Vacuum sealed beer!

[mthomebrew]

I was bottling my oatmeal stout last night and ran out of bottles with a couple bottles worth remaining so I decided to put the remaining beer in a Food Saver bag and vacuum pack it. This is totally experimental and i'm not sure what will happen. I'm guessing it will either A: explode in my closet, or B:carbonate nicely and I will have a nice adult style Capri-Sun. The Food Saver bags seem pretty sturdy, not sure how it will handle the amount of pressure carbing will induce. Isn't that the fun of experiements? Has anyone ever thought of or done this before? Just wanted to share. Cheers!

[Scott Ickes]

This could be quite interesting and I'm guessing anticlimatic and dissappointing.  On the other hand, it could be quite messy too.

If I'm not mistaken, bottle conditioned beer requires a headspace to work properly.  However, with a bag that can expand, I don't think it will work.  The amount of headspace needed seems that it would be important.  Your bags can probably expand quite a bit, due to the carbonation.  Since they aren't rigid like a bottle is, they probably won't build up enough pressure to get the C02 to dissolve into the beer.  But, then again, I could be wrong.

I'm sure they'll swell up some, like a smack pak, but they may not swell up to the point of carbonation.  IHowever, if the bag reaches it's elastic limit, then I suspect they'll burst open.  I doubt that they are as strong as a glass bottle.

Let's us know how it turns out.  I'm predicting a burst open bag and a mess.

P.S.
You should start a poll and see what people think will happen and then let us know if the poll was accurate.

[mthomebrew]

I will let you know how it turns out. For the sake of cleaning up, I hope it works out in favor of the adult Capri-Sun. Good idea, a poll will follow this post!

[Maine Homebrewer]

Sounds messy.

[haerbob3]

one thing I am unsure of is:  Are the bag gas preamble?

[jimjohson]

I would think a vacuum bag would not be permeable

[mthomebrew]

Just wanted to post an update, the beer is doing great! The bag has expanded and I can see some settling on the bottom. I left a significant amount of space to allow expansion, it seems to be working. Almost a week in and no mess yet!

[Brewmex41]

That's awesome. Im subscribing to see what happens.

[drb1215]

If this works, just think how easy it will be to pack and carry beer!  Before long you will see it in backpacking magazines where after a long days hike you can now enjoy a beer without the hassle and weight of bottles   Want to bring a beer to a concert of ball game...this method makes it very easy to carry in a couple without the bulk(easy to hide)!  Want to ship beer to a friend...the reduced weight and need for excess bubble wrap will allow for smaller boxes (and freight cost)!

You my friend may be opening up a whole new realm of the "portable" beer

[mthomebrew]

Another update! Almost two weeks in and it is still doing good. I think the bag reached maximum exapansion as it has not changed much since last week. Pictures to follow soon!!