# Maxkon Vacuum Sealer & Canisters.



## Hogan (19/10/09)

I have just purchased this Maxkon heat vacuum sealer with canisters. I intended to use the canisters to store hops which would be kept in the freezer. I asked the question of the company whether these canisters could be freezer stored but they could not tell me. 

When the canisters arrived today the accompanying booklet said that they could not be stored in a freezer. 

I contacted Phil77 last week as he had posted regarding similar canisters and he said that he did keep his in the freezer with no probs. 

Just checking whether anyone else on AHB has these vacuum canisters and are they OK to store in the freezer. 

Also the three canister lids have a removable cap on the underside. I am assuming this is just a cover and would not be kept on when the canister is being vacuumed - or not??

Cheers, Hoges.


edit: Would the hops still retain freshness if stored in the vacuum canister but in the fridge and not the freezer??


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## razz (19/10/09)

Save the cannisters for everyday items Hogan, I use the bags for hops in the freezer. have one cannister but have not used it in the freezer.


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## Hogan (19/10/09)

razz said:


> Save the cannisters for everyday items Hogan, I use the bags for hops in the freezer. have one cannister but have not used it in the freezer.




After a heap of googling I found a site that sells similar canisters and they say that with freezing and thawing the plastic on the canister will become brittle and crack. But I would think that this should not be an issue if merely taking the frozen hops out of the container resealing it and putting it back in the freezer. Wouldn't mind hearing the the scientific view of putting the canisters in the fridge rather than the freezer. 

Also found that the type of bags mine came with are the 'channel' style. These can get a bit xxxy unless you find a good source. One idea I picked up off the net was to use a normal mylar bag and cut a 2" strip off the channel roll and put it just inside the top of the mylar bag. This will apparently facilitate the vacuum process without using a full channel bag. Hope it works.

Cheers, Hoges.


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## ~MikE (19/10/09)

if they're vacuum sealed, do they need to be frozen? i think you'd be fine with them in a fridge.


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## Hogan (20/10/09)

~MikE said:


> if they're vacuum sealed, do they need to be frozen? i think you'd be fine with them in a fridge.




That is the $64k question Mike. Will they retain their freshness by being kept in a vacuum in the fridge rather than in the freezer?

Can someone enlighten me please.


Cheers, Hoges.


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## Supra-Jim (20/10/09)

Homebrew shops have them vac packed and kept in fridges, not frozen. AFAIK hops are kept vac sealed and chilled (but frozen) once they are process/stored/delivered etc.

Maybe shoot Ross (Craftbrewer) a PM as he buys hops in bulk, splits them, bags, vacs and chills them. He may have some info/idea on what he considers an acceptable life span stored in the fridge this way.

Cheers SJ


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## QldKev (20/10/09)

If you are going to use them within a couple of months, vac seal and fridge. But if you want longer term storage, vac seal in platic and get them in the freezer. 

Also This place has channel bags cheap

QldKev


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## jasonharley (4/9/11)

Has anyone used the bags (foil and standard plastic) that you can buy from The Packaging Centre on a Maxkon vacuum sealer? The Packaging Centre websites says that the foil bags that they sell are for use on a DZ300A vac sealer ...... I am not sure if this is correct or whether they are bluffing. You see, the Packaging Centre also sells DZ300A as their only model.... not sure that this is a ploy to get you to buy from them?


http://thepackagingcentre.com.au/


thoughts???



5 Eyes


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## Phoney (4/9/11)

Havent heard of those. I've got a Maxkon vacuum sealer and it while works great and they're cheap to buy.. the bags arent. I recently bought 100 bags (50 large, 50 small) for $70 recently.

Obviously this isnt something that I want to buy regularly, so you wanna make your bags last a long while. If you're using them for hops, try to re-use them. If you're using them for food eg: meat, use them sparingly and only for things that you plan to store semi-long term.

- my 2c


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## balconybrewer (4/9/11)

pretty sure that there was an extensive thread discussing weather to freeze or refridgerate hops and the concesus from the big hop retailers was that freezing hops is bad for the hop oils and utilization.

cant find the thread though, sorry


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## jasonharley (4/9/11)

balconybrewer said:


> pretty sure that there was an extensive thread discussing weather to freeze or refridgerate hops and the concesus from the big hop retailers was that freezing hops is bad for the hop oils and utilization.
> 
> cant find the thread though, sorry




Yeah ... you are right.... freezing is bad for hops according to the Ellerslie Hops people in Tassie


I don't intend to freeze, but store in a fridge 


5 eyes


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## felten (4/9/11)

IIRC Most of the people posting in that thread disagreed with them though, each to their own I guess.


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## jasonharley (4/9/11)

So where can you get the cheapest foil and plastic bags for a vac sealer?

sucky 5 eyes


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## barls (4/9/11)

i found these the best foil bags, just make sure you get the ones without the valve.
http://www.swisspack.com.au/
and these for the normal bags.
http://thepackagingcentre.com.au/


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## punkin (5/9/11)

I've just been using my foodsaver for kilo bags of hops in their original foil bags, but cutting a good long (50 or 60cm) bag off a roll and sealing in that.

Then every time i open it, i just cut along the seal and then seal it back up again when i have taken my hops out. You loose about 25mm every cut, but it works out pretty cheap. :icon_cheers:


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## Malted (5/9/11)

Yes punkin for the win! Why buy 'bags' when you can buy a roll - heaps cheaper and a lot more flexibility for you to decide what sized 'bag' you want to make.


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## seravitae (5/9/11)

Regarding earlier comments as to whether to keep your hops in the freezer after vacuum sealing, if it helps - if the hops have a decent amount of water in them, then freezing them will cause the water to expand and burst the cell walls of the plant material, which upon thawing can lead to a slush. There's an upside and a downside to this - the upside is that any flavour components that are intracellular will be extracted more efficiently, but on the downside, you might also extract other things you don't want (any tannins, fatty acids, etc).

It's a common technique in plant sciences to 'freeze-thaw-cycle' plant material to extract the goodies.


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## seravitae (5/9/11)

Actually while I'm here, I might as well hijack the thread 

I am looking for a vacuum heat sealer for the shop, but I am generally packing wierd shaped items. I was wondering if anyone knows if you can buy a vacuum heat sealer setup that uses a 'roll' of film - sealed on both ends, so you slide your object in, heat seal one end, then heat+vacuum seal the other end shut. Any ideas if this kind of doover exists?


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## DU99 (5/9/11)

Sera..something like this one
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-2011-VACUUM...=item4cf9c367a0


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## bignath (5/9/11)

punkin said:


> I've just been using my foodsaver for kilo bags of hops in their original foil bags, but cutting a good long (50 or 60cm) bag off a roll and sealing in that.
> 
> Then every time i open it, i just cut along the seal and then seal it back up again when i have taken my hops out. You loose about 25mm every cut, but it works out pretty cheap. :icon_cheers:



+1 This is exactly what i do.

I have the sunbeam vac420 thingo....does 20cm wide instead of the 28cm which seems more "standardised" but i like it. What i've also worked out is that i can buy 28cm rolls, cut them in half and have 14cm wide packets. This is not an advantage to many of you, but for me, after i realised that it was difficult to source 20cm rolls instead of the 28's, this is my workaround...

EDIT: Thought after posting.....

Hope this makes sense - 

If you used thinner (width) bags, when you took out your hops for that particular batch, say for example a lowly hopped aussie pale ale / or lager etc.. it would be smarter than using wider bags wouldn't it? 

My reasoning is that doing this, you're always gonna lose 25mm to the machine next time you seal the bag, but if the bag was wide to start with, maybe the amount of hops you took out would be less noticeable from a height perspective, and the heat seal may start creeping and catch up to the hop level making it hard to reseal the bag later down the track. If you started with a taller, thinner bag, when you took the hops out, you'd be able to start with a smaller bag and the amount of bag you lose vs the amount of hops taken out would be a better ratio????

Makes sense to me, i know what i'm trying to say, but it's probably not working!


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## Malted (5/9/11)

sera said:


> I was wondering if anyone knows if you can buy a vacuum heat sealer setup that uses a 'roll' of film...
> Any ideas if this kind of doover exists?



No. 
It doesn't exist and the two posts immediately above your posts are from deluded individuals.

These folks are probably on drugs: http://www.crazysales.com.au/vacuum-sealer...CFYompAodZx4x3g
If that is not evidence enough, check this out; they must be on whacky weed (or worse): http://www.crazysales.com.au/maxkon-vacuum...-free-bags.html


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## seravitae (5/9/11)

DU99 said:


> Sera..something like this one
> http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-2011-VACUUM...=item4cf9c367a0



Hmm, thanks mate, something like that may just do the trick! They seem to be out of the rolls but I'll send them a message. 

Malted: Darnit, i'm sober at the moment, no wonder I couldn't find them..


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## DU99 (5/9/11)

can look here for bags
http://stores.ebay.com.au/Packagingsolutio...sid=p4340.l2563


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## seravitae (5/9/11)

Wicked, thanks 

I'm actually planning on vacuum sealing non-food stuffs for shipping.. One of my distributors does it for small items and it seems to work well. I'll pickup a machine next payday, should mean more products in my store \o/


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## keifer33 (5/9/11)

I just got one of these delivered last week and spent the weekend vac and sealing. They come with a few bags but they also sell the rolls. Very good unit and comes from Victoria so a local seller.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vacuum-Food-Sav...=item3a63d67696


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## punkin (5/9/11)

Malted said:


> Yes punkin for the win! Why buy 'bags' when you can buy a roll - heaps cheaper and a lot more flexibility for you to decide what sized 'bag' you want to make.



Well the rolls aren't actually cheaper. They are twice the price, but still handy for stuff like this.

http://thepackagingcentre.com.au/categorie...m-Roll-5-meters

$12 for five meters = $2.40p/m

http://thepackagingcentre.com.au/categorie...s-260mm-x-450mm

$27 for 22.5 meters = $1.20 p/m

I keep all my bulk spices for my Jerky and stuff under the same process. A kilo of Szechuan peppercorns is not something you want laying round the cupboard loose either.


BTW, thanks to the people who supplied this link. :icon_chickcheers: 
I've just ordered a hundred bucks worth of bags for filling with fish fillets :icon_cheers: 

Heaps cheaper than retail.


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## seravitae (5/9/11)

keifer33 said:


> I just got one of these delivered last week and spent the weekend vac and sealing. They come with a few bags but they also sell the rolls. Very good unit and comes from Victoria so a local seller.
> 
> http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vacuum-Food-Sav...=item3a63d67696



Mate, can you please check if it allows you to heat seal without vacuum? If you want to make a custom size bag and you end up with two edges unsealed... vacuum won't pull unless you are able to seal one edge first.. if you get my drift.


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## keifer33 (5/9/11)

sera said:


> Mate, can you please check if it allows you to heat seal without vacuum? If you want to make a custom size bag and you end up with two edges unsealed... vacuum won't pull unless you are able to seal one edge first.. if you get my drift.



It sure does, I made some smaller bags out of the bigger ones that they came with to fit 100g of hops or less. It can Seal Only or Vac&Seal.


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## seravitae (5/9/11)

Cheers mate, i'll pick one up this week


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## buckerooni (4/12/14)

very happy with my maxkon sealer so far. the canisters arrived today (should have bought the full kit with the initial purchase) and are good sizes (2L, 1.4L and 0.7L). 

ebay bags - 6m in roll for just over $10 but the pattern is not the channel type, so I'm unsure if they'd work... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vacuum-storage-Sealer-bag-food-pack-sealers-Saver-and-size-roll-and-pouch-7ply-/171082224473?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item6d7e89e86d . Anyone? 

these bags do look a bit special, one of the uses mentioned is for storage of umbilical cords...


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## Flash_DG (4/12/14)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-X-VACUUM-FOOD-SEALER-ROLLS-BAG-SAVER-SEAL-STORAGE-HEAT-COMMERCIAL-22CM-6M-NEW-/231404982625?pt=AU_Food_Storage&hash=item35e0cfd161

I got these the other week and they work great. sealed up all my hops i had about in the freezer.


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