3 year old pack of Cascade

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mdex
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3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by mdex » Mon Oct 14, 2019 7:58 pm

I'm not great at keeping track of what hops I have so found a 100g pack of cascade from 2016 harvest. It's nitrogen flushed, foil packed.

How likely is it to be any use?

guypettigrew
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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by guypettigrew » Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:56 pm

How's it been stored?

Guy
Last edited by guypettigrew on Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by Rookie » Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:39 pm

Open it up and take a sniff. If it's cheesy toss it.
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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by mdex » Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:44 pm

[quote=guypettigrew post_id=846152 time=1571086561 user_id=5521]
How's it been stored?

Guy
[/quote]

Cool, dry cupboard.

guypettigrew
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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by guypettigrew » Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:28 pm

mdex wrote:
Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:44 pm
guypettigrew wrote:
Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:56 pm
How's it been stored?

Guy
Cool, dry cupboard.
Hmm, not ideal! Might well have lost a lot of aroma.

Guy

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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by Northern Brewer » Wed Oct 16, 2019 3:46 pm

mdex wrote:
Mon Oct 14, 2019 7:58 pm
I'm not great at keeping track of what hops I have so found a 100g pack of cascade from 2016 harvest. It's nitrogen flushed, foil packed.

How likely is it to be any use?
First off - use your nose. If it smells OK, it should be OK to use, if it smells "cheesy" then bin it. It's probably OK-ish to use, but you have to accept it could be a writeoff (so have a backup bag of hops!)

Cascade is a notoriously poor keeper, its half-life in air at room temperature is only ~6 months (compared to 15-18 months for good keepers). However the big enemies of hops are warmth and oxygen. If you can exclude one or other of them (ie vacuum packed or in the fridge/freezer) then they deteriorate at <20% of the rate, exclude both and it goes down to <10%.

You should use your best hops for dry-hopping, and these Cascade are probably too unpredictable for reliable bittering, but they should be fine for late-boil additions. Just be generous, use 50+% more than the recipe calls for.

And don't be afraid to bin them if they smell cheesy, life's too short to make cheesy beer!

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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by Kingfisher4 » Thu Oct 17, 2019 3:01 pm

Thanks very much for that really helpful reply Northern Brewer.

Do you have any reference for future information with regards to the good keepers and bad keepers in hop types? Similarly, the rates of expected deterioration in alpha acid and flavour with the sort of variables you quote above would be helpful if there is an easily accessible source with further details?

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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by guypettigrew » Thu Oct 17, 2019 3:36 pm

You could just buy a new pack of Cascade. At just over a fiver it doesn't seem worth the risk of ruining a whole batch!

Guy

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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by Northern Brewer » Thu Oct 17, 2019 5:25 pm

Kingfisher4 wrote:
Thu Oct 17, 2019 3:01 pm
Thanks very much for that really helpful reply Northern Brewer.

Do you have any reference for future information with regards to the good keepers and bad keepers in hop types? Similarly, the rates of expected deterioration in alpha acid and flavour with the sort of variables you quote above would be helpful if there is an easily accessible source with further details?
It's hard to be definitive as there's so many factors involved - not least that different components of hop biochemistry change at different rates, and it varies from vintage to vintage, but those 10% and 20% numbers are good, fairly conservative, ballparks.

Good hop reference sources will give the Hop Storage Index (HSI), at least for older varieties, which is the % of [a proxy for] alpha acids lost in 6 months in air at 20C - I convert it to half-life as it's an easier way to think of it. It shouldn't phase a supplier if you ask them for the HSI of a variety that you can't find otherwise.

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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by Kingfisher4 » Thu Oct 17, 2019 5:30 pm

That’s great, thanks I will investigate and incorporate in future use.

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Re: 3 year old pack of Cascade

Post by Rookie » Thu Oct 17, 2019 6:49 pm

Kingfisher4 wrote:
Thu Oct 17, 2019 3:01 pm
Thanks very much for that really helpful reply Northern Brewer.

Do you have any reference for future information with regards to the good keepers and bad keepers in hop types? Similarly, the rates of expected deterioration in alpha acid and flavour with the sort of variables you quote above would be helpful if there is an easily accessible source with further details?
Check out hopslist.com. It has a storability listing on each hop.
I'm just here for the beer.

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