Sort of :icon_offtopic: but relevant to some.
While reading through a chapter on hops today in one of my books, I thought the following statement so obvious that it could be easily overlooked by a lot of people (me included) who might have bought the Chinese hops:
"Hop powder should be used first because of the likelihood of deterioration".
I think many people might use them like breakfast serial where all the crumbs and dust get eaten in the last bowl of the packet. As some in the hop buy might have got a bit of powder I thought this might be worth passing on.
Also this reference from Chappo's post when he picked up the hops:
"Now all the baggies arrived in good condition and sealed. Surprising considering the condition of the carboard boxes they came in quite bashed and battered. They have not been vacuum sealed but I do feel they have been at least flushed nitro or CO2. As for refridgeration during transit I also have my doubts but I'm no where near being an expert in these matters. I haven't cracked any other varieties open yet except for the varieties Ross got and have to say his descriptions on the website are pretty accurate."
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=37472&view=findpost&p=563318
And because so many people are going to be using a vacuum sealer very soon, from the same chapter:
"Hop pellets are usually packaged in laminated foil-plastic bags for better storage life. The bags may be fully evacuated and sealed (hard pack); or back filled with an inert gas (soft pack), which results in much improved stability of brewing constituents. One advantage of hard packs is their low volume; another is the integrity of the packaging is immediately noticeable. The disadvantage is that the vacuum packing may lead to agglomeration of pellets into solid blocks, particularly if the resin content is too high. Back flushing may be necessary in order for the pellets to remain in pourable form. European hops are usually soft packed with nitrogen."
So I guess the message there is if the hops are sticky it's best to vacuum seal them in the size you plan to use them in.
:icon_cheers: