lil help with Bulk Hop Storage and Use

OK, so I ordered 4 lbs of hops from hops direct and they arrived frozen due to the temp outside, so I tossed the vacuum sealed bags in my freezer.

Now I want to use some (snow day = brew day), and feel like an idiot asking these questions but:

A) I guess I have to thaw the whole lb. or should I try to break off just what I need?
B) Once I've opened the vacuum pack, what should I do to re-seal? I don't have a vacuum sealer.
C) Waiting on my scale (on a slow boat from Hong Kong). Anybody want to hazard a guess how many pellets make 1 oz.

No guess as to how many pellets equal an ounce. When I ordered from Hops Direct I had a pound arrive frozen solid as well. I simply put them in the fridge when the arrived and let them thaw. You might want to try placing them in warm water as well. As to resealing them, yes reseal the package. A hot iron will do the trick. Simply force as much air out of the package as you can and quickly run the iron over the seam where you opened the package. Place the hops back in the freezer for storage. Not the perfect way to store hops but it will do with what you have available.

There is a killer deal on a foodsaver for $24 right now - 70% off.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/anybody-need-vacuum-sealer-212032/

Captain_Bigelow said:

There is a killer deal on a foodsaver for $24 right now - 70% off.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/anybody-need-vacuum-sealer-212032/

Click to expand...

Whoa, that is a killer deal. Thanks for the heads up.

A freezer-storage bag (multi-ply, heavy duty ziplock) works fine for storing bags you have already opened. Seal the bag except for a tiny corner. Use a straw to suck the air out of the bag and then seal. If you are worried, double bag it.

I also recently got a large quantity of dried whole hops in. A food saver is a great investment and not just for brewing purposes. When my large order came in i split the hops up into 1oz portions and vaccuum packed them individually and labeled them with the hop type, date packaged, and alpha acid percentage

I'm confused as to why anyone is bothering thawing them. Unless they're ecased in ice or something, the frozen pellets have always broken apart fairly easily for me. I kinda punch the bag and they break up mostly into still frozen pellets, and I use my food saver to packge them into whatever size pckages I think I want them in. Definitely mark the date, AA percentage and type on the bag, because it is easy to forget. Also, if you keep them for a long time you'll need the date to calculate AA loss over time.

Get a food saver if you can. It rocks.

oceanselv said:

When I ordered from Hops Direct I had a pound arrive frozen solid as well. I simply put them in the fridge when the arrived and let them thaw. You might want to try placing them in warm water as well. As to resealing them, yes reseal the package. A hot iron will do the trick. Simply force as much air out of the package as you can and quickly run the iron over the seam where you opened the package. Place the hops back in the freezer for storage. Not the perfect way to store hops but it will do with what you have available.

Click to expand...

Bad advice. Just open the pack, 'break' off what you want. I've never thought of it as breaking anything off, I just take out what I want, and fold over the top of the bag. Don't deliberatly warm them up.

I vacuum seal in the cheap ziploc vacuum bags. Before I got them, I just double bagged in a couple of regular ziploc bags and tossed in the freezer. They keep fine that way, but long-term storage is better if vacuum packed.

Best way to weigh an ounce is to have some scales that read that level. You could try an weigh out 4 ozs (should be able to do that on a reguloar kitchen scale), and then use a quarter of that.

Another way. Find something that weighs an ounce (a candy bar or something). Get a rule or other flat piece of wood. Place the wood across a pencil. Place the 1 oz weight on one side of the rule and the weigh the hops on the other (put the hops in a little tin foil to keep them on the balance, or use small plastic containers and make sure they balance before putting the ounce weight in one and hops in the other). Very perimitive, but can work.

They may not be frozen. The vacuum is so good on these things that they appear to be frozen when in reality, they are just 'sucked together' and not 'stuck together'. I had the first thoughts when I got mine last year. As soon as I broke the vacuum I discovered the difference.

Thanks for the advice Calder. For what it's worth, if anyone else out there is impatient and feeling MacGyver-ish, 5 quarters weigh 1 oz ;-)