After a typical brewday I usually have a small amount of pellet hops left over and just throw them out, but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on whether I could save those unused hops and age them for a lambic down the road.
If I kept a tupperware container in my fridge where I chucked any leftover hop pellets from my brewdays, would they keep and age? Are pellets a non-starter for aging anyway, due to the effects of processing? Is the better environment for aging somewhere warm and dry?
Apologies if this has been covered in another thread elsewhere.
I’d keep them in a freezer until you have enough and you’re ready to use them, then put them all in a paper bag and store at room temp for a few weeks. I have no idea about pellets, I’m sure they can work, but they may need more aging time.
In Gordon Strong’s book he recommends putting them in glass jars, purging with c02 and freezing. He says they will last better than a year and keep their freshness that way.
I think just chuck them in a bag and stick them in the cupboard above your stove. Lambic brewers age their hops for a lOOOOONG time. think years. But you could also just save the bits and pieces in the freezer and use them in a normal brew at some time, you would have no idea of the alpha% unless you carefully weighed each bit and tracked it for averaging later.