Storing Ingredients

[ssmif135]

I have recently purchased my malted barley, hops, yeast, etc and I was wondering how everyone stores it.

Do you leave the malted barley in the sacks they come in or do you put them in something else?

I just want to make sure I keep my ingredients fresh.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Toilet Rocker]

I leave everything in the box my HBS gives me to carry everything in. Hops and yeast go in the fridge, but otherwise, I keep everything sealed at room temp and experience no problems.

 

[tnlandsailor]

Malted grain needs to be kept cool (not necessarily refrigerated) and above all, dry. Store it in a place with low humidity and out of reach of rodents. Mice absolutely LOVE malted grain. They will chew through just about anything to get it. I have a sealable plastic storage bin that I use for grain storage in an air conditioned basement.

The big enemies of hops are heat and oxygen. I store my hops in the freezer, but I also store them under vacuum in canning jars which I vacuum seal using a gizmo called a Pump-N-Seal. This would be for pellet hops. If you use whole hops, you might want to consider a Food Saver or other vacuum bagging type kitchen sealer. The vacuum bagging really cuts down on space. I would still freezer store the hops whatever form your choose. If you don't buy your hops in bulk and you turn over your inventory fairly often, vacuum sealing probably isn't necessary, but I would still opt for freezer storage.

Yeast needs to be in the fridge and used ASAP.