Hops going stale?

I don't know how many of you have left over hops you have opened or have hops stored in regular plastic bags but they are slowly becoming useless over time. Hops will lose alpha acids (bittering quality) as they are exposed to heat and oxygen. Keeping the hops cold and away from oxygen will delay this loss.

Storing your hops in a sealed, airtight container in the freezer will keep them the freshest. If there is no room in the freezer, the refrigerator is better than no cold storage. It is best to reseal our oxygen barrier bags with a heat sealer, but if you do not have a heat sealer, put the hops in a Mason jar. They will keep in a Mason jar, in the freezer for many months. If you have a CO2 tank, flush the jar with CO2 before putting the hops in and again just before putting on the lid. Remember to use a regulator and not the CO2 straight from the tank. Nitrogen is better than the CO2, if it is available.

Thanks for the heads up! I usually never open mine until they are about to take a dive

You can always save them for YEARS and use them for a pLambic.

Mason jars is a good idea. I have a bunch of hops in the freezer. Some are still vacuum sealed, but some I have opened. The ones that I have opened I put insidea freezer bag, get the air out, seal it up, then put that in another freezer bag, get the air out, and seal it up. I am pretty confident that this is effective, but I bet that a mason jar would be more effective. Thanks for the tip.