Reynolds handi-vac

[Kevin Dean]

The reason my DME won't seal is because of the gunk stuck in the zipper seal. Once the DME is gone (I'm going to start doing crockpot mini-mashes for starters. Yay for Barley Crushers!) I'm going to wash that out (they claim the bags are re-usable) and see if degunkifying it doesn't allow it to re-seal.

As to sealing I've noticed two things.

1.) There are little holes in the bag near the disc. Due to machining, these holes and the disc don't always line up. Looking for the little U-Shaped holes and putting the pump over that works pretty well. I've only had one bag out of two boxes be horribly off though.

2.) The bag "seals" if you press the pump on it. I lay mine on a counter, put the pump on it and go. It usuall does nothing. Lift if EVER so slightly and the air rushes out of that bag rather quickly. The point there is "be gingerly".

 

[Dr Vorlauf]

I already bought a Reynolds handi vac. Biggest problem for leaf hops is that you get a lot of hop dust in the seal strip area. I thought about this for a few secs and decided the best way to remove this was with a simple old swiffer. Works great and the seal is perfect.

I can fit 1 oz of leaf hops per quart bag. I know alot of you guys had problems with the seal etc.... My ultra simple solution is to vacuum seal about 7 quart ( 1 oz of leaf hops ) bags and then put them into a gallon size bag and seal that. Redundancy... Perfect seal for 3 weeks.

 

[2 4 tripping]

Glad I talked myself into a food saver. Was a little pissed that Reynolds had this on the cheap just after I got my food saver. Happy now though, sorry it is at your expense though.

Trip

 

[CodeRage]

Glad I talked myself into a food saver. Was a little pissed that Reynolds had this on the cheap just after I got my food saver. Happy now though, sorry it is at your expense though.

Trip

Same boat as you man! I bought a food saver on special at SAMs Club, got back and read about the Handyvac and was quite bummed.

 

[FatMonsters]

I bought the Rival Seal-A-Meal machine. Tried it out for like three hrs last night and could not get it to vacuum properly. I'm returning it today to Target. I think I'll just upgrade right away and get the next model up.

 

[rabidgerbil]

I've tried using it for homemade beef jerky. No hop dust there, and it still doesn't work

I'll try the half-full suggestion though.

You must make some really dry jerky to be putting off jerky dust.

 

[Chriso]

I bought the Rival Seal-A-Meal machine. Tried it out for like three hrs last night and could not get it to vacuum properly. I'm returning it today to Target. I think I'll just upgrade right away and get the next model up.

Sorry you had troubles - My Seal-a-Meal is great! Perhaps just exchange for a different one? Make sure you're lining up those seams, sometimes it can be tricky when you have a heavy bag to seal. Best of luck with it, dude.

 

[rabidgerbil]

Glad I talked myself into a food saver. Was a little pissed that Reynolds had this on the cheap just after I got my food saver. Happy now though, sorry it is at your expense though.

Trip

I have the food saver too, asked for it for Christmas. I had one years ago, and after a few years the pump went out, and have been wanting another one. One good way to handle things like DME and what not with the food saver is to put it into canning jars and use the food saver attachment for sealing jars. A whole lot cheaper than the "food saver" containers, and no problems with sealing the bags properly. On top of that, the jars are more reusable than the bags, since you don't have to cut them open.

 

[Kevin Dean]

I'd trade my Reynold's sealer in a heartbeat for a Food Saver.

But having bought, used and returned a Seal-a-meal - they Reynolds thing works better.

 

[FatMonsters]

Sorry you had troubles - My Seal-a-Meal is great! Perhaps just exchange for a different one? Make sure you're lining up those seams, sometimes it can be tricky when you have a heavy bag to seal. Best of luck with it, dude.

Thank you... I returned it today at lunch and got the FoodSaver model, which was $30 bucks more and it has the auto operating button. So I don't have to hold down on the lid. It seems that all of these vacuum sealers have the same basic operating parts...I tried everything with the Seal-a-Meal I had, I think I bought the broken one...This one should work and if not I'll return for another one. I need a vacuum sealer!

 

[Dr Vorlauf]

Glad I talked myself into a food saver. Was a little pissed that Reynolds had this on the cheap just after I got my food saver. Happy now though, sorry it is at your expense though.

Trip

Id still rather have the foodsaver. couldnt get SWMBO on board

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I dunno. $100 for a food saver buys a LOT of hops to increase your utilization.

Even $10 for the cheapo Reynolds handi vac buys 5 ounces of hops. Even in these times of shortage those 5 ounces can make up for the lossed utilization of a lot of 6-month-old un-vac-sealed hops.

I know you save buying in bulk. And I'd love the gadget. But to be honest, it's sorta low on my list of must haves.

Need a second burner first. I'm tired of doing one batch at a time.

 

[Chriso]

I use my Seal-a-Meal for grains and sugars, too. And other stuff.

 

[SuperiorBrew]

Mine quit sucking before the first box of bags were used up. Even with new batteries it wont even suck hard enough to break the seal on the valve in the bags.
Before that it seemed that the bags would leak out after a couple days on the counter. We thought we could store green and roasted coffee beans in them at room temp.
SWMBO is going to take it back to Wally World today and get us a different one, hopefully we just got a lemon.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I use my Seal-a-Meal for grains and sugars, too. And other stuff.

LOL "other stuff" :fro:

 

[Chriso]

But that sort of thing AIN'T my bag, baby! Really!

 

[raceskier]

Mine quit sucking too. I can't find any info on any kind of warranty coverage. Has anyone taken one back and gotten a replacement? If not, I'll start fiddling with it and try to fix it and report on the results. My preliminary nosing around shows that the motor/pump are fine. I think it is leaking in the clear plastic housing or maybe the flexible bellows.

 

[Beerthoven]

I would say I'm happy with my handi-vac...so far.

I had problems with one of my quart sized bags not keeping its seal. I've since used 3 other bags and they all keep their seal. The key is to make sure the ziplock is closed and to press hard with your thumb on the blue circle where the suction tip goes after removing the air.

I haven't had a problem with the vac losing suction power yet. If that happens, I'll bite the bullet and get a food saver.

 

[PseudoChef]

I have problems with my brand new Foodsaver if I have anything in the way of the seal apparati. DME and corn sugar is a ***** and a half.

 

[jdoiv]

Yeah, sometimes I just seal up the dme or corn sugar and skip the vacuum. I've found that it's best to have a lot of headspace in the bag for those two items, otherwise it sucks them up into the area where it seals and then it won't seal.

 

[conpewter]

Bought one of these Saturday for 3.98 or whatever at Wal-mart. I had read about them before so I double-bagged the hops I had and so far is holding just fine. I had to replace all the batteries in mine when I got it home unfortunately, but it does seem to work really nice for such a low price.