Storage of Hops

By Jerry Lo
 Hops is a bitter ingredient that is a big part of hops. It makes a beer, a beer and is a

process that can make a beer or mess it up. A beer is something that we humans cant live with,

in my opinion. Hops have a large quantity of different acids and oil that make it a key part of

beer, and is one of the four ingredients of beer. I will be talking about the storage of hops, and

how to keep them fresh for a long time.

The storage for the hops are easy. There are many ways you can store the hops, but it is

up to how fresh you want to keep the hops. Hops start to lose their a-acids and oils as soon as

they are harvested. The rate of loss depends on the storage temperature, the amount of air

present, and the hop variety. The lower the temperature, the less the hops deteriorate. It has been

shown that the rate of loss halves for every 27 degrees F drop in temperature. Even though you

can still use the hops, it just means that you would have to use more quantity of hops to make the

bitterness of the beer. Just like the uses of different hops, but that will be explained by another

person. Just storing hops in the refrigerator does not preserve their alpha acids very well, which

makes it difficult to predict how they will affect a beers bitterness. Hops lose their potency and

freshness over time, like any plant when it is plucked off its origin. The improper storage of

hops will make it more wasteful of money, because you would have to buy more. If you just

store the hops in a refrigerator with other items the hops can absorb some unpleasant odors

wafting around your fridge, so its important to understand the proper method of storing hops to

brew the freshest, best beer possible.

Opened hops maintain their quality and freshness for two weeks at 50F and five weeks at

26F. Vacuum-sealed hops can retain their character for up to five years when frozen. The best

use of the hops is when it is open, but it can always be stored again if you can get an airtight bag.
The colder the storage, the better it will preserve the freshness and a-acids. There are different

variety of hops and that can, also deal with the factors of how the hops are maintained, due to the

fact they all have different a-acids. All hops should be packaged with an alpha acid content

expressed as a percentage. You can use a calculator online that will help you calculate the

amount of bitterness level depending

on youre a-acid and the weight of

the hops. Using this calculator can

help you make the measurements

you need to have to make the

bitterness just right for the beer you

want to make even if the hops

storage is limited.

(http://brewerslog.appspot.com/HopAlphaCalc ). From there, its a simple matter of using

an aged hop calculator to adjust the alpha acid content and the weight needed to achieve a

desired bitterness level. Keep in mind that there are many factors affecting bitterness in beer, so

calculated IBUs is just an estimate and will not always be correct. Although, it may be close to

the right estimate.

Oxygen is a bad factor for a-acids; their oxidation components are responsible for the

"cheesy" aroma detected in aged hops. Oxidized a-acids lose their bitterness and cannot be

isomerized. The b-acids form bitter compounds when they are oxidized, some believe that this

result of oxidation makes up for the loss of a-acids. In rumors, it has been argued that cold

storage and anaerobic conditions are not necessary for bittering hops, as long as it is boiled long

enough and it would open enough to allow the cheesy aroma to escape. But brewers dont
believe the argument so they go for the a-acid. Light is also a natural enemy of hops and a factor that

can affect the hops. Hop cones are susceptible to breakdown from sunlight from the first minute they are

picked, so hop growers will advise that you get them into a dark and cold storage as soon as you can. The

growers go to great lengths to make sure that hops are not exposed to sunlight after picking due to the hop

cones exposed to light will break down rapidly, and mess with the a-acid that would make the beer taste

different. When possible, store your hops in a dark place and avoid exposure to sunlight or light would be

the ideal storage place or transportation. Heat accelerates the chemical breakdown of hops including

both aromatic oils and the precious alpha acids that provide most of the bitterness in beer. The

relationship between temperature and hop bitterness a key part, as it is cut in half for every 27-

degree F of lowered temperature. Hops stored at 75F will degrade almost 4 times as fast as hops

stored in a freezer. To slow the aging of your hops, always store them in the freezer at a

temperature between 30F and -5F, and is very recommended for storage and transportation. The

hotter it is, the faster the a-acid would be less effective.

A lot of people will ask if they can still use the hops that have been in storage for a long

time. The answer is, yes of course you can still use it, but the quantity of it will increase, like I

mentioned in the earlier paragraphs. There are ways to figure out what is lost and how much a-

acids you have left. There are formulas that will help you figure out how much a-acid is taken

out of the hops, and from there you can figure out how much hops you need to make up the

bitterness of the beer, but the factors are also, from the way it was packaged, type of hops, and

temperature of the storage.

(The first step is to look up the percent lost for the hop variety in Table I.Next we
need to determine the rate constant (k) based on the percent lost. This rate is the
constant used in the log expression to determine the curve of percent lost vs. time.
Find the percent lost on Table II and next to it the value for k. Now find the
temperature factor (TF) from Table III, based on your storage temperature.
From Table IV, find the storage factor (SF) based on your storage method. Last,
determine the number of days from the day on which you knew the a-acid content
to the day on which you need to know the new a-acid content (Days). The a-acid
percentage when we bought the hops is referred to as A. Now use the following
formula:
future alpha = A*1/e(k*TF*SF*Days) where e is the base of the natural logarithm. In
Excel and other spreadsheet programs, e(n) is expressed as EXP(n)
(https://www.morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.1/garetz.html)
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Resources:

https://www.morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.1/garetz.html
http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/04/15/brewing-hops-storage-preserving-precious-hops/
http://brewerslog.appspot.com/HopAlphaCalc
http://craftbeeracademy.com/a-beginners-guide-to-hops/