Has anyone bottled wine using vacuum sealer bags?

[monotious]

I think this is everyone's predicament, but I alway don't have enough bottles for my wine.

What ocurred to me today is whether I can use vacuum sealing food bags (e.g. Foodsaver) to bottle my wine. Has anyone tried this? If anyone has, any tips on vacuum sealing liquid in a bag? Will there be any downsides to this? Obviously, wine bottles generally use cork caps, and I am sure for a reason (wine needs to breathe?), but I also know wine sometimes comes in tetra packs or plastic bottles with plastic caps too.

I searched these forums and there seems to be some discussion on how to store ingredients using vacuum sealers but not on storing finished liquor. Obviously, carbonated stuff like beer will be no good for vacuum bags, but wondering if they will work for wine. I mean, I guess it doesn't even need to be vacuum sealed - just regular ziploc bags with zipper on top might work, for that matter...

 

[meatcleaver]

not sure if it can be done in bags, I would think it would suck the liquid out unless you just use the unit to seal the bags.
I bought the jar sealing attachment for my foodsaver thinking I might try putting up some wine vacuum sealed in mason jars. I haven't tried it yet.
the thing about storing wine in a vacuum is that with no oxygen in the headspace, the wine will not age. would probably be good for wines that would otherwise need to be drunk young.

 

[meatcleaver]

I should add...if wine bottles are in short supply you can always bottle in standard beer bottles with pry off crowns.

 

[monotious]

I already alluded to this in the original posting, but I guess the point is not the vacuum seal. If I need to leave some oxygen inside to allow wine to age, even better, since I would just use a regular ziploc bag without needing to use vacuum sealing machine.

The real question is, any downside to using a plastic food bag as opposed to a glass bottle? Yes, the frosting on the glass is missing in the ziploc bag, but that should be addressed if I keep the bags with wine in a dark place or inside a box. Yes, I would need to handle the bags with more care, since it would be much easier to puncture them or to spill the contents while pouring than a typical wine bottle. Food bags won't be as classy as bottles, but I don't care much about that.

But any real downside, like it will somehow make wine go bad easier, ruin the taste or some other issue that I have not been able to think of? The batches of wine I make typically last my family no more than two months. I do notice the wine ages during that time, but I don't plan on ever making anything that I will keep for years to age or anything. I just make wine for current consumption, so so long as ziploc bag bottling allows that short term aging and mellowing of wine, I'm ok.

I thought this was a pretty clever idea, but I couldn't find anyone actually do this. Googling "bottling wine in ziploc bags" doesn't return any hits or images of anyone doing his, although during that search I learned that there is a product out there called platypreserve.

(By the way, beer bottles are in even shorter supply for me... Too bad the food bag idea is a no go from the get-go because of carbonation.)

Edit: that said, now I realize, if plastic ziploc bags are ok, then I suppose the plastic water bottles that the spring water that I used to make wine came in would also work. Should be even better since they come with screw caps.

 

[Zuljin]

Wine is a box is actually wine in a bag.

 

[thunderwagn]

This may be of interest to you.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T7ZGZSA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I'll add, I've used my foodsaver on soups and stocks, but I've always frozen first in ziplocks and then placed in sealer. I can't imagine using my vacuum sealer on a liquid. It would be really awkward, not to mention sucking liquid into the machine.

 

[tjmac5071]

I already alluded to this in the original posting, but I guess the point is not the vacuum seal. If I need to leave some oxygen inside to allow wine to age, even better, since I would just use a regular ziploc bag without needing to use vacuum sealing machine.

The real question is, any downside to using a plastic food bag as opposed to a glass bottle? Yes, the frosting on the glass is missing in the ziploc bag, but that should be addressed if I keep the bags with wine in a dark place or inside a box. Yes, I would need to handle the bags with more care, since it would be much easier to puncture them or to spill the contents while pouring than a typical wine bottle. Food bags won't be as classy as bottles, but I don't care much about that.

But any real downside, like it will somehow make wine go bad easier, ruin the taste or some other issue that I have not been able to think of? The batches of wine I make typically last my family no more than two months. I do notice the wine ages during that time, but I don't plan on ever making anything that I will keep for years to age or anything. I just make wine for current consumption, so so long as ziploc bag bottling allows that short term aging and mellowing of wine, I'm ok.

I thought this was a pretty clever idea, but I couldn't find anyone actually do this. Googling "bottling wine in ziploc bags" doesn't return any hits or images of anyone doing his, although during that search I learned that there is a product out there called platypreserve.

(By the way, beer bottles are in even shorter supply for me... Too bad the food bag idea is a no go from the get-go because of carbonation.)

Edit: that said, now I realize, if plastic ziploc bags are ok, then I suppose the plastic water bottles that the spring water that I used to make wine came in would also work. Should be even better since they come with screw caps.

This just screams bad idea to me...but I believe they sell snorkel type food savers, so if you have one of those I could see how you may be able to do this with only a mini disaster on yours hands.

I would say let the wine sit while you work through some store bought wine. Or just buy more bottles.

 

[jmcquesten]

I know this wasn't the question, but do you keg beer? You could keg wine. I have no experience with it, but I'm pretty sure I've seen something about kegging wine on this forum.

Obviously this is an expensive option, especially if you aren't kegging beer, but it's something to think about.

As far as vacuum sealing liquids, it's recommended to freeze the liquid before bagging. This works great for soups, but I don't think freezing wine would be an easy or good idea. I didn't have much luck vacuum sealing liquid (soup), but that's not saying you can't seal in vacuum bags without actually vacuuming.

 

[DaWhip]

I use a foodsaver a ton and I can tell you that it won't work. Won't seal well with the liquid. you might be able to get away with one of the models that has the moist seal and quick seal functions. As soon as it starts to suck liquid, hit the seal button. It might seal, depending how much liquid got pulled, though it will probably leave a little oxygen in there. The plastic is also slightly oxygen permeable so aging for a long time could be bad.

It would probably work with some of the accessories that run off the accessory port, like the mason jar lid or some vacuumable ziplocs.

 

[IrregularPulse]

$35 for 24 750mL bottles. That will bottle 5G of wine. Cheaper than replacing your FoodSaver. Hell, cheaper than the bags you'll be using IN the FoodSaver in the long run.

 

[meatcleaver]

never bought new bottles unless they were full of beer or wine.
I've picked up most of my wine bottles secondhand at the thrift store for $1 each.
do you have a recycling center nearby?
you might try digging in dumpsters behind local bars or restaurants that serve alcohol.
even reusing plastic soda bottles would be a better alternative than plastic bags.

 

[BBBF]

I know this wasn't the question, but do you keg beer? You could keg wine. I have no experience with it, but I'm pretty sure I've seen something about kegging wine on this forum.

Obviously this is an expensive option, especially if you aren't kegging beer, but it's something to think about.

I most of my wine now. It works great, but you need to use nitrogen or argon instead of co2 (unless your want it sparkling). And if you're going to dispense from the keg, you want stainless steel faucets. The acid will eat away that the chrome & brass. Also, make sure your stainless is 304SS and not 303SS. For some reason, this makes a difference in the flavor.