Shipping Hops/Yeast Internationally

Sorry if this post is in the wrong forum - please move if necessary.

I ordered some hops (whole and pellets) to be shipped to my parents house in the US and they are going to send them over to me via USPS in China. Was wondering if hops will last a week and a half or so in transit. Any suggestions on minimizing the degradation of quality, if there is any at all?

I would also like to have my parents bring over some liquid yeast when they come to visit in March (as I can't get it over here) - from house to house it should take 18 hours or so - any ideas on if the yeast would make the trip? Was thinking they could put the yeast in their bag wrapped up with "something" and a blue freezer pack thingy...

Thanks!

Sounds fine for both the hops and yeast, although I'm not sure if you will have an issue with customs on either. You could certainly have them put a few ice packs in with the yeast, but people culture from bottle dregs that have sat at room temp for weeks/months. The hops will lose a alpha acids a bit quicker than they would in the freezer, but over a couple weeks it won't be enough to notice.

+1 to oldsock. From a technical perspective, the only consideration really is viability of the yeast after spending time in weird temperatures for ten days. You will almost certainly get some living yeast, though I would be generous with my starter.

Expect problems from customs. I have formally imported seeds to other countries before, and it is a bit of a logistics nightmare. I would just give it a shot and see if it works, since there's not much to lose. That said, those Beijing customs officials have always been pretty thorough when I've gone through. I think it just depends on who you get checking on that particular day.

MalFet said:

Expect problems from customs. I have formally imported seeds to other countries before, and it is a bit of a logistics nightmare. I would just give it a shot and see if it works, since there's not much to lose. That said, those Beijing customs officials have always been pretty thorough when I've gone through. I think it just depends on who you get checking on that particular day.

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Thanks for the advice guys - I have (knock on wood) never been stopped by customs at PEK yet...and I usually enter the country 5 to 7 times a year. Here's to hoping I continue to "sneak" by. And it looks like I'll/my in-laws, friends, and parents will be growing some hops this summer (and the next couple of years) so I can bring them back to the 'Jing, we'll see how that goes.

Would you bother with a blue ice pack with the yeast?

beerspitnight said:

Thanks for the advice guys - I have (knock on wood) never been stopped by customs at PEK yet...and I usually enter the country 5 to 7 times a year. Here's to hoping I continue to "sneak" by. And it looks like I'll/my in-laws, friends, and parents will be growing some hops this summer (and the next couple of years) so I can bring them back to the 'Jing, we'll see how that goes.

Would you bother with a blue ice pack with the yeast?

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Weird...I must look shady. They probably think I'm on my way to Free Tibet or something with all the Nepal stamps.

I'd use a ice pack. It won't stay cold for any meaningful length of time, but it will act as thermal mass to buffer temperature swings a bit.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.