One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

[Lizzie]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

my beans adopting a mixture of rancidity and pine-o-kleen

pine-o-bean..... ;D ;D

L

[gregpullman]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

I did try detergent once and I was left with the concept of my beans adopting a mixture of rancidity and pine-o-kleen!

[Lizzie]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

most dishwashing detergents are perfumed... and that smell is hard to get out of the bags

L

[ev]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

Why even bother with alcohol? A good dishwashing detergent should remove any old oils from the bags.

[Dimal]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

OK maybe I wont try any "cafe au poisson" in my home kitchen! Thanks Dr Mal!

Definitely not a Doctor Greg, just careful..... Dr. Dave is the genuine article 8-)

Mal.

[Dr_Dave]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

Medicine/Toxicology:

Isopropyl alcohol is about twice as toxic as ethanol. Isopropyl alcohol does not cause an anion gap acidosis (like ethanol or methanol). It produces an elevated osmolal gap, but generally no abnormal anion gap (though this may be seen as a result of hypotension and lactic acidosis). Overdoses may cause a fruity odor on the breath as a result of its metabolism to give acetone (which is not further metabolised)[5]. While large quantities of isopropanol can be fatal if left untreated, it is not nearly as toxic as methanol or ethylene glycol.

Which Means that something (IPA in this case) exerts an Osmotic gradient between your blood stream and cells = "Osmolar gap" this in turn causes a fluid shift and will dehydrate your cells. This is significant for your brain mainly and can cause coma and death. HOWEVER I see this in the ICU only occaisonally when people have drunk an osmotically active solution , such as Anti Freeze ( ethylene glycol). More common in the US with Alcoholics.

You would need to ingest a reasonable amount

If you wash out your bags properly I dont imagine the exposure would be huge . How much do bags cost?

Regards
Dr dave

[gregpullman]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

OK maybe I wont try any "cafe au poisson" in my home kitchen! Thanks Dr Mal!

[rowdee]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

Interesting reading this because I have been using some one way bags for over 12 months without any issues of rancid odours, etc. I wipe them out with alcohol wipes after each use and they are fine for re-use.

I keep waiting for either the zips or the valves to go but so far have not had one fail on me.

Mal, we are obviously in a different regime in Melbourne, no pharmacy, and I have tried numerous, will sell me ethyl alcohol. All I have been able to get is the wipes. They work fine though.

[Dimal]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

Dont know about the use of Isopropyl Alcohol, I thought this stuff was rather poisonous. Ethyl alcohol is really easy to get from most pharmacies and does not represent any kind of danger (so long as you just use it for cleaning and NOT imbibing :).

I just use a similar method to that described by Lizzi except that I forego the rinsing out with hot water. Prefer to wipe dry with a paper towel and then leave open in a warm possie to thoroughly dry out. Never end up with any untoward odours of any kind and since no water is used, the bags end up being perfectly dry.

Cheers,
Mal.

Excerpt from Wikipedia Article....

Medicine/Toxicology:

Isopropyl alcohol is about twice as toxic as ethanol. Isopropyl alcohol does not cause an anion gap acidosis (like ethanol or methanol). It produces an elevated osmolal gap, but generally no abnormal anion gap (though this may be seen as a result of hypotension and lactic acidosis). Overdoses may cause a fruity odor on the breath as a result of its metabolism to give acetone (which is not further metabolised)[5]. While large quantities of isopropanol can be fatal if left untreated, it is not nearly as toxic as methanol or ethylene glycol.

[Lizzie]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

i clean 3 or 4 bags in one go: about 1/3 cup of metho in the bag, brush well with (special for the purpose) dish-brush, so you can get in all the nooks and crannies, tip out the metho ( into the next bag...), rinse out with very hot water, dry pegged up on the washing line.
8 month old bags still smell like new... or rather: no smell at all

L

PS very VERY hot water is not such a good idea... i ended up with double-sided-opening-one-way-valve bags ;D ;D

[Gazz]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

Re reusing valved coffee bags,

I have also noticed that ashy, rancid, stale odour that Greg mentions....... so my solution is not the use of isopropyl alcohol but to use a little machine cleaner (Cafetto or similar) in hot water, rinse and pat dry the bag then leave opened in a warm place, ie on top of the espresso machine for a while to completely dry, problem solved and can reuse until the bag fails mechanically.

Cheers Gazz

[Ben_S]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

You can get them on Bean Bay.
If you are wanting a lot though, I would check out one of the sponsors - Coffeeparts.

Rgds
Ben

[Dr_Dave]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

Where do you purchase new bags from?
Dave

[gregpullman]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

Very interesting Mal. Ive always found the bags develop a very burnt ashy smell (which I presume is the stale smell) after theyve been used once, and when I tried to reuse them (say, for dividing a 500g bag into 2x250), the new beans would take on that burnt ashy smell and destroy whatever characteristics they once had; so since then Ive reluctantly tossed them out.

I might just have to raid the spray can of isopropyl PCB cleaner I have tucked away for that rework job and put it to a better use! Wink Will be most interested to see how well this works!

Greg

[Dimal]

Re: One Way Valve Bags Re-Used

Well, there you go..... http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1198229392/0#5 ;D