Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

[splat23]

Ok,
I've bought really good O2 absorbers, 4-5 mil thick bags, got my iron and even used a vacuum to seal my Mylar bags.

The problem is that I am not achieving the

[WiseOwl]

I thought the same thing when I did 30 bags a couple of weeks ago....but from what I hear, they are ok. But I would love some reassurance from some of the pros here as well.

[protus]

i never had sucked out any air. yet 95% of mine suck down tight with 1-2k worth of o2's.
I see lots of threads where people have vacumed,sucked, etc the air out after they put in o2's and have the " still full of air" issue in their bags like your posting.
O2's give off nitrogene...to many o2's not enough o2' guess what is left and produced after you"sucked" it all out?
you also wont have a vac sealed super pulled down bag. It will only be so much. I have only had a few that really sucked down hard ( rice and wheat), the rest get tight but not like youd think.

the other thing could be a bad seal.

[Gonzo]

Actually we've never tried just bagging.
'Round here, we tend to overkill - we bag and bucket.
We put the bag in the bucket, fill it, toss in O2 absorber, just fold down and duct tape the bag good and tight, and then without waiting for results, pound down the bucket lid.
After a couple days we find he bucket lids have sucked down some - so whether the bag itself is sealed or not, the bucket is...

G

[splat23]

Thanks,

It's just frustrating to spend all of the money and not know if the food inside is really ok or not.

I might re-try one of the bags and see. I put three to four 500cc's in the bags. The bags are the 1 1/2 gallon size.

Splat

[Lowdown3]

Thanks,

It's just frustrating to spend all of the money and not know if the food inside is really ok or not.

I might re-try one of the bags and see. I put three to four 500cc's in the bags. The bags are the 1 1/2 gallon size.

Splat

Did I read that correctly? Your putting 1,500 to 2,000 CC of absorbers in a 1 1/2 gallon mylar?

I'm all for overkill, but that's like emptying six magazines into them after the first mag was all head shots... :)

I'd ditch the vacuum cleaner idea if it was me.

Fold and purge out excess air with your hands after sealing all but the last couple inches.

I forget where it's at in this video, but we went through the whole process. Watch for the fold and purge section.

500 to 750 cc of absorption on 1 1/2 gallon should more than suffice. We used D750's on #10 cans back when we had the cannery and never had any problems. A lot of places just use 300CC absorbers with #10's and evidently do o.k. with that.

Also, if you sealed your mylar good, your food is plenty "o.k." Seriously. We don't have to obsess about getting the freeze dried brick of coffee look as the visible result. While that's great to get and cool to look at- it really isn't 110% necessary for long term storage. It can vary with the actual type of the food also.

We've pulled out and eaten dozens of buckets where the mylar wasn't sucked down hard, never a problem. Sounds like you did fine. Next time try ditching the vacuum and using less absorbers.

[protus]

this is to add to this as i just packed up some more stuff the last few days .



I had some 2k cc O2's, and a few 1.5 gallon sized bags . I also had some buckets of bulk to pack.So why not for experiments sake see how and why this topic constantly comes up.So off i went to get some small items to pack...spices mostly.

This is what happens 48 hours later.
Any food that is hard-
rice,beans,whole coffee beans,pasta,grits,garlic granulas,black pepper corns , any thing not powder.
sucks down tight.

Anything that is powder or fluffy-
milk,cinnamon, cheyanne pepper,certain spices , ground coffee, flour,oats(they are fluffy). the bags do not suck down as hard as those listed above.
This is prolly due to the amount of "air" they hold/displace.


Like pointed out 2k's are way over kill for those small bags.


if people will say what it is they packed vs just saying "food" i bet we can figure out that the majority of the issue is the food if the seals and o2's are good.

I checked mine. I sat on one bag,it dindt leak any air, but sure enough it was inflated like i didint bother to push out the air.

ymmv

[WiseOwl]

LD3, I appreciate that reply and dangit I forgot about your video (2 lashings), I wondered the same thing since I packed 30 1 gallons a couple of weeks back....I kinda didn't worry about the "non sucked in look" because I sealed these bags to where not even an ants balls would fit through....

Good to know, again thanks for the video.

[Gonzo]

...if people will say what it is they packed vs just saying "food"...

Oh, yeah, ours is all hard stuff - beans, wheat, etc.

G