old hops

Ingredients
1

I am curious what the effect of really old hops on a finished beer is. I used some pretty damn old citra hops in a pale ale along with some pretty fresh and properly stored cascade and simcoe. The citra hops smelled fine but not like what you would expect. The finished beer isn’t bad but I am getting a generic, coarse, and danky hop character out of the beer that I don’t normally associate with any of the hops. Needless to say, I will be throwing the rest of the Citra out…

Could the culprit just be old hops? The citra only makes up about 22% of the total hops used

the hop schedule was
1 oz Simcoe, 1 oz Cascade - 17 min
1 oz Citra, 1 oz Cascade - 5 min
1 oz Cascade, 1/4 oz Simcoe, 1/4 oz Citra - Dry Hop

estimated IBUs was ~48 for a 1.057 beer.

2

Depending on how much Citra you have, you might try a small SMASH batch as a test to see if they’re the problem before you toss them out.

Some extra light DME and some dry yeast would make for a quick simple batch.

3

Come to think of it, I did do a 100% citra wheat IPA a while back with the same hops. I kind of recall the same hop character. I liken it to maybe something like Columbus.

A small test batch is a great idea. Maybe I will do that. I am so used to doing 5 gallon all grain by default that I fail to think about other options…

4

The word ‘generic’ is probably pretty fitting. Really old hops sometimes get to the point that they lose their unique character and seem generically ‘hoppy’.  Citra is pretty in-your-face mango to me and if it’s lost that, the hops have seen better days.

5

Yeah that seems to be the case here. There is still a good amount left of the original pound which is why I didn’t just toss them along time ago. My frugal character can unfortunately affect the quality of my beer from time to time…haha

6

Don’t throw them out, put them in a paper bag in the back of a closet for a few years and use them in a lambic.

7

Not much of a lambic guy…

8

I’m not either, but I have several ounces of home grown sterlings in a bag in the closet. I figure who knows I may be in a lambic mood in 2018 or so. Or I can trade them to someone who is a lambic guy.

9

Thanks all. A couple of days late and the beer is tasting much better. The citra character is definitely not there but the abrasive hop character has smoothed out and the beer is quite enjoyable.

I will probably throw the rest of the citra in with the compost