Ball jar for storage?

[shek]

This was my first year of growing hops, and I just picked my single cascade bine clean (about 5 oz wet) along with a few stragglers from my columbus bine (about 1.5 oz wet). Does anyone have an idea how important vacuum packing is? I've got some small ball jars that I think would be a perfect fit if I try to cram as many hops into a jar as possible it should drive most of the air out, right? I'm probably going to use these hops within a month, so I'm not too concerned about having excellent storage.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

If you are using them within a month then vacuum sealing them is not crucial. I would just put them into the canning jars and put them in the freezer. Your AA lose will be minimal compared to vacuum sealing them.

 

[The Pol]

If you are using them quickly... then I wouldnt fret.

If you plan to store them, you better find a vaccuum sealer. I have 9 pounds of hops stored in Ball jars, BUT I vaccuum sealed them with the foodsaver.

Simply packing the jar full of leaf hops (which dont pack well) will not remove enough O2 to preserve them.

 

[uechikid]

Yep, it's important to get the as much oxygen off the hops as possible. The food saver vacuum sealers are kind of expensive, but Worth the money. We use ours all the time. I have seen the "seal a meal" vacuum sealers for around $50. If you're going to grow you own hops you're going to need to vacuum seal them.

 

[cuinrearview]

Ball jars are great for washing yeast, but for hops eventually you'll want to vac. seal them when your plant produces more hops than you can use within a couple of months.* And isn't that what we're all shooting for?

 

[shek]

Thanks for the responses. I think I'll be using these within a few weeks, I've got 1.5 oz of cascade and about 0.5 oz columbus (both first year, the columbus is actually my second harvest, had about 4 oz of wet columbus earlier), all in the same jar, separated by a piece of al-foil. I crammed them down in the jar using a pint glass, and I think they look pretty cool squished together in the shiny jar.

 

[desertbronze]

I store hops in glass jars. I use a vacuum device called the "Pump-N-Seal". Works like a champ and you can reseal them after opening.