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Would you hesitate to use 2014 hops in an IPA?

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  • Would you hesitate to use 2014 hops in an IPA?

    What is your rule of thumb for using hops in a beer that predominately features hops?

    We have 2 beers, a DIPA and IPA that both use only FWH and a big whirlpool addition. On a smaller scale, these recipes tasted great - but because we were getting hops from a homebrew shop - we didnt have much data on the hops.

    We purchased some 2014 hops from reputable companies and are having less than ideal results. The flavors that were previously crisp and clean now seem muted and slightly dull compared to our 10-20 gallons batches. These are our first batches on the 20bbl system and looking for some advice that may save us some time and headaches. We are trying to decide if its process or ingredients or possibly both that need to be tweaked.


    Thanks!

  • #2
    We have had plenty of success with 2+ year hops that have been stored properly in hoppy beers. I'm curious how you scale your recipes. Is the difference in hop utilization taken into account between the two brew houses?


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    • #3
      Originally posted by jaw0130 View Post
      We have had plenty of success with 2+ year hops that have been stored properly in hoppy beers. I'm curious how you scale your recipes. Is the difference in hop utilization taken into account between the two brew houses?


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
      The IBUs seem to be on target for most of the beers. My only thoughts are that the whirlpool addition is at a high temp much longer than on the small batches (which may only be at near boiling temps for 10-15min).

      Only other thought I had is something about the water has changed drastically but both small and large batches are just run through a carbon filter and coming from the same water treatment plant.

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      • #4
        How precise were you with the small batch hop weight? A 1/4 oz here or there might be a 10 or 15% difference in total hop weight. It makes a big difference in 10 gallons. Or think of it as throwing 5 more lbs into the whirlpool of a 20bbl batch.

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        Prost!
        Eric Brandjes
        Cole Street Brewery
        Enumclaw, WA

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        • #5
          Do you filter the beer? And that would have to be a drastic water change. Do you treat your water?


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          • #6
            Originally posted by jaw0130 View Post
            Do you filter the beer? And that would have to be a drastic water change. Do you treat your water?


            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



            The water is adjusted for ph in a way similar to our small batches prior to the mash.

            We do not filter but we do fine in the brite with Biofine.

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            • #7
              There could be a lot of variables contributing to this based on scaling alone, per some of the comments above. I will say that I have been using 2 and 3 year old hops in our DIPA and have seen no drop off in quality. Stored right, that is. In a freezer, not refrigerated. In fact my 2+ year old amarillo look better than my current crop CTZ pellets which are much paler/yellow compared to the still green older amarillo. I guess it really just depends on the hop, the crop, the storage.
              Dave Cowie
              Three Forks Bakery & Brewing Company
              Nevada City, CA

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              • #8
                Originally posted by barleyfreak View Post
                There could be a lot of variables contributing to this based on scaling alone, per some of the comments above. I will say that I have been using 2 and 3 year old hops in our DIPA and have seen no drop off in quality. Stored right, that is. In a freezer, not refrigerated. In fact my 2+ year old amarillo look better than my current crop CTZ pellets which are much paler/yellow compared to the still green older amarillo. I guess it really just depends on the hop, the crop, the storage.
                Agreed.

                I made a test batch ipa with 2+ year old hops. Beersmith will curb you to older hops providing less ibu than normal with a built in loss calculation. I adjusted the recipe accordingly and the beer ended up being too bitter/too high ibu. I will never do hop age adjustments again.

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                • #9
                  2014 hops

                  If the hops smell good then, well they are probably not the problem. If they smell dull and/or cheesy, then I certainly wouldn't dry hop with them.
                  Good hops when stored correctly should last a while. The colder you store them the better. If they were subpar when they were pelleted then storage won't make a big difference as they are already sub par.

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                  • #10
                    The researchers at OSU reported at CBC 2016 that all things being equal, storage time has more an effect on IBU's than on aroma/quality.
                    Brewmaster, Minocqua Brewing Company
                    tbriggs@minocquabrewingcompany.com
                    "Your results may vary"

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