South African African Queen Hop Pellets 1 lb (BEYOND THEIR PRIME)

Over time, all hops with lose the vibrance of their acids. While this is bad for IPA and hop forward styles, they can be used in Belgian Style Lambic or Brett Style beers that rely more on the bacteria and other ingredients than hops. They still possess some antimicrobial properties and will contribute some “cheesy” or “funky” notes which may be considered a positive for these styles. 

It’s important to know these hops were stored correctly and have not gone “bad”, rather they are just beyond their prime for most brewing applications. 

With the alpha acids greatly diminished, you will not have the bittering qualities you would with more freshly processed hops. 

Why use Aged Hops

Hops are an essential part to any modern beer or homebrew. From IPA to Porter and Pilsner and everything in between, hops are used in all different ways to create all sorts of flavor. Hops are also used as a means of sanitation since they are naturally antimicrobial; keeping spoilage bacteria from growing in your beer. Aged hops contain this same property but loose a few thing along the way.  The floral, fruity, dank flavor you get from a nice dry hopped IPA is lost and replaced by an almost cheese or musty aroma.  Also their bittering property is removed as alpha acids, contained in the hop cone, degrade with heat and exposure to oxygen.

Aged hops are traditionally used in Belgian-style Lambic production, a beer that is spontaneously fermented by microbes in the air.  By using aged hops the beer still gets the antimicrobial properties that reduces the amount of bacteria and allows wild yeast to take hold early in the aging process. These beers can sometimes be aged up to three years. The hops provide a subtle flavor profile that compliments the wild yeast flavors without adding bitterness.

When could you use aged hops? You can use them in your home brew to create a new flavor profile for brett and spontaneous ale projects. Keep in mind beers with aged hops will be funky, cheesy, musty etc. unlike the citrusy, bright flavors you would expect from hops. They can be used as a bittering charge, to deter lactic acid production without adding hop bitterness. They can also be used as late addition hops for those cheesy, funky characteristics, or a dry hop for even more intense funk. If you are using it as a dry hop we recommend pairing it with other non-aged varieties.

What does it take to age hops? It’s pretty simple! If you’re a homebrewer with access to hops you can use a partial bag to begin the process. Generally, I like to use low alpha acid hops with European origin. However, I have heard of brewers that use high alpha acid American hops as well. Age your hops in a warm, dry area – light is not a factor. Make sure your hops are dried out before you loosely seal the bag so they don’t mold. Generally you will want to age your hops about a year – keep in mind pelletized hops take longer to oxidize than whole cone. As you can see in the photos, the hops are no longer the vibrant greens they once were. But they turn dull and brown as they age.

THE CRYO HOPS® PROCESS

Derived from the Greek word ‘kryos’, meaning frost, CRYO HOPS is an industry-leading, cryogenic hop-processing technology used to separate whole cones into two components—concentrated lupulin and bract. Each component of the hop is preserved using low temperatures in a nitrogen-rich environment during the entire process, from separation to pelleting. This proprietary process displaces oxygen throughout the system, increasing product quality and reducing the oxidation of the lupulin.

WHAT IS CRYO HOPS®?

CRYO HOPS is the concentrated lupulin of whole-leaf hops containing resins and aromatic oils. It is designed to provide intense hop flavor and aroma, enabling brewers to efficiently dose large quantities of alpha acids and oils without introducing astringent flavors or vegetative material.

INTRODUCING CRYO HOPS® INTO BEER

CRYO HOPS can be utilized anywhere whole-leaf hops and hop pellets are traditionally applied.

KETTLE: Late additions only; early kettle additions should be avoided to prevent boiling out the intense aroma characteristics.

KNOCKOUT: Due to fine particle size, there is low risk of clogging heat exchangers.

WHIRLPOOL: Whirlpool additions are an excellent way to increase aroma and reduce trub load from large, late additions.

FERMENTER: Use in the fermenter is an excellent way to increase aroma while reducing trub loss. CRYO HOPS will settle out during normal conditioning and can be fined, filtered or centrifuged as normal.

RECIPE ADAPTATION

Regardless of application, early trials indicate CRYO HOPS beers showcase pronounced juicy and resinous flavors with reduced grassy characteristics. As a result, some brewers recommend using CRYO HOPS in conjunction with T-90 pellets to ensure the complexity and flavors of the whole hop cone are retained.

To assess the benefits of CRYO HOPS, YCH recommends adapting any recipe by substituting 40g of CRYO HOPS and either 25g of T-90 or 15g of American Noble HopsTM for every 100g of T-90 used. The larger the substitution, the larger the potential yield increase.

Creating new recipes with CRYO HOPS is an excellent (and safe) way to showcase hops in innovative beers and styles. As a starting point for recipe formulation or modification, the estimated dosing rate of CRYO HOPS is 40-50% of hop pellets by weight.

BENEFITS OF UTILIZING CRYO HOPS®

CRYO HOPS is processed in an ISO-9001-certified production facility with limited opportunities for oxidation, and monitored to meet quality specifications.

• Controlled, nitrogen-rich production environment • Uniform particle-size distribution
• Intentional preservation of the lupulin glands
• Nearly twice the resin content of T-90 hop pellets • Intense contribution of hop flavor and aroma

• Reduced vegetal and polyphenol flavor
• Greater sustainability in packaging, shipping and storage
• Increased yield through reduced brewhouse and cellar trub • Cost savings and net increases in revenue per batch

Complete Info Sheet