So what’s your take - better to use mason jar attachment to store pellet hops or vacuum sealed bag?
I’ve always used the bags because on my old system I could only use whole hops. Now it’s the reverse. Scott at Bertusbreqery.com seems to feel mason jars are a better use, but am polling some more opinions.
I’ve never used Mason jars for long term storage. I vacuum seal them in bags. Space is a big factor too. I don’t think I’d fit all of my hops in the freezer if I used jars. Now, I weigh out all of my hops for a brew in advanced. So dry hops are put in a ziplock bag and the air is squeezed out and then into a Mason jar and into the fridge. Thus is more so my fridge doesn’t smell like hops.
At the 2010 NHC in Minneapolis the Gorst Valley Hops guys said the food saver bags are O2 barrier bags, ziplock are not. Mylar was better as no light could get through. How the food saver bag material compares to glass, I don’t know.
I’ve been using ball jars for quite awhile. I vacuum seal the jars with a foodsaver. Pint size jars stored in the freezer. I let the jar come up to room temp before breaking the vacuum to minimize moisture developing on the frozen hops. The bags work fine as well. I just think it’s easier to reseal the jars.
After Jeff’s comment about Mylar bags being the best, curiosity got the best out of me. I don’t believe light to be an issue since it’s pretty well dark all of the time in the freezer, but I looked these things up. Well, Mylar bags are fairly cheaper than food savor bags. On amazon, you can get 50 quart sized Mylar bags for $16. I buy boxes of 20 quart sized food savor bags at Walmart for $10 or $12.
I’ve been using Ball jars and flush with CO2 after each use. This has worked well for me for the past year or so.
My opinion is that in the freezer, it is a moot point on the light.
I like the jar idea - Foodsaver bags can be a PITA to reseal sometimes. The edges of the bag tend to roll a bit when you slice it open and it can be tough to feed them back into the machine. But the big difference to me is the space issue. I easily have 20+ pounds and 30-40 varieties of hops in my freezer right now. If I had them in jars I’d have no room for food. Still, it would probably be a good idea for my go-to hops like Magnum & EKG.
I’d use a jar for pellet hops that’re being used fairly quickly. For longer term storage definitely vacuum freezer bags. The hops I’m using now are 5 years old and perfectly fine. Discovered about 1.5# vac sealed from Fresh-Hops in the bottom of the freezer that’d been there since 2008. Whoops… 
Not all Mylar bags will work with a foodsaver. Compared to commercial vacuum machines, the foodsaver is weak and needs the texture on the inside of the bag to pull the air out.
I bought the 6x10 version of these and love them. Amazon.com. The company sells their bags under two model numbers only difference is packaging, so buy the cheapest.
I break a pound down to 4-4oz packs and that leave me a ton of room to reseal when I pull some out.
Jars would be nice I I had the room. Below the shelf and the door of my freezer are filled with hops, jars would be insane.
I bought a pack of Mylar bags from Amazon about a year ago. Before that I had a powerful hop smell in my freezer from using plain zip lock bags. All of my food started tasting like hops. Since switching to the Mylar bags and using up the food that had the hop smell to it, there is no hop smell in my freezer at all. I am sure vacuum sealing would be superior but I have had good luck with just using these.
Here is a shot of the bags I use with 4.5oz of Columbus and 3.8oz of nelson. I can open these at least 4 times if I am careful with my cuts and sealing.
If you have ever ordered hops from Yakima Valley Hops, the bags he uses for 2oz are about the same size.
4 times? Sounds like someone is a bit stingy with their hops 
These two bags look like the start of a good flameout addition to me. Just needs a few ounces of Citra and Meridian.
Just saying “if I had to”. Plus, I’ve been moving towards less hoppy beers lately.
Made a fwh nelson kolsch with .75oz and a 90min boil. Came out great and my lady likes the wine notes. I still get confused when drinking it. Eyes say beer and mouth says wine.
With the heat coming in a few months, and the fact that I drink much less these days, I am going to scale down to smaller 12pack batches for a while, inspired by you erockrph and the 1 gallon fad that is going on right now. I imagine my hop usage will drop by at least half this summer.
Bear in mind these are vacuum sealed jars not just plain.
How do you know?
I know what you’re saying about Nelson. But you should try it in Saison - it’s fantastic. Together with the tart thing you get from most saison yeasts, it takes on a white wine thing with the grape-y Nelson notes. Awesome stuff !
I’ve been planning an all nelson saison. Dialing in some changes using sterling which is my favorite saison hop.
Glass is a perfect O2 barrier, but most vacuum pumps do not create a perfect vacuum. I suspect that a FoodSaver is not even close to perfect.
I also wonder about O2 ingress through the lid seal, but those are designed to preserve food, so probably are good.
