Nuh uh, YOUR vacuum sealer sucks!

Sorbent Systems makes a large variety of packaging that looks like it would be the bees knees for sealing hops and other stuff:

http://www.sorbentsystems.com/vacuum_bags.html

Just wanted to post I've now bagged ~3oz of dried hops using the foodsaver. Took a time or two to understand just how much they will compress and how to properly get them to settle before vacuuming, but it's worked out great. I've got those 3oz in the back of my freezer awaiting my next brew.

Also harvested my largest single picking yet, looks to be a good 2oz once dry. And there are still probably hundreds on the bine. So for a first year cascade, this sucker is really putting off a lot of hops! I'm hoping for a good 1/2 pound final harvest when all is said and done.

I just got this last night. It's a hand pump vacuum (um, no, not this!).

It was <$4 from Walmart. It came with 3 1qt. size bags. I used 2 bags for around 8 oz of whole leaf hops and it seemed to worked really great. I will have to see if the bags hold a vacuum or not though. Will update later.

Baron ken said:

I just got this last night. It's a hand pump vacuum (um, no, not this!).

It was <$4 from Walmart. It came with 3 1qt. size bags. I used 2 bags for around 8 oz of whole leaf hops and it seemed to worked really great. I will have to see if the bags hold a vacuum or not though. Will update later.

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That's what I'm using also. So far it's holding the vacuum just fine. I can fit 2 - 3 oz. in the quart size bag and vacuum it right down. For the money I'm not disappointed.

I use Space Bags. I have the really big ones and have 8-10 lbs of grain in them, I use the shop vac to create the vacuum and they stay for months. I have smaller ones for hops and they work great too. A little trick to keep the hops from being sucked up is to put them in a regular HDuty zip lock bag and poke some holes in it and put the whole thing in the vacuum bag . Air is sucked out but the hops stay put. I do this with the grains also.


The grain ends up being like those coffee bricks hard as a rock so make sure you have them in the shape that works in the frige or freezer

Homercidal said:

Sorbent Systems makes a large variety of packaging that looks like it would be the bees knees for sealing hops and other stuff:

http://www.sorbentsystems.com/vacuum_bags.html

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thats one of the nice things about a vacuum sealer is you can use these bags, and use your sealer. they are great for light sensitive products. they have oxy products that will absorb oxygen ensuring good storage for long periods of time. if one was to want to store items for years it can be possible with the mylar bags and the absorbent. http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/ff17-oxy.htm

JustDave said:

I have that, and the bags don't hold their seal.

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I've found the same thing. Bag's blow (er - suck?) and it's often difficult to get the bag and sucker to mate properly.


(something's just really wrong with what I just said - I can't put my finger on it though.)

i got that zip lock thingy too

Use a foodsaver for venison. Works great! Well worth the $.

Baron ken said:

I just got this last night. It's a hand pump vacuum (um, no, not this!).

It was <$4 from Walmart. It came with 3 1qt. size bags. I used 2 bags for around 8 oz of whole leaf hops and it seemed to worked really great. I will have to see if the bags hold a vacuum or not though. Will update later.

Click to expand...

Over a month now and the vacuum is still tight!

Just wanted to update to say I finished harvesting my first year hops. All told I got close to 10oz from the Cascade and ~1/2oz of Nugget (light blocked by a tree most of the day). The Foodsaver worked fantastic and now I have a nice section of the freezer clogged up with the frozen vac bags. I've been having some basement water issues which has stopped me from brewing for the last several months, but I'll be brewing up something in the next month or two with some of my own hops!

EvilTOJ said:

I wasn't sure if this should go in hop growing or equipment/sanitation, so I'm sticking it here. With the impending hop harvest, people will be wanting something to store their precious hop cones in. Sandwich bags work alright for storage but removing all the air is even better!

I've been looking to get a vacuum sealer like a foodsaver, but most that I've found have been in the range of $200 or more. Back before The Unpleasantness I had a Deni vacuum sealer that cost $20 and it didn't work so well. The suction was poor, baggies didn't seal all the way sometimes and the baggies themselves were hard to deal with. So I ask you, O HBT residents. What kind of sealers do you have, how happy are you with it, and how much did it cost? As I don't actually have a yard for hops yet, I'll be using mine for more general purpose stuff like for bulk meat and other grocery items, and for storing items for my zombpocalypse survival kit.

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I am in the market for a vacuum sealer and thought I would bring this old thread back. I am wondering if you may have different machines to talk about now, and what your experience is.

But seriously I got a foodsaver at xmas and its awesome. The wife uses it to split up large packs of meat and I split up my hops with it.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00869943000P?keyword=food+vacuum+sealer

I got this one. There was a Foodsaver model on the shelf next to it for an additional $30, and I couldnt' tell the difference.

Dave

SkiSoloII said:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00869943000P?keyword=food+vacuum+sealer

I got this one. There was a Foodsaver model on the shelf next to it for an additional $30, and I couldnt' tell the difference.

Dave

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well, Kenmore doesn't actually make anything, so theres a chance it IS a foodsaver.

Synovia said:

well, Kenmore doesn't actually make anything, so theres a chance it IS a foodsaver.

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The picture looks IDENTICAL to the Foodsaver I have.

So, when you open a bag up to use some hops, are you able to vacuum reseal it? Or do you have to put the remaining hops into a new bag and start from scratch?

I just ordered four pounds of hops and will be ordering more in a few more weeks. I've always kept my hops in a dedicated chest freezer in Ziplok bags. One of these may come in handy.

If you originally package it with a bit of extra room on the sealed end, and you cut the pack straight, you can reseal. Otherwise, you won't be able to get the opening to the vacuum chamber. Probably takes and extra ~3/4". Get the rolls, not the pre-made bags. I use the 11" rolls and can make 2 bags side-by-side.

Dave

SkiSoloII said:

If you originally package it with a bit of extra room on the sealed end, and you cut the pack straight, you can reseal. Otherwise, you won't be able to get the opening to the vacuum chamber. Probably takes and extra ~3/4". Get the rolls, not the pre-made bags. I use the 11" rolls and can make 2 bags side-by-side.

Dave

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Yup. I start with an oversized bag to allow for content reduction, cutting and resealing. Works like a charm.

I bought a Rival Seal-A-Meal at Target, which was sitting right next to the Foodsaver and cost less than half of what they wanted for the brand name. Takes all the same attachments (I have several Foodsaver attachments that I use regularly), and mine has been working like a champ for months.

weirdboy said:

I bought a Rival Seal-A-Meal at Target, which was sitting right next to the Foodsaver and cost less than half of what they wanted for the brand name. Takes all the same attachments (I have several Foodsaver attachments that I use regularly), and mine has been working like a champ for months.

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Yeah, but yours has AIDS.

Does anyone know if this freshsaver foodsaver can be used with the mason jar accessory? If possible I'd like to get this cheaper smaller version and only use canisters and mason jars.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002NGNBR8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

All I want to know is if I can use THESE bags with my Foodsaver?

http://sorbentsystems.com/mylar.html

You must use the Food Saver bags. The Food Saver doesn't use the snorkel system, instead it uses the channels in the bags to suck out the air.

mosquitocontrol said:

Does anyone know if this freshsaver foodsaver can be used with the mason jar accessory? If possible I'd like to get this cheaper smaller version and only use canisters and mason jars.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002NGNBR8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

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If you want to use mason jars or any type of glass jar with rubber lids I would recommend this

Its cheap, very fast, and works great for jars. It is not the easiest if you want to use bags, it will work, but made more for jars. The only nice thing is you dont need special bags.

Check Craigslist if you haven't already. I was just looking around yesterday and saw 2 listings for $15, another for $35, and others for $50 and $60. A great deal for something probably just as good as new.

Yambor44 said:

All I want to know is if I can use THESE bags with my Foodsaver?

http://sorbentsystems.com/mylar.html

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My first two posts on here are both bring up old threads again. Apologies in advance, just wanted to put this out there in case anyone else is looking.

Sorbent Systems do now make channel bags, and the prices look pretty good. Link with their channel bag line is:
http://www.sorbentsystems.com/foodsaverbags.html

My rival seal-a-meal is still going strong...

I think I posted this in another thread but I bought a bunch of rolls of foodsaver bag material from some place in bulk and have been using those.

I also use it to seal mason jars as well as reused pickle jars and the like. I just put the pickle jar inside one of the big foodsaver containers and vacuum it out that way. Works great!

menschmaschine said:

I have one of these and find it good for the price. Depending on what you're sealing, you have to be careful particles don't get caught in the "zipper" part or the bags won't seal properly. I modified mine by adding a power connector for a 9 volt power supply... 6 AAs is ridiculous.

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Did the same power supply mod to my Reynolds. Plus I always double bag just in cast there's a bad seal. Might not be the best, but it works and it's cheap.

HSN is now selling the bags.

I have a foodsaver machine. I've had it for several years and it works very well. We use it all the time.
Costco sells them for around $150 and has a large box of refill bags as well (don't remember the price). Well worth the money in my opinion.

After my first two years of sealing hops I got bored (4 month old also factored into this), so I said screw it, we're going to make one huge double (triple?) IPA with all the hops from this years harvest. Due to a near unending summer drought I had lost the top 10ft of my cascade hops so my overall yield from that plant was only 3.5oz. My nugget plant which is partially shaded during the day did much better and I was able to get 6.5oz off of it (and it's purposefully kept small due to it being at the front of the house on the lightpost). Probably spent 4-5 hours of time removing the binds and picking the hops but in the end I was left with a huge amount. Dried them for 2 days on home-made window screens and then went about my brew.

I had a buddy help me because 10oz of whole-flower hops is LARGER than the actual turkey frier pot I'm using to boil (I do extract with crystal grain steeping). Here was my recipe in case anyone out there is crazy enough to attempt a clone:

-7.5lbs extra pale malt extract

-1lb crystal 20 grains (steeped for 15min @ ~170F)

-6.5oz nugget boiled for 70min

-nugget then removed by strainer to allow for cascade hops

-3.5oz cascade added and boiled for 10-15min

-at end of boil I quickly removed the cascade hops using the strainer to prevent clogging when putting into fermenter. This method worked great to reduce losses from hop absorption (squished the hops between a metal bowl and the strainer to get back as much wort as possible).

-Pitched one packet of Nottingham dry yeast (hydrated 30min prior to pitching using a weak wort solution from the boil)

When I was done it smelled HEAVENLY, and is sure to be a rockin' super IPA. No clue on what IBU estimate the brew is (anyone have a handy calculator for a guess?), but there is no way it's not going to pucker the palate.

Sorry for taking this a bit off-topic, but for those of you that want to avoid the storage of the hops, just do as they did in old times, and make your beer when the hops are ready!

I bought Foodsaver Professional II probably about 10 years ago and I love it and its still going strong!

I haven't used it for hops yet but it has been great with anything from meat to vegetables to shoes....hehehe

My favorite part about the one I bought is that it has bag storage and a cutter built into it. It also have the vacuum port for doing canning jars and their special containers.

BUY ONE!

Yeah i'm bringing back an older thread to post a deal I saw online.

A couple Food Saver deals online.

Just ordered one from Costco My mom knew we had been wanting one for both hops and other things my wife and i do for the kids an such.. sorry to say it late but they had a $20 off discount on one regular $159 for $139 online only.. I know their regular "store" price is $149..