A few people involved in the current Hop Bulk Buy might want to evaluate this solution for storing their hops when they arrive. It does require a small investment but with the price saved on the cost of the hops could be worth considering. No doubt a lot af people are already doing this but it doesn't hurt to put it out there in case others find it useful.
I ordered one of these Eurolab Food Vacuum Sealers at Deals Direct (on Monday when they had an extra deal with free shipping):
*** Please note that if you buy from Deals Direct using a credit card the order goes straight through with no way of canceling it even if you change your mind straight away, apparently if you use PayPal and the funds aren't transfered to them within 5 days the order cancels out automatically. ***
Also I do acknowledge that some people will see $90 as a major investment not a small one so I'm just relating this to my own situation.
You can pack into the plastic bags supplied with the machine, just cut them to the size you want and reseal. If however you want to pack into Mylar bags the two YouTube clips below are great to watch. And remember if you carefully open the hops you buy from your local HBS you can reseal them again and again until they become too small to use.
I plan to tip hops into a bucket purged with Carbon Dioxide and pack from there.
In future if the Vacuum Sealer works okay I also plan to store some of my grains in Mylar bags, apparently some food products can last 20 to 30 years, and mice don't like it, so that's a bonus.
:icon_offtopic: Can you be off topic in your own post? :unsure: .
I ordered one of these Eurolab Food Vacuum Sealers at Deals Direct (on Monday when they had an extra deal with free shipping):
http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/eurolab-food-vacuum-sealer-keeps-food-fresh-longer/
The majority of feedback for the item is positive and as it has a 3 month warranty anyone using one to package 5kg of hops into small packs would soon know if they had a dud or not. There are obviously other models out there in the market but this one suited my price range.
*** Please note that if you buy from Deals Direct using a credit card the order goes straight through with no way of canceling it even if you change your mind straight away, apparently if you use PayPal and the funds aren't transfered to them within 5 days the order cancels out automatically. ***
Also I do acknowledge that some people will see $90 as a major investment not a small one so I'm just relating this to my own situation.
You can pack into the plastic bags supplied with the machine, just cut them to the size you want and reseal. If however you want to pack into Mylar bags the two YouTube clips below are great to watch. And remember if you carefully open the hops you buy from your local HBS you can reseal them again and again until they become too small to use.
I plan to tip hops into a bucket purged with Carbon Dioxide and pack from there.
In future if the Vacuum Sealer works okay I also plan to store some of my grains in Mylar bags, apparently some food products can last 20 to 30 years, and mice don't like it, so that's a bonus.
:icon_offtopic: Can you be off topic in your own post? :unsure: .
The latest Basic Brewing Video Show is great, hops, hops and more hops!!!!
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=video
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