[Robert]

Thanks for the info.  But if all the air is evacuated, and the pack stays hard indicating no air seeping in (I must say the compaction of the hops is a real plus for me, using whole cone and with limited space in the freezer,) it seems to me the net effect is similar to sealing in a barrier bag containing some air.  And if stored below 0°F, where "HSI is out the window..." well I've had excellent luck with this so far, guess I'll stick with it.

[trapae]

 Martin, do use oxygen absorber packets?

[Joe Sr.]

I haven't gone crazy with mylar or oxygen absorbing packets, and I've found that my hops store just fine in vacuum sealed bags.

As always, do what you like, but I'm cool with the Foodsaver bags and trying to use up my hops in a reasonable amount of time.

[Robert]

I have another "trick."   I have limited space and changing tastes,  so instead of buying really long term,  I usually bulk buy as much as I have room for of what I think I will want when the new crop comes out,  and re-up midyear.   My assumption is that Hops Direct or whoever is storing them better than I would in the interim.   Like Joe Sr. use in a reasonable amount of time.   You still save big $$ over buying ounce by ounce  at LHBS.

That said, to the original question:   cold storage should allow them to be good for years,  just use your nose.  Remember the "hop glut" a few years back?  Brewers had so many years worth of pellets in storage that it really disrupted the market and led to many acres being grubbed up, farmers turning to other crops.  The virtue of pellets is, they keep.

[ynotbrusum]

I buy a pound at a time and use them up within a few months, stored in the resealable bags that they come packaged in after squeezing out the air.  Not perfect, but the hops stay reasonably fresh as far as I can tell.

I don’t think it is excessive to use Mylar or other means to avoid oxygen ingress, but I don’t feel that I need to go to those lengths to keep hops usable.

[BrewBama]

Dragging up an old conversation here: does anyone use the Hop Age Calculator in BeerSmith to calculate AA?

I got some Kazbek hops which I understand are a higher AA Saaz with a bit of lemon peel atop the spiciness. Unfortunately, these hops are dated Oct 2016 and I am concerned I need to increase the qty to get the IBU I am looking for. I normally don’t even think about it but they are a bit older than I normally use. I have no idea how they’ve been stored. I immediately placed them in my growing collection stored in the freezer.

[hopfenundmalz]

Dragging up an old conversation here: does anyone use the Hop Age Calculator in BeerSmith to calculate AA?

I got some Kazbek hops which I understand are a higher AA Saaz with a bit of lemon peel atop the spiciness. Unfortunately, these hops are dated Oct 2016 and I am concerned I need to increase the qty to get the IBU I am looking for. I normally don’t even think about it but they are a bit older than I normally use. I have no idea how they’ve been stored. I immediately placed them in my growing collection stored in the freezer.

I did that in promash, not much difference for 1 year old hops. For ones 3.5 years old I would do it.

[BrewBama]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[denny]

Dragging up an old conversation here: does anyone use the Hop Age Calculator in BeerSmith to calculate AA?

I got some Kazbek hops which I understand are a higher AA Saaz with a bit of lemon peel atop the spiciness. Unfortunately, these hops are dated Oct 2016 and I am concerned I need to increase the qty to get the IBU I am looking for. I normally don’t even think about it but they are a bit older than I normally use. I have no idea how they’ve been stored. I immediately placed them in my growing collection stored in the freezer.

I did that in promash, not much difference for 1 year old hops. For ones 3.5 years old I would do it.

Same here