops.
1) Evaporation/sublimation of aroma compounds (less pungent / flavourful).
2) Chemical reactions with air (oxygenation / cheesy smells).
3) Thermal degradation of alpha acids and aroma compounds (loss of pungency and cheesiness).
4) Photo-chemical reactions of alpha acids with UV light (skunking).

Vacuum sealing will help with (1) and (2), and keeping them in the dark helps with (4), but only correct temperature helps with (3). Incidentally, it appears that vacuum sealing is the more important than cold storage. In Stan Hieronymous's Hops book he says that an open bag of cascade pellets will last five weeks in the freezer but only two weeks in the fridge. If vacuum packed, though, they will last 5 years in the freezer and two years in the fridge, so it does seem that keeping the air away is more important than keeping them below freezing.

Should i chuck mine in jars until i get a vacuum sealer? I do tape up the packets but i ran out of space in the freezer so they are now in the fridge.

 

[IainM]

Should i chuck mine in jars until i get a vacuum sealer? I do tape up the packets but i ran out of space in the freezer so they are now in the fridge.

Before I got the vacuum sealer I taped them up tightly so they were sealed, and the pungent American ones were still good even after a few months.