air tight jars for hops

[Beeraucratic]

Thanks everyone. The reason I asked is that I recently received a ton of those air tight jars from my aunt. Didn't really know what to do with them, and thought hop storage could be a good idea as my ziplocs seem to not really be doing it for me.

Think I might try the food sealer and purge with CO2 then keep in the freezer. I appreciate all the tips, this was super helpful.

Thanks again!

[JohnF]

@cdburg - I don't have a food sealer, but been thinking about it for actual food, but this attachment might push it over the edge for getting one. So that actually becomes the lid on the jar?

The attachment just sucks the air out of the jar. You'll still use the normal lids, put the attachment on top and run the vacuum. The attachment sucks out the air (most of it) and leaves the lid. With the vacuum in the jar, the lid is held on very tightly. To open the jar, you just pry off the lid.

My food sealer has a "canister" setting that runs a longer cycle than it would it you were using bags. Yes, there is still going to be some air in the jar, but I think it's pretty minimal. The results for me have been the same, if not better, than the bags. I don't know if I got bad batches of bags, or if there were other problems, but sometimes, bags would lose a seal. As long as the rim of the jar is clean (no hop dust), the jars seal and stay sealed.

I find that it helps to wipe (with a paper towel) the inside of the bag where it is going to seal. A hop leaf across the seal will cause it to fail. If you were using pellets and got bad seals, I would guess you had bad bags or your machine was sealing poorly. I rarely have seals fail if I make sure there is no hop leaf there and never on food.

I use the rolls, not the pre-made bags. Always the food-saver brand.

[animaldoc]

I second the Food Saver / Mason Jar storage combo.

I store opened mylar bags of pellets in a jar when I've bought the 1 or 2 ounce packs. When I buy the 8 ounce packages I'll transfer to a jar.

The cold is probably the biggest thing ...... pellets are pretty O2 stable due to the small surface area and decreasing the temperature slows chemical reactions -- per Dr. Bamforth's appearence, each 10 C change speeds/slows chemical reactions by a factor of 2.

[FoothillBrewer]

I'm inclined to go with the school of thought that the coldness is more important than exposure to air/gas (unless we're talking super-long term, over 2 years). I've been working on a couple of bags of whole leaf hops I bought 2 years ago and have been keeping them in the freezer while just doing a basic roll-up to squeeze "most" of the air out of them - they are definitely NOT air tight or vacuum sealed. They've kept their aroma beautifully - I think more to the fact that I've kept them in the freezer vs. trying to get all the air out.

[Ironman]

The three biggest enemies are heat, oxygen, and light, probably in that order. I've heard great things about jars purged with co2.

[Cliff]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=25818

[Mtn Minor]

Not to hijack the thread, but those mason jars are great for a number of things. If you have a pressure cooker, you can sterilize things like, hops bags, stoppers, bottle caps and left over wort for making starters.

That food sealer lid sounds good. When I followed the link, this also popped up:
http://www.amazon.com/50-Absorbers-Dehy ... pd_sim_k_4

Lately, I've taken using the most recently purchased hops for dry hopping and using the older bags for bittering. I've noticed a remarkable improvement in aroma and flavor.

Thanks everyone. The reason I asked is that I recently received a ton of those air tight jars from my aunt. Didn't really know what to do with them, and thought hop storage could be a good idea as my ziplocs seem to not really be doing it for me.

Think I might try the food sealer and purge with CO2 then keep in the freezer. I appreciate all the tips, this was super helpful.

Thanks again!