Hop Storage

[davealicious]

lots of folks out there saying vacuum packed and in freeze, which I'm all for. I'm just curious if anyone has done any comparative testing on hops that were stored this way vs. other storage methods?

is there a benefit to N2 flushing the bag, vacuum packing, and freezing?
is there even a benefit to vacuum packing?
is there even a benefit to freezing?

someone has to have done some tests on this, i just cant find it.

Cheers!

 

[Manufacturedevolution]

http://brulosophy.com/2017/07/17/hop-storage-vacuum-sealed-vs-non-purged-baggie-exbeeriment-results/

Here's one.

 

[lump42]

Benefit to freeze is well understood, chemical reactions, including the oxidation that degrades hops, is slower at lower temps.
Source: http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/wp-content/uploads/Hop-Storage-Report-Jfinal.pdf

N2 flushing and vacuum sealing, if done well, replaces/ lowers O2 in package and is unavailable to react.
Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf3047187

 

[davealicious]

@Manufacturedevolution really looking for exact data more than subjective testing, although that write up is fantastic! I find some of the apparent differences bizarre, such as the two carboys fermenting, one looks very obviously darker than the other, as well the hydrometer samples seem to be different colors. I wonder if this is an odd side effect of the hops or something else awry in the brew day.

@lump42 that second study is more or less EXACTLY what i'm looking for, although its always frustrating to see the "you can't see this study" sign. Oh well.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

lots of folks out there saying vacuum packed and in freeze, which I'm all for. I'm just curious if anyone has done any comparative testing on hops that were stored this way vs. other storage methods?

is there a benefit to N2 flushing the bag, vacuum packing, and freezing?
is there even a benefit to vacuum packing?
is there even a benefit to freezing?

someone has to have done some tests on this, i just cant find it.

Cheers!

There's a fair bit in the professional literature, not sure how much is open access though. I could have sworn I had one such bookmarked but I can't find it now. But broadly either cold or restricted oxygen (can't remember whether it was vacuum or flushing) reducing deterioration by to ~20% of what it would be otherwise, cold AND oxygen restriction got it down to ~10%.

Personally I keep unopened vacuum packs in the fridge, and opened ones in the freezer (domestic harmony is better that way since we've limited freezer space) - getting them to fridge temperature is the important one, freezer is just a marginal improvement.

 

[lump42]

Here's a link to the poster presentation of the same study. Not the full details. But should give the condensed scientific results.
http://www.ebc2017.com/inhalt/uploads/P009_Taniguchi.pdf

 

[lump42]

Also if you search on google scholar (scholar.google.com) it only shows results from scientific literature. There may be other studies. I just pulled the first one where the abstract was on subject.

 

[universalfrost]

i've got some whole cone and leaf cascade hops that I stored in different conditions (partly because of running out of space and the vacuum sealer breaking...)...

Stored some in vacuum sealed bags in freezer
Stored some in vacuum sealed bags in fridge
Stored some in vacuum sealed bags in downstairs with other grains
Stored some in ziploc bags in downstairs with other grains


after a year i noticed minimal differences in aroma from these and after several brews i don't notice a difference at all except when dry hopping... if i use the ziploc bagged ones i usually dump an extra ounce in the dry hop to compensate for my perceived loss of aroma/flavor they impart in the final brew...

your results may vary, but these are mine based on my own experience with CASCADE hops... i've got access to literally an unlimited supply of cascade hops and at this point adding in an extra ounce or two in order to compensate for any loss of potency in the dry hop stage is fine..

if i only had a limited supply then i would definitely store in vacuum sealed bags in freezer or fridge.

 

[Smellyglove]

IMO the loss of AA is the least to worry about. Afaik the monoterpenes are the ones first out the window when a hops is starting to go bad.

My last experience with this was a fresh 5kg bag of hops from the distributor, I opened it, packed it with vacuum seal and "proper" hop bags, tossed it in the freezer at home. So when I was supposed to brew with that bag (citra btw), I couldn't find the bag, so I drove down to the lhbs and got another bag. Here's the funny part. The bag I packed from, and the bag which the new packet was from, were from the same batch/lot afaik (I checked the lot numbers but can't recall now). And the other 5kg bag (not the one I packed from) had been opened, and left in the freezer, they just took a few kg's out of it and left it in the freezer with this clip-type "seal".

I could smell the difference. The other bag I went down to get (which came from the left-in-freezer-opened 5kg) didn't have this delicate freshness you need to know should be there. I found my other bag after some more searching and could compare, since I didn't want to use that bad-bag. I mixed some grams of both bags in hot water, and told my GF to shuffle the cups while I had my eyes closed. Picked them out every single time.