vacuum sealer

As I said, above, opening a container of frozen hops causes a coating of frost to immediately form on the hops that you're going to reseal and put away. This largely defeats the purpose of sealing and freezing them. Ideally, you want to break them down into batch sized packages before freezing and open them only once - when you use them.

(That's the same reason you don't want to store coffee in the freezer, BTW)

 

I've yet to experience this phenomenon with the mason jar lid vacuum sealer attachment. Oregon isn't the most humid of places, so maybe that is a factor? The hops smell very fresh a year later. With the half gallon jars I often reseal 4 or 5 times and they are still smelling great. I've be using this system for a few years with no problems.

 

It's a pretty safe bet that condensation is happening, even in a relatively dry climate (Physics, you know). Unless you store your hops for an extended period, though, the degradation may not be significant. In that case, it's probably a non-issue. And if, indeed, you've never detected the effect of the phenomenon, then it's definitely a non-issue.

 

Search Amazon for Ziplock Starter Kit (the pump comes with some vacuum ziplocks). For the record it isn't perfect, about every fourth jar seems tricky, to get a good seal you have to remove lid and start over. It always seals, but you have to fiddle-fart with it some. Also, it probably isn't a complete vacuum. The pump extracts air until the lid is so tight it seals, most likely a few air molecules remain. But nothing enters, you have to use a knife or spoon to break the seal to open.

My experience is like beeraroundtown . . . satisfied so far. Obviously using the smaller jars minimizes the openings. Oh yeah, if you have a hand vacuum pump used to bleed brakes it will also do the trick.

 

The one I have is the Foodsaver Mealsaver. It was about $25 from Amazon. It's electric and takes about 20 seconds to seal it. It does require a quick modification, you just have to remove one piece with a few screws, then you can attach it to the jar sealers. I think you can get the jar sealer kit for about $25, it comes with both the wide-mouth and small-mouth pieces as well as the hose+plug attachement.

http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-FSM...387382782&sr=8-1&keywords=foodsaver+mealsaver

http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-wid...d=1387382885&sr=8-6&keywords=mason+jar+sealer