wow. that is brilliant. thanks!
Suddenly I feel like a Guinness.
Not to mention they do not seem to be available anymore. Or is it the Reynolds? Can’t remember. I have one of them. It has the battery eating operated vacuum. All local stores still carry the vacuum but no bags?!
They worked well enough. Some were hit or miss but it was a cheap solution for a while.
I guess next season I will need a new system, but every review I read about all the various $$ brands (foodsaver, seal-a-meal, deni, rival, etc…) out there are pretty uninspiring. All seem to have there issues. Whether expensive bag material or ineffective sealing. It seams like you need to spend a few hundred dollars!
Guess that is why I went with the $10 solution to begin with. Wish the still sold the bags.
I like the Sorbent Systems VS280. Had mine for almost a year and no problems. Advantage is it will seal Mylar oxygen barrier bags which the seal-a-meal type won’t.
Charlie
I assume the snorkel is what gives the machine the ability to seal mylar bags. Is it hard to pull a tight vacuum on loose things like pellet and leaf hops? Would the channel type bags that FoodSaver uses do better?
Brian
I’ve got some larger mylar bags, I wonder if I can cut them down and make bags on the FoodSaver ??? Maybe I’ll give it a try this year, anybody tried it?
The FoodSaver requires special bags that are channeled which I believe is what allows the air to escape when the bag collapses. I’m guessing that to use mylar and other non-channeled bags, you need a unit with a snorkel.
It seems that the problem with a snorkel bag is that you need to get the snorkel right up against the contents of the bag. That would imply that something loose like hops might get sucked up as the vacuum is pulled. I’m wondering if the channel bags do a better job or if it’s even a problem???
I bought a Seal-a-meal that started malfunctioning after a few months. It was the sealer strip that sealed the bags with a flaw in the seam.
The Foodsaver I bought next appears more robustly built. And it’s still working over a year later.
The Seal-a-meal had a stronger vacuum than the Foodsaver does but even so I don’t recommend this brand. Lot’s of poor reviews online.
I also don’t recommend freezing store bought raw meat. Usually it has been previously frozen so freezing it a second time in a vacuum bag wrecks the meat. No freezer-burn mind you but all the juices will run out of the meat when it is thawed again. Ruined a couple nice prime NY strips this way.
If you notice all the “advertisements” feature cooked meats. So besides hops these bags get BBQ and left-overs.
No experience with steak, since it never crosses our threshold :(, but it works fine for chicken.
I hadn’t seen this benefit listed to FoodSaver yet… the attachments - I like the Mason/Kerr canning jar one. I have row of mason jars of pellet hops in the freezer. Pop it open - measure out the addtions…the put the same lid back on and put on the attachment …push the button and done. The hops are now in a low/no oxygen glass storage in the freezer–I have no idea if it better than the bags but it can’t be worse. Just a method I have seen other more experience brewers use… so I figure it can’t be a bad way to do things and save on bag costs.
^^^^That’s a good idea. The bags are f’ing expensive.
A vacuum sealer is f’ing expensive too. That’s why I use the Mason jars like I stated in the third post in this very thread.
I was thinking of the FoodSaver attachment for jars… 
Foodsavers don’t have to be expensive. I got a VAC 350 (no tube port) and a VAC 1050 (w/port) each for less than $5 at my local second hand store (St. Vincent DePaul, Goodwill, etc.). It took some patience to find but both work great and were near new when I found them.
I even found an older jar sealer but I can’t get it to work and I can’t bring myself (yet) to spend $10 on a new jar sealer attachment. As soon as my current batch of bags is done, maybe.
+1
Great technique that can also be used for tomatoes and other watery vegetables as well.
Bump;
I am thinking about getting this technology. There are SO many varieties and it
is pretty confusing. I mainly want to be able to use this for Hops, meats and foods.
The pre-par- frozen method is the bomb…nice babalu nice…! I want to get mylar bags and
I read the site for the snorkelvac seems that the mylar WILL seal with an iron and or
heat sealer IF you buy THEIR product…well these kinds of sales really make me nervous
cause I feel like I am getting set up for the proverbial TRAP…
More discussion on this please as I need to order hops and sealer technology soon…thanx in advance
??? ??? ???
All I can tell ya is that I bought a bottom of the line Food Saver for about $50 around 5-6 years ago. I use cheap generic vac seal bags. It’s worked great for both hops and food.
Snorkels are the best, chambers are the cheapest. Tilia used to make good stuff, stay away from the latest and greatest.
With a snorkel you can use almost any kind of bag, with a chamber you need to use the textured bags, but the patent ran out so they are much cheaper than they used to be. Funny thing is - you WANT one thinking you will use the snot out of it. I had one over a decade ago. Just like exercise equipment or any other gadget - the novelty wore off and I quit using it. Now that I am growing hops I find a need for it again and I had to buy another. (sold old one on ebay ages ago.) If you’re gonna pop good money - get one that is repairable, the new tilia stuff is disposable.
My wife and I have a Foodsaver by Tillia, which was made in October 1989 and we bought at the BX at Offutt AFB in early 1990; got both sizes of canning jar attachments. Still works like a champ.
We also use the Ziplock “suck-o-cheap.” :D Mixed results as written previously.
The primary difference between the snorkel and foodsaver type sealers are the types of bags you can use. The foodsaver sucks from the edge of the bag or (with the newer handheld model) through a one way valve. To prevent the bag from collapsing around the suction and preventing complete evacuation, foodsaver bags are ribbed internally that allow air to flow even once they are fully collapsed. With a snorkle type vac, you push the snorkle into the bag which holds it open while it sucks the air out.
If you want use other bags, including resealing mylar bags, you have to go with a snorkel type vac. Snorklevac website warns that even then, to ensure complete evacuation, you have to have the contents of the bag as close to the snorkle as possible. I consider this a downside in that the vacuum might suck up the loose hop material, though I’d have to hear other’s comments on this since I’ve never used one.
Interestingly, I just bought the handheld foodsaver that works with reusable bags: a huge bonus, IMHO. The bags seal with a ziplock type closure, then you press the unit to the outside where I one-way valve is located. No heat sealing, and you can reuse the bags. You can also get containers. The starter kit is reasonably priced at $29, but I got a deal on mine at $5! Seems to do a decent job.
Be interested in hearing other opinions and experiences as well. I’m sure some of these more expensive units can suck a pretty good vacuum, but realistically, you want to be using your hops relatively soon and definitely within the same year. So, it’s not clear to me how important this really is. If you want to store hops long term, nitrogen evacuation is the ticket, and for this you need an expensive setup.
Brian