Customer Reviews

Swissmar Epivac Wine & Champagne Saver Set, Chrome

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Erik was right. He is not "advocating bad physics". The pressure function of this product does not preserve the ability of the wine to make bubbles after you pour it, any better than an extremely airtight stopper. See for example the Pedrini champagne stopper sold here on Amazon. So this product works, but not because you pump air into the bottle with it. It works because it lets no CO2 out. You cannot keep CO2 in solution by increasing the air pressure inside the bottle. CO2 will always diffuse out into the space above the wine. The amount of CO2 dissolved in the wine stabilizes only when there is enough CO2 above the liquid so that it enters and leaves solution at the same rate (equilibrium). The pressure of the other gases above the wine does not prevent the CO2 from entering or leaving solution. This is known as Henry's Law. An unopened champagne bottle has 3 or 4 atmospheres of CO2 gas (produced by yeast after bottling) above the wine. So unless you pump it with 3 or 4 atm of CO2 and let it sit awhile, it will never be as fizzy as when you opened it. Nitrogen and oxygen are about 10 times less soluble in water than CO2, so you would need 30 or 40 atm of pressure to get the same amount of gas into the wine!

It works as well and as easily as it claims to, except that I don't know when to stop pumping, so I always just keep at it for a while for good measure. The pumping action isn't too difficult or strenuous. I chose this over other brands of wine vacuum sealers primarily because of the style, since the basic principle and function was the same across all brands.

Definitely get the extra stoppers. (They're color coordinated, too! I love the particular shade of blue they chose.) Even though you may not usually have more than 2 open bottles of wine in the house at any one time, there will be times when you want to open up another variety or vintage, just for comparison or for the heck of it. You won't be obligated to finish a half-bottle of wine just because you can't open another bottle for lack of stoppers.

I'm very satisfied with this purchase, and would have given it 5 stars if it were more obvious when the sealing process was complete.

I've had this product for 3 or 4 years, adn keep loosing the stoppers, but I keep buying more because it does a great job of sealing a $20 bottle of wine, and keeping a vacuum in the bottle for weeks - ie: no air- no oxidation = continued great wine. This way I can dring a glass of good wine any night, and have the rest whenever I like.

Greatest wine stopper ever - by far!

Well I am also a medical doctor but medical school really doesn't make you any more qualified to be a physicist than a 2nd or third year physics undergrad (although I do also have a degree in Chemistry). Henry's law, however, only applies for solutions where the solvent does not react chemically with the gas being dissolved. A common example of a gas that does react with the solvent is carbon dioxide, which rapidly forms hydrated carbon dioxide and then carbonic acid (H2CO3) with water. The law also only applies in sufficiently dilute mixtures. This thread is actually a garden of misinformation regarding co2 and the epivac......everyone is part right (and wrong). In any case the device does a good job for the money. I'm on my third one over 10 years or so.

I don't know where Erik studied, but he's advocating bad physics! As a physics professor myself, I assure you that pressure is pressure. You could fill the bottle with argon, nitrogen, or air-- the result will be the same (no additional gas loss from solution).

I bought this for a birthday gift for my husband. He's getting into wines. Well we were very disappointed. You need to pump forever and the seal does not hold. Don't waste your money. If you want the air taken out either drink all the wine or use a vacuum sealer.

Pump shipped to me did not work. I had to get a replacement from the manufacture. It took several hours of effort to find manufacture's phone number and another week to get replacement pump.

Great item, keep wine as fresh as new. Easy to use and can be reused as many times as necessary. Good for sparkling wine as well.

I bought this exclusively for use with champagne; i.e., the pressure function rather than the vacuum function. I use it all the time, and it does do the job, but I'd gladly pay three times as much for a better-constructed version, perhaps of metal rather than plastic, and with valves that really work. Don't know if I got a lemon, but the one-way valve is so slow to kick in that I have to lift the whole pump off the bottle on every upstroke, so that it can suck in air efficiently. Also, the rubber O-ring is a poor press fit and constantly pops out. Net: A good idea, but not particularly well executed.

I ordered this product as well as a set of extra Swissmar stoppers -- it was one of those things that sounds good, but turns out to be more trouble than it's worth, and never lives up to the promise. There's no way to tell for sure if you have a vacuum, unless you bend the release pin on the stopper, but then of course if you had a vacuum, you just released it. And if you do get a good seal, it slowly releases over time.

But here's the biggest warning: if you're planning on storing wine bottles or other beverages on their side (like in a wine rack), they will leak thru the stopper. I've tried this a number of times (I store bottles on their side in the fridge), being careful to pump the best vacuum I can, and everytime, they leak, leaving a small puddle of wine below the stopper. If you plan to store bottles like this, don't waste your money. Do a search for "leak-proof" wine stoppers. You'll find better products.