do different hop types "last" longer?

Yes, different hop types lose Alpha acids at different rates, but you will be hard pressed to find the exact timing for this even from the brewers themselves as hops do contain volatile flavour compounds that lose their essence fairly easily.

In fact I recently had an "out of date" Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA but it tasted as hoppy as a fresh one I had... various factors in shelf life are: How is the beer stored, at what temperature, has UV light hit the bottle, what was the quality at the brewery, how was it transported, etc... with so many variables it is almost impossible to give the exact "best by" date, in fact an Aussie brewer Coopers gives a "best after" date (working in a bar this can be annoying having to explain to customers who've bought back their beer because it was "out of date").

In conclusion: Just because an IPA is past its best before date doesn't mean it will have lost its hop flavours but you generally want to drink it before it gets to that date anyway to be on the safe side.

 

found i got more of a grapefruit zest flavor from Grapefruit Sculpin a few months after the bottling

 

Cascade is notorious for losing AA quickly.
NB and Galena keep well.

% of AA retained after one year of cold storage at 5F can be about 2 to 3 times that of storage at 68F.
remember that hops are harvested once a year in each hemisphere.

as for the amount of IBUs, flavor and aroma retained in the finished beer, that is impossible to predict due to all of the variables involved with brewing. the hops themselves have varying ratios of AA and BA % along with a a few other important but tiny volumes of other chemicals. some fade quicker than others and that greatly impacts the flavor of the brew. combined with yeast, malt and brewing procedure there are no hard rules.
Cheers.

 

I could totally be remembering this wrong, but I recall someone on BA posting a study of some sort stating that storage temperature more than any other factor causes hop freshness to decline.

I think it may even have been Sierra Nevada internal research (maybe from @sierranevadabill).

 

Anecdotally I would say that Citra heavy IPAs/DIPAs tend to have the shortest shelf life for my personal palate preferences. Then again, I'm not as big into Citra hops as many (most) here seem to be.

 

My anecdotal experience accords with this study

 

I have read and been told beers with higher BETA acid hops will keep longer.

 

I wouldn't say temperature is the most important factor. Dissolved oxygen in packaged beer is probably more detrimental, but that is controlled at the brewery level. After the beer is packaged, however, temperature is a huge factor. The higher the temperature, the quicker the staling effects take hold, including a drastically diminished hop presence.

I may have misread this question: In storage of hops, temperature has a massive effect on quality in the long term.

-Bill

 

Thanks, Bill for the clarification.

 

I'm not sure about the exact hop profile, but Torpedo always seems to hold its strength for a while. All physical factors being equal of course.

 

I buy quite a bit of Laurelwood Workhorse mainly because is tastes so good, and the price is so reasonable
Ive noticed a couple of times the Simcoe was very prominent and then looking to see the brewed on date was 3 months or so.

 

I meant to convey was that the Simcoe was more prevalent than the Cascade & Amarillo after 3 months...but still decent.

 

They absolutely do vary in shelf-life. Some are good, some are very poor. This is a good resource:

http://beerlegends.com/simcoe-hops

cheers

 

I notice the hops used in Zombie Dust dissipate very quick. I also noticed the hop profile changes with every batch and the consistency is always an issue

 

Shane, in your brewing have you noticed that some varieties of hops fade quicker in the resulting beer vs. other variety types? If so, does the longevity of hop aroma/flavor in the finished beer influence which hops you use for your Sixpoint commercial beers?

Cheers!

Jack

 

Great thread OP and contributors. Is it 2008?