Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

Currently, I keep my hop pellets in the freezer. Ideally, I know that they should be in vacuum sealed bags, and those that I bought in 1-2 oz packages are.  But to get the best deals in hops you have to buy 1 lb. quantities.  So, my options are A) to use ziploc bags, B) reuse the foil bag and try to smash out as much air as possible and clip it closed, or C) a combination of bags.  I was considering buying a vacuum sealer but I don't really want to because they're expensive (and I'm cheap), it's one more kitchen gadget to store, and I can foresee LOTS of little bags getting used.  So then I started thinking... I know, uh oh, right?  We have this little vacuum handpump that we use with rubber "corks" for storing open bottles of wine.  It does a pretty good job of preventing oxidation of the wine and we've had bottles last a surprisingly long time.  I'm wondering if I could re-use old wine bottles and these vacuum rubber stoppers to store my hops in the freezer?  Is this a stupid idea? Maybe worth trying with a small amount of hops? 

I don't know how well they seal, as I suspect that you would slowly get oxygen transfer into the bottle.  I find the best way for larger amounts is to put them in a ziplock bag and force out as much air as possible before tossing them in the freezer.  I think this helps, but to be honest, at freezing temperatures the oxidation process must be very slow.  I would think that temperature is far more important than completely sealing the bags (I seem to remember a Brew Strong episode recently that said the same thing).  I would not worry about it.

I've always done the little, rolled up baggies in the freezer, but the bottle idea is an interesting one.

If you tried in with wine bottles, I'd use really small ones. (Like Lost Abbey uses now, or some of the little caged and corked Belgian ales)

I've known people that used old, clean, baby food jars in the past, but I doubt they sealed very well and you still had to put a few extra ounces in them to close the air-space.