help improving seal–Sinbo sealing & cleaning

[Thea]

Ron and Ron,
Thank you both for your exchange regarding the Sinbo. Ron’s first time experience with the Sinbo sounds altogether familiar. It can be tricky to master. So long as you can achieve a bond of 70-80% of overall meat surface with UMAi Dry, you should have good results.

PROBLEM:
As for the corner sealing and center opening, yes, it can be tricky to align the corner seals in such a way that you have a flat center opening.
As for an mis-alignment making it yet more difficult to get a good seal, yes, it makes it more difficult.

SUGGESTION:
If care with making either one or two corner seals does not eliminate the problem, the use of a VacMouse strip can help. Though created for channel sealers to create a small air space, they can also help with Sinbo sealers as they hold the opening AND provide some extra “glue” for the sealing process. See the video on the DrybagSteak.com “Watch” page.

PROBLEM:
As for creating a pool of blood under the sealer by taking in so much of the blood–warning! You will have taken a great deal of meat protein into the snorkel and the tubes to the vacuum pump. If you do not clean these out quickly, they will turn to concrete and block the air channel completely.

SOLUTION:
First, clean the snorkel–with the unit unplugged. Remove the clear plastic cap on back of the unit and the black rubber stopper from the back end of the snorkel. With the lid open, look through from the back to see how much of the thin “line” of the snorkel is blocked. Using a thin blade from the front of the snorkel, loosen any hardened blood. Then using a cotton swab, rinse the snorkel clean from the back using either a light bleach solution or hydrogen peroxide.
Next, you need to clean the rest of the air passage by drawing in enough clean water to flush out the snorkel and tubes. As this is not a “wet-vac,” we recommend you wet a strong sponge with water that has been wet with a light solution of bleach. Holding the sponge to the end of the snorkel, turn on the device and gentle squeeze liquid from the sponge into the snorkel allowing small amounts of the bleach solution to pass continuously through the air channel until you find the water pooling under the unit is clean.
If your unit has been sitting awhile since use, it can take quite a while to soften proteins previously taken in.

SUGGESTIONS:
To prevent the uptake of blood into your Sinbo, there are three ideas we can offer:
1) drain the blood sufficiently before starting your process
2) use a VacMouse to provide both a light barrier to the uptake of blood and extra “glue” for the sealing
3) freeze the meat just briefly before sealing so that the outer proteins will not be liquid

We hope these instructions help prolong the life of your Sinbo, and the success of your UMAi DrybagSteak experience.

You will appreciate the results in a couple of weeks–and soon forget the frustration of this first application!