Consolidate Hop Inventory

[Protos]

I'm envious! But it's a dangerous path, sir.
It starts with 7 tiny seedlings at the backyard.
It ends with acquisition of land in Southern Hemisphere. Cuz one day you NEED that Wakatu-Galaxy-XJA2/436 Quadrupel IPA, and they never grow well at home...

 

[T Murph]

I'm envious! But it's a dangerous path, sir.
It starts with 7 tiny seedlings at the backyard.
It ends with acquisition of land in Southern Hemisphere. Cuz one day you NEED that Wakatu-Galaxy-XJA2/436 Quadrupel IPA, and they never grow well at home...

But I'm hell bent on total down sizing. No more the 5 gal batches and limiting, or at least trying, to only use my seven fav hops.

 

[Protos]

It's so nice to see people thinking similarly to me!
Already for a year, no more the 5 gal batches for me either.

"Hi, I'm Protos and I have Beer Overproduction Disorder."
Now I brew only 1.5 gal batches, two and sometimes three batches per week.

 

[Deadalus]

I saw a mention by @IslandLizard in the DME thread about oxygen barrier bags. I went and searched oxygen barrier vacuum sealer bags found this article How to package hops, hemp, and cannabis. Interesting set of options from the industrial size down to the homebrewer. Looks like for some items a group buy would be in order. (I know what some of you are thinking but I mean empty bags.) For example, minimum on 2oz pellet bags (4x6") was 1000 bags. That would cover 125 lbs of hops.

 

[Protos]

(I know what some of you are thinking but I mean empty bags.)

 

[Shenanigans]

For example, minimum on 2oz pellet bags (4x6") was 1000 bags. That would cover 125 lbs of hops.

That challenge would only feed my addiction and give me the following excuse "I need to buy more hops to fill all these empty bags"

mmm...... 55kg not totally unrealistic if you brew 100 NEIPAs over 3 years with a few pals.

 

[JAReeves]

I have a food saver vacuum sealer and I buy the 4"x6" bags off eBay. IDK, I'd have to look at how much they cost per 100, but if I need to break 1# of hops into 16-1oz. bags for brewing and storage ease, the cost doesn't much matter, does it? I'm still saving money by buying hops in bulk and storing in the freezer.

Well, this is the thinking, at least, that got me to about 50# of hops in the freezer, so YMMV.

Upon reflection, I am waaaaayyyyy tooo good at rationalizing.

 

[hottpeper13]

Ya know 1 lb of hops fit in a 1qt mason jar,and I believe glass is an oxygen barrier. The hops I go thru fast (less then 1 yr ) go in prelabled jars, way easy to find.

 

[cmac62]

I have a food saver vacuum sealer and I buy the 4"x6" bags off eBay. IDK, I'd have to look at how much they cost per 100, but if I need to break 1# of hops into 16-1oz. bags for brewing and storage ease, the cost doesn't much matter, does it? I'm still saving money by buying hops in bulk and storing in the freezer.

Well, this is the thinking, at least, that got me to about 50# of hops in the freezer, so YMMV.

Upon reflection, I am waaaaayyyyy tooo good at rationalizing.

Check this out: Citra Hops the difference between buying Citra by 2oz bags and 1 lb bags is:
2 oz bags are $3.00 x8 =24 and the 1 lb goes for $22.99 you save a whopping $1.01. Not worth it in my eyes. I recently purchased a bunch of hops and paid the extra to get them in 2 oz bags.

 

[Deadalus]

Check this out: Citra Hops the difference between buying Citra by 2oz bags and 1 lb bags is:
2 oz bags are $3.00 x8 =24 and the 1 lb goes for $22.99 you save a whopping $1.01. Not worth it in my eyes. I recently purchased a bunch of hops and paid the extra to get them in 2 oz bags.

This is how much I saved buying from HopsDirect recently vs Yakima Valley. Both were having a sale recently (and that's how I got 1.25 lbs of Cashmere hops @balrog buying from both!). Cashmere ($11), Spalter($2.50), Hallertau Blanc ($3), Strata ($3), Simcoe ($3.25), Liberty ($1.75), Fuggles ($4.30), & Columbus ($7) plus a pound of Pekko hops for $5 which Yakima doesn't have listed but if 2 oz was $2 that's another $11. The smaller savings were comparing the 2oz Yakima prices to the 8 oz price since that was all I bought for about half of these. I also looked at two recent orders from both and I paid less in shipping from YVH ~$10 but the HopsDirect box was bigger as several of those hops are leaf hops.

Those little bags are ~12-15 cents. That's even for those foil type with the ziplock tops. Thanks for mentioning ebay @JAReeves , didn't really think about that. I have a Foodsaver vacuum sealer, anybody know if there are any difficulties with sealing those kinds, like these mylar ones for instance?