Resealable Hop Packaging -- Too Much To Ask?

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MrClint

MrClint

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I've bought hop packages from Yakima Chief, LD Carlson and now for the first time from Artisan. I'm a small batch brewer, so resealable packaging is a welcome surprise from Artisan. Is it too much to ask that this become the standard? Does it add that much to the price of a packet of hop pellets? I have no affiliation with Artisan hops, but I'm a fan at this point.
 
@Bobby_M for the save! You are so right. Good call. I should just go into my storage room where I keep my sealer under the day bed, flip up the day bed cover, pull out the box where I keep the sealer, drag out the box, schlep it into the kitchen, clear off the kitchen counter, pull out the sealer cord from the 2" little pocket in the sealer. plug in the sealer, and start sealing (reverse, lather, rinse & repeat every brew day). I could also buy a bigger house with more counter space for my sealer, or maybe take my thumb and seal a silly little hop package. Just sayin'.

EDIT: Resealable bags are pretty air tight. I buy in small amounts and not that interested in long term storage.
 
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MrClint said:
@Bobby_M for the save! You are so right. Good call. I should just go into my storage room where I keep my sealer under the day bed, flip up the day bed cover, pull out the box where I keep the sealer, drag out the box, schlep it into the kitchen, clear off the kitchen counter, pull out the sealer cord from the 2" little pocket in the sealer. plug in the sealer, and start sealing (reverse, lather, rinse & repeat every brew day). I could also buy a bigger house with more counter space for my sealer, or maybe take my thumb and seal a silly little hop package. Just sayin'.

EDIT: Resealable bags are pretty air tight. I buy in small amounts and not that interested in long term storage.
Click to expand...

MrClint said:
I intend to vote with my dollars from now on.
Click to expand...

Two examples of really sticking it to ‘em. Keep fighting the good fight.
 
MrClint said:
@Bobby_M for the save! You are so right. Good call. I should just go into my storage room where I keep my sealer under the day bed, flip up the day bed cover, pull out the box where I keep the sealer, drag out the box, schlep it into the kitchen, clear off the kitchen counter, pull out the sealer cord from the 2" little pocket in the sealer. plug in the sealer, and start sealing (reverse, lather, rinse & repeat every brew day). I could also buy a bigger house with more counter space for my sealer, or maybe take my thumb and seal a silly little hop package. Just sayin'.

EDIT: Resealable bags are pretty air tight. I buy in small amounts and not that interested in long term storage.
Click to expand...

It would take less time to vac seal a bag of hops than it took to type out an undeserved snarky response but go ahead and put your energy into things that won't make your beer better.
 
I split the difference and use the $19.95 portable Foodsaver sealer on Mason jars of all sizes. It is not as good as a sealed bag, but I have had good luck storing them in the freezer and they are easy to deal with. When I buy the 1LB bags I roughly divide by recipes so the jars are not opened outside of being used once.
 
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MrClint said:
EDIT: Resealable bags are pretty air tight. I buy in small amounts and not that interested in long term storage.
Click to expand...
Research related to the "Hop Storage Index" (link) suggests this is a good approach (look at the lower left corner of table 5).


Does HSI apply to NEIPAs? 🤷‍♀️ Maybe someone will offer the link to the science for properly storing those NEIPA hop oils.


In the mean time, @Bassman2003 hints at an approach (that I've seen over in /r/homebrewing) for those who brew small batch NEIPAs: use unopened packages for flavor additions and save the "left overs" for bittering additions.


I'm aware of a couple of online stores, in addition to Yakima Valley Hops, that package hops in 2, 4, or 6 oz packages.


Point being: one doesn't have to spent "hobby time" repackaging hops.
 
Agree a vacuum sealer is obviously best, but I have had pretty decent results dipping a hop filled ziplock bag in a bowl of water to purge as much out as possible. I'll zip it almost all the way closed with just a small opening and very carefully dip as much of the bag as I can without getting water in side before final seal. This works better with regular sandwich/snack bags rather than the freezer ones, so you'll be storing in a much thinner container if that's a concern.
 
@grzrk : your anecdotal experiences seem to be confirming this:

1683028293729.png


(bars are 3, 6, 12, or 24 months; lower numbers are better, YMMV, etc).
 
Dusted off my wife's old vacuum sealer when I retired and started brewing more often. Actually didn't just dust it off, but gave it a very thorough cleaning. Only to find out when I plugged it in that it doesn't work anymore. And those suckers have gotten pricey 30 years later.
 
MrClint said:
@Bobby_M for the save! You are so right. Good call. I should just go into my storage room where I keep my sealer under the day bed, flip up the day bed cover, pull out the box where I keep the sealer, drag out the box, schlep it into the kitchen, clear off the kitchen counter, pull out the sealer cord from the 2" little pocket in the sealer. plug in the sealer, and start sealing (reverse, lather, rinse & repeat every brew day). I could also buy a bigger house with more counter space for my sealer, or maybe take my thumb and seal a silly little hop package. Just sayin'.

EDIT: Resealable bags are pretty air tight. I buy in small amounts and not that interested in long term storage.
Click to expand...
I just keep plenty of good quality zip-lock sandwich and storage bags on hand in various sizes. If I have leftover hops, I fold up the bag and close it with tape as best I can, put it in a ziplock and then into an air-tight jar or an even bigger zip lock for freezer storage. Maybe overkill but I have hops that have been around for a long time that still have good flavor. Yeah, a vacuum sealed bag would be best, but I don't have room to have one of those out all the time either. :mug:
 
MrClint said:
@Bobby_M for the save! You are so right. Good call. I should just go into my storage room where I keep my sealer under the day bed, flip up the day bed cover, pull out the box where I keep the sealer, drag out the box, schlep it into the kitchen, clear off the kitchen counter, pull out the sealer cord from the 2" little pocket in the sealer. plug in the sealer, and start sealing (reverse, lather, rinse & repeat every brew day). I could also buy a bigger house with more counter space for my sealer, or maybe take my thumb and seal a silly little hop package. Just sayin'.

EDIT: Resealable bags are pretty air tight. I buy in small amounts and not that interested in long term storage.
Click to expand...
I mean if you are that tight on space in your house and can't be bothered with getting your vacuum sealer out for probably one of the best reasons to use a vacuum sealer (saving ingredients that really oxygen sensitive and not cheap) then maybe sell/scrap the vacuum sealer and clean up some space in the house.
 
I bought a half pound of hops which arrived last week and it's the first time I ever got some in a bag that can't reseal, and I had to re-bag it myself. I can't recall the brand at the moment.
 
Maybe Yakima Chief HopUnion? I bought a pound of YCH Cascade on amazon.com that came in a non-resealable bag. Fortunately I had just an ounce of Cascade left in a resealable mylar YVH bag so I put the YCH pellets in with the YVH pellets. They seemed to get along just fine :)

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
Maybe Yakima Chief HopUnion? I bought a pound of YCH Cascade on amazon.com that came in a non-resealable bag. Fortunately I had just an ounce of Cascade left in a resealable mylar YVH bag so I put the YCH pellets in with the YVH pellets. They seemed to get along just fine :)

Cheers!
Click to expand...
That sounds right. When I get home, I might try re-sealing the original bag with my vac sealer... Never thought to try that.
 
YVH pound bags for sure are resealable multi-layer metalized mylar, and I think their half-pound bags may be as well (I only buy pounds)...

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
Maybe Yakima Chief HopUnion? I bought a pound of YCH Cascade on amazon.com that came in a non-resealable bag. Fortunately I had just an ounce of Cascade left in a resealable mylar YVH bag so I put the YCH pellets in with the YVH pellets. They seemed to get along just fine :)

Cheers!
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you paid, but you can buy Cascade cheap directly from YCH. It's 99 cents for 2 ounces, free shipping. With the smaller packaging you don't have to worry so much about resealing.
 
I think I paid $12 for the pound of 2022 Cascade.
fwiw, I keep around 20 strains of hops in the freezer, all bought by the pound.
Don't need the headache of dealing with 1 or 2 ounce packets at that level :)

Cheers!
 
AlexKay said:
Wait ... what? Is that for the larger bags? I only buy 2-oz bags, and unless I'm being very dumb (entirely a possibility) they can't be resealed.
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I have some older 2 oz packs from YVH (given to me by a friend) that are resealable. I am not sure when they switched. I only recall purchasing 8 oz and 16 oz bags myself (which are resealable).

I have a few empty (and cleaned) resealable mylar bags that I have used to repackage the times lately where I have purchased hops not in a resealable bag.

A while back I picked up an Inkbird vacuum sealer on sale for around $45. So far I have only used it to seal my homegrown hops. I guess I have had good enough luck just squeezing out the air from mylar bags and storing them in my freezer. 1 year plus old hops seem fine, but I suspect there is some decline in quality.

A while back I picked up one of the FoodSaver Jar Sealers (this: https://a.co/d/apW0jQs). I have not used it. I could potentially see where storing hops in small canning jars in my freezer would be a decent option.
 
I would think bags would be much better than jars. Evacuating a bag has the benefit of reducing the air volume as the bag collapses. With a jar, you've always got the full volume, and the advantage of vacuum sealing is only as good as the strength of the pump ... for household devices, this means you're probably leaving ~20% of the air in the jar.
 
AlexKay said:
I would think bags would be much better than jars. Evacuating a bag has the benefit of reducing the air volume as the bag collapses. With a jar, you've always got the full volume, and the advantage of vacuum sealing is only as good as the strength of the pump ... for household devices, this means you're probably leaving ~20% of the air in the jar.
Click to expand...
I have wondered the same. I suspect with my process for bags, there is still a reasonable amount of air still left in the bag. More or less than what would be in a jar?

I have also read mixed info on the oxygen permeability of standard vacuum sealer bags. Anybody have info on that? I have seen mylar bags that are designed to be used with a vacuum sealer, but I am not sure the cost is worth the benefits.

Though to some extent, this seems to be trying to solve a problem that I don't have. The real problem I need to solve is to stop buying too many hops so I don't have hops clogging up my freezer for years!
 
MaxStout said:
I'll echo the "get a vac sealer" sentiment. Good ones are >$100 and the off-brand bag rolls are dirt cheap on Amazon. It takes me all of 2 minutes to seal up an opened package of hops.
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I purchased a vacuum sealer several years ago. It has the added advantage of allowing you to seal and freeze various meats ( chicken, beef, pork) etc when your local grocery of choice has a sale!
You can save enough to quickly recoup your cost!
 
I would like to know more about the permeability of the Foodsaver bags. If they are not tight then the purpose is defeated. I know the jars are not 100% the best solution but they do offer glass as the barrier and they are easily resealable. And reusable.
 
Foodsaver bags are made of nylon-reinforced polyethylene, so I would assume that they should have the same gas permeability properties as any other polyethylene film of comparable thickness. Airtight does not mean impervious to diffusion.
 
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mac_1103 said:
Dusted off my wife's old vacuum sealer when I retired and started brewing more often. Actually didn't just dust it off, but gave it a very thorough cleaning. Only to find out when I plugged it in that it doesn't work anymore. And those suckers have gotten pricey 30 years later.
Click to expand...
I found one at the Goodwill store, like new, for $1.99. Check second hand stores ...
 
I've stored my open hops bags in mason jars with vacuum seal lids for a year or more without any noticeable change to hop characteristics, at least to me. When you pump the air out of the jar, if the hop bag has been opened you can watch it compress much like you would see with a vacuum bag, so I'm pretty sure all of the air (O2) is being pulled out. The hand pump makes it easy and convenient to use and store. No plugs or batteries required.

I could not find the exact one's I bought a few years ago, but it is very similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B9T26LBW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A20BO23F68DEX5&psc=1
Once sealed and pumped out, I put the mason jars in the freezer.

~HopSing.
 
fwiw, when I grew hops for seven years I dried and vac' bagged them using Foodsaver standard bags. Inevitably there would be a bag that got punctured by a stem during the process so I'd have to rebag those, and occasionally there'd be a bag with a bit of leaf in the seal which would slowly fail and be easily found, but otherwise they'd stay sucked tight for literally a year or more before they got used up...

1683120177756.jpeg



Cheers!
 
Th
AlexKay said:
I would think bags would be much better than jars. Evacuating a bag has the benefit of reducing the air volume as the bag collapses. With a jar, you've always got the full volume, and the advantage of vacuum sealing is only as good as the strength of the pump ... for household devices, this means you're probably leaving ~20% of the air in the jar.
Click to expand...

The vac sealers don't pull a very high vacuum, something around 20" Hg, so you have about 1/3 atmosphere left in the jar. Unless the jar is packed tightly with hops and filled to the top, you have lots of air left. With the bags there's still 20" vacuum, but it's collapsed and much less air volume left inside.
 
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Thanks. I think the bags are probably good enough from a barrier perspective along with the jars if they are both stored in a freezer. I purchased some very small jars for single recipe loads which helps with the amount of atmosphere to begin with.
 

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