How do you store your ingredients...

Like most of you, I keep my grains in either a plastic bag (Ziplock) or plastic bucket and always some place dry and cool.

Yeast goes into the fridge until it's time to make a starter but I'm curious as to how you store your hops...

Normally I keep mine in the freezer but was wondering if it is okay to keep them in the fridge...

Currently, I have a little dorm fridge in the garage where I brew and I was think that I might start keeping my hops in there with the yeast but wasn't sure how that would affect preservation....I went all hop crazy when I first heard about the hop shortage and started stock piling all types of speacilty hops and they are taking up a lot of room in my freezer.

Hops will last longer in the freezer. oxygen and temp are the enemies of hops.

Hops in the freezer here.

From the Brewing Techniques magazine archive:

For optimum preservation of hops' valued qualities, they should be stored as cold as possible (30 to -5 degrees F, or -1 to -21 degrees C) and away from air. Cold temperatures slow the oxidation process.

Click to expand...

Says it all, really.

Cheers,

Bob

I typically will vac. seal mine with a food saver and store them in the fridge. I don't believe freezing them is good idea. But I could be wrong. You may run the risk of freezer burn if you leave them for too long of a time period. But I'm sure I can be proven wrong.

I vac seal my hops in 1 and 2 oz bags (what a PITA when you order 4lbs at a time)
My Specialty grains I vac seal in 2 lb bags, and keep in a fridge.
My base grains go into 15 gallon air tight containers until used

150 lbs normally last me about 2 months of brwing.

Freezing is ok for Hops, as long as they are vac sealed and dont sit in there for more than 2 years, so I have been told at least.

From the same article to which I linked above:

If you keep them very cold and free from oxygen, hops should last a few years. It's not uncommon for hop brokers to be selling pelletized and vacuum-sealed hops from two or three seasons ago. Commercial breweries continue to use last year's crop well into the current year's harvest. This is not to say that the oils and a-acids will be exactly the same as when you purchased them, but the hops won't be "bad"; hops are not considered "bad" until they get below 50% of their original a-acid value, at which point the degree of oxidation will produce a definitely cheesy aroma.

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At the time that article was written, the author was the owner of HopTech, and wrote the book Using Hops. So that's The Word! It's science!

Cheers,

Bob

Excellent, sounds like the colder the better...thanks Bob.

Once again, proven wrong. Thanks for the clarification Bob!

Don't mean to "prove wrong" - consider it "setting the record straight"!

Seriously, I'm glad I could help. I learn things on HBT every time I visit, and like to pay it forward where I can.

Bob

I would have to agree... learning and sharing is what HBT is all about. My wife has gotten me into the groove of being wrong so I'm use to it, so it's no big deal Bob