pellet hops dust

[berkeleybrewer]

I just dry-hopped my pale ale with Simcoe, Cascade and Centennial. Unfortunately, most of the Centennial hops that came out of the pouch were crushed up into powder. It's not the suppliers fault. I've been storing these hops for 2 months in the freezer in a tightly packed container. Question is, will I still get all of the aroma character from the hop dust as I would as whole pellets? I know that the pellets will eventually break down, but will the pellets that have already broken down give off less aroma?

[spiderwrangler]

Depends... by tightly packed container, what are you talking about? If they were in the original flushed and sealed bag, you likely would not lose much aroma unless there were degradation of the hops just based on age, but if they were repackaged...

[berkeleybrewer]

Each variety of hop that I have stored in the freezer is in it's original pouch that it was bought it, but folded up to get rid of extra air and then each pouch of hops is stored in a ziplock bag, the really small snack kind. Then each of these bags are put in either a glass container (mason jar) or a heavy duty tupperware. In this case, the Centennial was stored in a tupperware on the second layer and probably got a little smushed.

Let me know if you need any other hop storage info. Also, I've had the Centennial and Cascade for 2 months.

[spiderwrangler]

If it was unopened (and sounds like it was), I would think you should be fine. How were the aromatics when you opened the package? I generally figure if it smells good when I open it, it'll add good aromatic qualities to the beer.

[BDawg]

some shops will fill in their hop bags with co2 or even nitrogen before they seal them. This is to prevent oxidation of the hops over time, making them last much longer. This is even more true when the pellets crumble into dust.

Either way, 2 months isn't that long, so they should be fine, especially since you said you froze them.

[berkeleybrewer]

To answer spiderwrangler, I bought the hops more than 2 months ago, opened them and used some for a different beer about 2 - 2.5 months ago. So, each of the hop pouches were cut open, but then what was left was folded down to minimize air and then each put into separate zip lock bags and then put into a container and stored in the freezer.

And yeah, the hops smelled great opening the bag, but I was just curious if there was a way to know if I would get less aromatics from the dust compared to if they were put in as whole pellets.

[spiderwrangler]

To answer spiderwrangler, I bought the hops more than 2 months ago, opened them and used some for a different beer about 2 - 2.5 months ago. So, each of the hop pouches were cut open, but then what was left was folded down to minimize air and then each put into separate zip lock bags and then put into a container and stored in the freezer.

And yeah, the hops smelled great opening the bag, but I was just curious if there was a way to know if I would get less aromatics from the dust compared to if they were put in as whole pellets.

Ah, it wasn't clear to me whether the folding down to minimize air was just so you could pack them tighter, or if they were open (as they were). There may be a slight loss with them being powdered as that would increase surface area, but sounds like you sealed them up as best as is possible and kept them cold, and are using them within a few months, all good things going for you. I'd say any aromatic loss would be negligible, and likely within the natural variation from bag to bag or batch to batch.