I have some HOP pellets left over, is it best to store them in the refrigerator or the freezer?
Freezer. Vacuum packed. If you don’t have a vacuum packer, use a ziploc and get all of the air out that you can. Use within a couple months (or a little more) if you use the ziploc.
I vacuum seal mine and store in the freezer. If you’re going to use them soon, the fridge would be ok too, just try to get them as airtight as you can.
I vacuum seal mine and put them in the freezer as well. They last a LONG time that way.
Vacuum seal is where I want to go. Doing the Ziplock sealing has to go the way of the dinosaurs. Are the regular vacuum seal bags the way to go or are the mylar foil bags preferred?
Unless your freezer has a window or runs the light 24/7 even when it’s closed, regular vacuum bags should be sufficient.
The foil doesn’t just block the light, it provides an impervious oxygen barrier. If I had foil bags for my vacuum sealer, I’d use them for long-term storage.
i’ve always vacuum sealed, but recently i’ve been exploring the mason jar attachment for my sealer.
I like that idea!
if the vacuum is held tight, then i don’t believe any oxygen is getting in.
If you have a leak in the seal, then sure.
No way those sealers are producing a true vacuum, which means a mason jar could still have a lot of oxygen in the head space.
Flush the jar with co2 first? I’m sure some o2 would remain but that will the case for most methods attainable for home brewers.
PET bottles under CO2 pressure then into the freezer.
I store one pound of hops in each bottle at a time.
They will keep for many years this way.
That’s a great idea!
Even better - I use this cap on the PET bottles for CO2 pressurization!
Use your standard ball lock gas fitting from your CO2 tank to fill.
So, how does the oxygen that is in there get purged?
like any standard pin lock - depressing the poppit in the middle.
He said “oxygen.” When you have liquid in the PET bottle you can squeeze all the air out before capping it with the carbonator, then add CO2, but with hops, I don’t think you can do that, so there will be some O2 in there, but very little.
I have always assumed that the idea is to fill the container with co2, wait a bit for things to settle down in there and then purge through a top opening which should get most of the o2 out as it will have migrated to the top portion of the container. still some o2 but a lot less
right, but what I do is hit it with CO2 and depress the poppit to let the gas out 2-3 times to hopefully purge the oxygen.