What To Do With All These Hops?

[TheJasonT]

It's nice to know people in high places.

Recently I was in NYC on business. I went and had lunch at Heartland Brewery with my dad's boss's secretary (after the grand tour) and we started talking about beer and brewing. She is friends with Martin Ungewitter at Hopsteiner USA, one of the top hop distributors in the world. She gave me his contact info and when I got home, I gave him a call. We talked for a bit. I told him I was still a homebrewer but with plans to open my own nanobrewery in the next couple of years (but that's a different story).

He told me that the smallest size they usually go to is 45 pounds with occasion 10lb leaf and 11lb pellet packs going out. Anyone want to group buy? (And that's yet another story)

Anyways, he said he would send me some sample packs. So I'm thinking I would get a few ounces of a couple varieties... However, I got the package yesterday and found three TWO POUND packages of hops! One each of Apollo, Bravo, and Cascade!

So... What to do with all these hops?!

Seriously though... What is the best way (without a vacuum sealer) to store these hop packs after opening them? I've seen mason jars stored in the freezer as one technique, is anyone using that?

Here's my current hop inventory:





2lb Apollo (17.8%)
2lb Bravo (15.2%)
2lb Cascade (6.0%)
5oz Polaris (21.3%)
3oz Amarillo (10.6%)
1oz Centennial (8.7%)
1oz UK Fuggle (4.8%)
1oz UK Kent Golding (5.8%)
15g Columbus (17.7%)
18g Nugget (14.3%)

 

[Jmarsh544]

I saw recently on homebrewfinds.com a vacuum sealer for $70; kind of seems like a smart idea to spend the money and store the hops properly. If not, sell some of them on Craigslist.... Just my two cents

 

[RacingRam]

Keep hops factory-sealed until you need them. Must hop distributors use mylar bags and flush them with nitrogen, which is better in preventing oxidation.

Vacuum sealing is the way to go...it's a relatively small investment (can be under $50, a good setup is around $70). I second Jmarsh that Homebrewfinds has found some good deals on vacuum sealers. You can see all the vacuum sealer deals here. I have vacuum-sealed a ton of frozen food, too, which gets the SWMBO seal-of-approval.

I've got both vac-seal bags and vac-sealed mason jars in my freezer. I just started with the mason jars and I definitely prefer the jars. With the bags, I throw away or recycle the old bag, cut a new bag off the roll, seal one end, seal the other end (usually both multiple times) and then label the new bag. With the mason jars, I just pour the hops I need out of the jar and reseal the jar with the vac sealer. Donezo.

 

[Nightshade]

I spent the money on a vac sealer both at work and home, no reason not to honestly.

**edit*
Figure it this way, you just spent like $80 on hops and got a screamin deal at that price, now wouldn't it suck to have alll those hops degrade exponentially faster possibly losing some then having to possibly pay a higher market price to replace them on short notice on brew day...all for want of a $70 investment that will make it's money back many times over for years to come.

 

[day_trippr]

^ What they all said. Pick up a good sealer and you're financially still like ten miles ahead. Vac-sealed and stuck in a freezer you'll lose less than 10% of the AA over the next year. Otoh, kept under other less-than-ideal conditions you could lose half in the same time, and worse, and up with a load of cheese. Not good...

Cheers!

 

[SC_Ryan]

Or you could brew an IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPA

 

[TheJasonT]

It probably doesn't help that in the last couple of days I've bought more, does it?

Add to the list:
5oz Mosaic
5oz Zythos
5oz Amarillo

Subtract:
Willamette
EKG
(Used in the stout on Wednesday)

 

[DPBISME]

It's nice to know people in high places.

2lb Apollo (17.8%)
2lb Bravo (15.2%)
2lb Cascade (6.0%)
5oz Polaris (21.3%)
3oz Amarillo (10.6%)
1oz Centennial (8.7%)
1oz UK Fuggle (4.8%)
1oz UK Kent Golding (5.8%)
15g Columbus (17.7%)
18g Nugget (14.3%)

I have a simular problem.

I bought all of a guys equipment and it came with 15-20 pounds of hops.

Most of it was properly sealed and I have been working my way through it for the last YEAR though it has been a bit hard because these are HIGH Alpha hops and I am not a Hophead and make mostly English and German Ales.

The bought the BeerSmith tool and have being using its Hop Age Calculator to caculate where the actual IBU potential is, so many of the recipies I have doubled up the hops... so far so good.

So my plan is to brew a couple very hoppy, and pretty strong IPAs (6.5-7.0 ABV) and age them for an extended period... this will help me use them up.

BUT EVEN THEN I will probably have excess so I will offer the just opened remains to my Brewclub the Wort-Hogs here in Northern VA... I would hate for them to go to waste...

 

[TangoHotel]

As a hop head his would be a cool problem to have . I think a vacuum sealer would be the best option.

 

[OldWorld]

Buy yourself a food sealer and a big fat 18LB slab of boneless rib eye. You'll get 15 steaks and now your food sealer serves it's purpose. Also the hops can be saved too.

 

[Apendecto]

Look up hop bursting and thank me later.