Hey all, I have never bought hop pellets In bulk and was wondering if storing them in the freezer is the best way to store them before and after opened. Does this affect them in anyway? I plan to use a vacuum sealer to keep them air tight. cheers and thanks
Yes, the freezer is the best way to store pellet hops (as well as dried leaf hops) before and after opening. It keeps them fresh much longer and doesn't hurt them at all. Vacuum sealed packaging also helps a lot. I'll add that I have seen, in two different commercial breweries, open bags of hops sitting in the freezer, with the bags not even closed, let alone sealed. Personally, I wouldn't recommend that.
Yes. As a brewer. We ALWAYS froze them. If the bags were new, and open, they would dated and tightly wrapped. Smaller portions would also get dated, and stored in Cambro's. Properly stored hops last a while. First in. First out.
I recall seeing open boxes of pellet hops stored at room temperature in a commercial brewhouse. I buy their beer frequently, leading me to believe that, while not best practice, maybe it's not as big a deal as my heart tells me it is. But I still wouldn't do it.
I think someone posted this here one time but it details how hops are affected with different storage methods. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/understanding-the-importance-of-the-hop-storage-index
Another question about storage since I’ve experienced a series of unfortunate events. I recently ordered a few liquid yeast packs the other day and they were never delivered. So I got replacements and then I messed up and threw the new yeasts in the freezer not thinking and let them freeze for like 3 hours into solid bricks . And now the missing package of yeast finally appeared today but it’s been 12 days since it was supposed to be delivered, are either batches of these yeasts still viable?
Chances are you still have some live cells in all of these packs. I probably wouldn't try using the 12-days-delayed pack without making a starter first, both to prove viability and to replenish cell counts. I definitely wouldn't try the frozen packs without starters - possibly multi-step starters depending on how the yeast react to the first step.
