I’ve seen hops offered for sale on ebay for reasonable prices but…they say “from the 2008 crop” or “2009 crop” …Even if it is vacuum packed, how good or bad can they be.??
How long do hops stay fresh in a vacuum packed freezer bag??
Does anyone have good sources for pelleted hops/??
My go to source for pellets is Hopsdirect… www.hopsdirect.com
Vacuum packed in the freezer, I will use hops 3 years old if they smell good - not cheesy.
After 3 years it is time to make space for fresher hops, so they get thrown out.
I wouldn’t buy old hops from some random e-bay source. I use hopsdirect.com for most of my purchases and am a very satisfied customer.
They can still be OK, but when you buy from ebay you just never know. As mentioned, Hopsdirect is a great source for pellets. I’ve also gotten really good German hop pellets from Northern Brewer.
I’ve noticed that the all the Simcoe pellet hops that I buy from morebeer fall apart. The hops still smell good, but the pellets crumble and don’t keep their pellet form. Is this a sign of bad hops. It doesn’t happen with any other hop variety just Simcoe.
If they still smell and taste good, they are good even if they crumble.
I think that looser hop pellets may be an indication of gentler handling during processing. As we all know, heat is a big enemy of hop freshness. The process of pelletizing involves the application of a lot of pressure to the hops. With pressure comes heat. I understand that a good hop pelletizing operation will use liquid nitrogen to cool the pelletizing die to help avoid overheating the hop pellets. The other way to help avoid overheating would be to back off a bit on the pressure.
Maybe that is what is exhibited by hop pellets that still have great aroma, but fall apart more easily.