My wife just came home from a yard sale and said she had something for me, pulling a large cardboard box out of the trunk. I was thinking that I surely didn't need a beginner's kit (it was about that size). But it was this I'm gonna need some help with this Actually, I have no idea how old, how it was stored, etc. The folks she bought it from didn't seem to know what it was or how they got it. So this whole episode may be just entertainment.
Nice! Let us know if they turn out to be usable. Secondhand ingredients are always a gamble. I once found a bench capper at Goodwill for $10. It's a little beat up, and only came with the bell for larger diameter caps. I got a new bell online, rigged it up, and it works great now. They obviously had no idea what they had, as the department tag said "Electrical." Not a home run deal or anything, but I was surprised to find it there.
Well, Hopunion merged with Yakima Chief over two years back to form YCHhops. So those are 2 years old at best. You might send the picture to YCH and see if they can tell you how old those are. Whole hops don’t keep as well. You will only know when you open the bag. If they have the slightest whiff of cheese, not good.
The outer box appears sealed. These should be vacuum-purged with nitrogen - a shelf-life of three years. But they may be older. I do have a note into YCH. We'll see what they say,
Please report back. The question in my mind is how did these end up in a yard sale? A mini bale is 11 Lbs. Edit - a 2016 mini bale is for sale on the YCH website for $11.80.
And I'm willing to bet the ones directly from YCH were stored properly. The yard sale ones...? Doubtful.
Being stored at room temperature will make this virtually impotent (how hot does your garage get?) . . . I certainly would not risk a brew with these. Here's a calculator that'll help: http://brewerslog.appspot.com/HopAlphaCalc On the plus side, that's a good looking cardboard box . . . should be a real conversation starter.
