Hops

Hi Guy, wonder if anyone can help! I bought a bag of Bramling Cross  Leaf Hops they are in a sealed vacuum pack foil bag, the label says harvested 2014 Alpha 5.81%
my question is this, being an unopened bag bought from the shop 5 days ago do I use the Hop Adjustment Tool and make the age adjustment from 2014 / 2016 or is this tool only used on Hops that have been opened. I feel that some of my brews have been slightly under hopped may be this is why! I only found the Hop adjusting tool today, also what Hop% should be used for Aroma last 15 minutes  thanks for reading this.
Regards
Rooster.     

Roosterbrews said:

Hi Guy, wonder if anyone can help! I bought a bag of Bramling Cross  Leaf Hops they are in a sealed vacuum pack foil bag, the label says harvested 2014 Alpha 5.81%

Click to expand...

If 2014 is indeed the crop year and not the first sales year, these hops are about 20 months old. Hops are harvested in late fall and sold the following year, so a "year" is November to November.

In the hop storage tool, you can use the Choose Hops button and the default AA%, plus its storage index will auto populate the form. Just change the storage conditions to what's current.

I feel that some of my brews have been slightly under hopped may be this is why! I only found the Hop adjusting tool today, also what Hop% should be used for Aroma last 15 minutes? 

Click to expand...

That may be true. If stored in less than freezing temperatures, the AA% loss could be at least half. When the bag is opened, the hops should still be bright green and freshly aromatic. Any yellowing or muted aroma is a sign of faster ageing.

For aroma, hop AA% and IBU isn't applicable. In fact, there really isn't a formula for aromatics, though hops with higher AA% do tend to have more oils, as well. The characteristics of the oils (percentages of each one) is what makes it have a unique aroma, so your choices should be based on that, not AA%.

Thank you for your help Brewfun.