Studies have shown that hops stored frozen will maintain their quality significantly longer than hops stored refrigerated. For example, hops stored properly at frozen temperatures will only show a slight loss of alpha acids over the course of a year but the same hops will lose about 25% of their alpha acids if stored in a refrigerator.
Most hop suppliers store their hops frozen but brewers tend to keep them refrigerated since freezer space is limited. Would LEX consider adding a “Frozen” “Storage Type” option when listing hops for sale on the website?
We have 3+ years of Shelf Life studies on frozen hops.
Can easily confirm the statement, “hops stored frozen will maintain their quality significantly longer than hops stored refrigerated.”
I’m not aware of any. Recently, I interviewed Mark Zunkel about a BarthHaas study that compared cold vs warm storage of packaged T90s. Here’s the link if you’re interested: Master Brewers Podcast Episode 262: T90 Shelf Life Study
Champlain Valley Hops works closely with AAR Lab in Madison, WI. They conduct accelerated aging studies, and the basis of the Arrhenius equation tells them that chemical reactions (degradation, oxidation, etc.) are temperature dependent. While AAR Labs has not done extensive enough research to post official results, Owner and Lead Chemist Zach Lilla, estimates an average annual alpha acid loss of ~ 25 % for hops stored refrigerated and only sees a slight annual loss for hops that have been stored frozen. He recommends storing hops at the lowest temperature that you can afford and that makes sense for your business. AAR Lab plans to produce more materials directed toward brewers about hop degradation in the future.