I am looking into getting into buying bulk hops down the road once I am out of the military when I can brew more than I do now. I know the best way to store hops, pellets or whole leaf is with a vacuum sealer in an air tight bag placed in the freezer. My question is where can I find a decent source on HSI for all vareties of hops, if there is one?
Thanks & Cheers!
Dave
Brew Happy, Brew Well, Brew Better Things
Yakima chief (now YCH hops) maintained a guide in the past. I’d check there first
HSI varies greatly by variety, how long between when the hops were harvested and when they were pelletized, and other variables. You can find the HSI of a given lot by contacting the company that processed the hops. Please note that HSI only relates to the Alpha content - not the oils, so it only applies to bittering. It may be correlated with losses in oils but I am unaware of that correlation if it exists.
For older/classic hops, Garetz’s table is pretty complete. It should at least give you a jumping-off point for newer varieties. https://www.morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.1/garetz.html
That said, if you store hops cold and use them within a couple years, there isn’t much (theoretical) need for aging calculations.
HSI will vary with variety, crop date and lot. I don’t know if there’s any way to generalize.
I store my hops in the freezer and I think that you may be correct that the degradation becomes negligible in this case. Does anyone else store their hops in the freezer and note that the bittering and character are maintained for years?
once sealed and in my freezer, mine seem to do fine, my problems with hops come from them occasionally arriving to me in less than ideal condition.
I recently dry-hopped an American pale ale with a Falconer’s Flight blend that had been in my deep freezer for nearly two years (stored in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag). The aromatic character on them was still pretty fantastic. I wasn’t expecting a lot, and was pleasantly surprised.
Bittering, yes. Aroma and flavor not so much. I keep pellet hops vacuum sealed in the freezer. Even with that, after a couple years most of them are not something I’d want to use.
Denny, does that mean that if the hops aren’t as pungent as they once were, you toss them? That is what I’ve done with some of my stock. Are you also saying that the bittering level tends to be maintained better via freezing?
If it’s “not as pungent as they once were” I assess on a case by case basis, but generally will use them. But I’ve run across some that not only have no decent aroma left, what they do have is not good. And yes, the bittering level does seem to remain pretty well. No analysis, just my perception.
What’s HSI?
Hop storage ???
Hop storage index. % alpha remaining at one year at a given temp
The amount of hops alpha acid potential lost in 6 months when the hops are stored at a constant temperature of 68 F (20 C)
The number that is given when asking the producer is the level of degradation at the time the hops were analyzed for alpha/beta/HSI. It is a good predictor of future degradation, but as mentioned above that depends primarily on oxygen contact and temperature going forward. To say it a different way the HSI number is merely a snapshot of a single point in time.
I can tell a difference between supplier choice in bag material.