10.6 mm OD and 8.6 mm ID

I'm guessing its just for if you don't have any nitrogen?

@@thecervixshank8032 The vacuum used at end of fill cycle serves two purposes. 1. To pull out any oxygen that might still be in pouch and 2. To give the filled pouch the correct shape once tap is snapped back in place.

That's what I thought, just wanted to ask because he didn't use it in the demonstration, he just used the nitrogen.

The best way to fill the astromini pouches is with an Astrofill®115 or Astrofill®120 filling machine. Less that, you could try to use a graduated cylinder and a funnel.

Unfortunately soft/flexible packages like the Astropaq® can not hold carbonated beverages due to the co2 coming out of liquid and potentially exploding the pouch/bag.

+Astrapouch, thanks!

In the video, we are using a small brewers pump. This can be purchased at your local beer making supply store or can be found on Amazon here: www.amazon.com/Midwest-Homebrewing-Winemaking-Supplies-B00CT62KR4/dp/B00CT62KR4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468868668&sr=8-1&keywords=brewers+pump You really don't need a pump though. You can just fill by hand using gravity. A pump is useful if you're filling hundreds of bags but we have many small wineries that fill by hand.

The shelf life of an unopened pouch is dependent on the total dissolved oxygen content in your wine. The shelf life of an opened pouch is 3-4 weeks.

Hi Sheila! Thanks for your question. If you bought your kit from Amazon, they are pretty strict about what goes along in the package and any marketing material is a no-no so you have come to the right place to see how it all works. To answer your question - you don't need air or gas to expand the pouches, just remove the tap and open up the pouch by hand (by pulling the back away from the front a little), and let the liquid expand the pouch as you fill it. Expanding with inert gas is mainly for the small winery who is selling pouches retail and wants to extend shelf life to many months. Let us know if you have any more questions. Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks so much. Just ordered the bag holder which would make my life so much easier but I did the first bag and filled it up. Not sure how much to put in. Maybe I need to fill bottles first then pour into bag as I have seen on another video.

You can also figure out what the equivalent weight would be and fill while it is on a kitchen scale to get to the correct weight. That is how we do it in our home lab :)

lOOKS LIKE I WILL NEED TO BUY A SCALE (SMILE)

Hi Sheila, We just responded to your comment on the other video with the instructions more suited for the home winemaker. Also, if you go to our website and send a submission through the Contact Us page, I can e-mail you a PDF copy of the Pouch Kit instructions so you can have a paper copy if that would help. Thanks for stopping by!