vacuum sealer

I just got this as a gift:

http://www.amazon.com/Waring-PVS1000-Pistol-Professional-Vacuum/dp/B008LW73UY

So easy to use, works great. The bags are probably a bit more expensive that I'd like, but they're also reusable. Strongly recommend.

 

I got a rival sealer from Walmart for like 30 bucks. Works great.

 

That's the horse I use for the job, Professional Vacuum Sealer

 

http://beeradvocate.com/community/t...-are-they-all-made-equal.114128/#post-1686996

 

I have a Foodsaver.. Probably not one of their top end models. Got it at Costco.

I weight my hops in a bowl, dump into the bags, and seal it up. Label it with the hop, the AA% and crop year. Away it goes into a ziploc, and into the freezer in plastic bins.

 

The critical aspect of a vacuum sealer is that the bags are of oxygen impermeable material (e.g., mylar bags). While it is useful to extract the air from the bag (the vacuum part), if the bag material is not oxygen impermeable then oxygen will ingress into the bag and oxidation will occur.

In summary: the bag material is just as important (more important?) than the sealer itself.

Cheers!

 

Don't over think it. Put them in vacuum bags and put them into the freezer. It's a done deal.

An alternative is mason jars and use the vacuum attachments.. Saves on the bags, and you take what you need and seal the rest up.

 

You want to package the hops before you freeze them. The reason being that, if you open a bag of already frozen hops, O2 laden moisture will immediately condense on the hops, which will then be sealed and put back into the freezer.

 

Here is a link to where the person utilizes a mylar bag within a VacMaster bag:http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2011/08/vacuum-sealing-mylar-bags-foodsaver.html

Cheers!

 

I use half gallon mason jars with the lid vacuum sealer attachments. They work great, about 3 half gallon mason jars hold a pound of hops. I keep them in the freezer and they hold up great for a year or so. Nice because you can just take a couple ounces and reseal the jar.

For the sealer itself I got a cheap one and just modified it to work with the jar lid sealers.

 

This is the one I settled on VacMaster Pro260. It has wotked great for everything I've done with it.

 

FoodSaver needs the texture on their proprietary bags to pull the vacuum. Mylar bags won't work.

While not strictly O2 impermeable, in practical terms (<1 year), FoodSaver bags provide adequate protection from oxygen for your hops, IMO. You could always throw in an oxygen absorber for extra peace of mind.

 

...cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap... is how my friends describe me. To seal hops I use a the mason jar attachment from Foodsaver (10 bucks) and a manual pump (4 bucks), all from Amazon. Quick to seal, open, and reseal. Actually easier and quicker than my friend's "motorized" sealer and practically no recurring cost.

 

Not exactly sure if the hops ever get messed up. I use 8/16 oz mason jars and will open/close as many as eight(?) times before using them all. The mason jars live in my freezer and as best as I can tell the last hops have not really suffered. I estimate a 10% annual loss of alpha but's that's a WAG, probably similar in a mylar bag.