Are vacuum pump effective to improve wine conservation

This is the cheapest chamber vacuum sealer that I've come across: VacMaster VP112. At $669, it's half the price of most other chamber sealers. Chamber models are far more "professional" than the stuff marketed to the home, and my understanding is that they are far more reliable.

The difference between a chamber model and a home model is that you place your food in a bag in a chamber. The entire chamber is used to create a vacuum, meaning that liquid won't leave the bag. A home sealer will also not go below atmospheric pressure while a chamber unit can get a much higher vacuum allowing for vacuum marination, compression or fruits, and better flavor penetration during sous vide, which may or may not hold any interest for you.

In terms of your specific questions:

1. My understanding is that these consistently make a good seal.
2. I can't speak to longevity, but these are the kind of units that restaurants use for sous vide prep, so I assume they take a beating in those environments.
3. Because it's in a vacuum chamber, liquid is no problem, and you can actually vacuum seal just liquid.
4. Major Fail. These things are big and heavy. The one I mentioned is 24" x 16" x 9" and weighs 53 lbs.
5. Shouldn't fail to seal. Not sure about waste if it does.
6. Cannot be used with a container, but why would you need to rather than using a bag?
7. Minor Fail. The model I listed is a little over your price range. Most other models of this type will be between $1,250 and $7,000.

The other consideration is chamber size. You obviously can't vacuum pack anything that's larger than the vacuum chamber. The one is listed has a chamber size of 12" x 11" x 5".

There is absolutely real truth to improper sous vide cooking and botulism. Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic organism - it grows when there isn't oxygen - like in sous vide vacuums and canned goods.

The risk is that sous vide cooks both without oxygen and at temperatures so close to the perfect repoduction rate for the organism. If you cook it a little lower than recommended, you could be creating a perfect place to reproduce. Clostridium botulinum dies around 126 F (52.222 C) - so most sous vide won't go lower than 130 F (54.444 C).

The opponents state that the temperatures in general are far too low and if we were cooking for a few seconds, it would be. Luckily, pasteurization is a function of temperature and time. This is part of the sous vide magic. Bacterial death is a result of heat and time - if you have a high heat you may only need it for seconds. If you have lower, but sufficient heat, then as long as you cook it long enough (see recommended reading below) - then you can still pasteurize the food. Sous vide often cooks foods for hours and hours - either for taste and/or pasteurization sake.

A great resource for information here is Douglas Baldwin .

Additional, real, danger comes from if you store your finished product in the vacuum bag at improper temperatures (not freezing). Botulism spores need to reach 250 F (121.111 C) to die (this is why, in canning, some food needs to be pressure canned). You won't hit that in sous vide cooking. If you cook the food, cool it, and then store it in a non freezing temp - there's a real risk that the spores could eventually become active and reproduce. If you're going to keep sous vide food after its been cooked, generally freeze it and then reheat (quickly, in sous vide terms) in an eating temp sous vide bath to consume.