High temperatures (170 + ) causing sous vide bags seals to fail
In the Sous Vide Equipment Forum
I tried one of Douglas Baldwin's recipes (from his "practical guide for sous vide cooking") for Brisket. Recipe is 174 F for 24 hours. I have an Anova heater/circulater and a Foodsaver vacuum sealer. I split the brisket in two halves and used 2 bags. After about 10 hours, I noticed that both bags had come unsealed, one on a seal that I made, and the other on a factory seal. I called foodsaver and they told me that their bags cannot withstand over 170 degrees for that long. They said that their bags will withstand simmering but that is just for thawing out frozen food, not for cooking sous vide. They recommended 160 degrees or less and 10 hours max. Do any of you have any advice or comments? Any similar experience? Any advice for brisket?
10 Replies So Far
weedy,
what brand of sealer do you use?
Thanks for those links. I have put in a call to sous vide supreme and asked them if their bags are designed to withstand sous vide 176 degrees for 24 hours. They should call me back. Foodsaver said that their bags would not.
I called sous vide supreme and they said that their bags would tolerate 180 degrees for 24 or more hours. I would like to know if someone has done this?
The longest high temp recipe I've made is confit duck legs sous vide - 75C (167F) for 12 hours. That was using the foodsaver rolls. I always do a double seal at each end though as the thin seal from the clamp sealer gives me little confidence. The side seals are a good 1cm thick, and I've never had one break, even when I accidentally left my sous vide setup on 'boil' (but only for 10 mins or so).
I would like to try the double seal. I have the foodsaver 4400 series. It does not let you chose where to place the seal. You insert the bag into the front slot and the machine grabs it automatically.
Regarding double seal with Foodsaver:
It is possible, but mostly with the first seal to make the bag from roll stock.
-Make sure the cut line is nice and straight and seal as normal.
-Use a straight edge and sharp knife to cut off about 1/4" from the end, then seal again.
-Cut again, right next to the first seal, and seal a third time.
After filling the bag, you can do the same at the top but I don't think it gets as good a seal since there is usually some moisture inside the seal. It seems to boil off in the sealer, but fats would probably contaminate the seal.
After saying all this, I have had the foodsaver bags fail above 160 too.
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