Help! What are my options?

[Steve Lubinsky]

Hello,

I’m sure by the topic you can tell I’m a newbie. Last week (Saturday) I started aging my second NY Strip. My first one was a complete success with no sealing issues so I thought I was a pro….

Anyway, the bond does not appear to be taking like the first one. Lots of air and lots of play on the bag. My guess is that I lost the seal but I’d rather leave it alone until I get some guidance. What are my options? Can I open it and re-seal? Do I need to transfer to a new bag and re-seal? Do I open it up and abort the dry aging or do I simply leave it alone?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your help!

[Ron Pratt]

Welcome to the forum, Steve! From your description there is no question you have lost the vacuum. First of all though don’t panic – the meat is fine. If it were me I would closely examine the bag to see if I could find a hole in it and then access the options after that. If the hole is isolated at one end where it didn’t seal well – which I just imagine is the case…then if you left sufficient material you could cut the end off and reseal. If there is no excess but you can gather enough slack in the bag so as to cut a small hole in the bag, insert a soda straw and manually suck out the offending air and then quickly seal it with a tight bread twisty. If the bag is ruined in many spots then you might just want to transfer to a new bag and start over. Please let us know what worked for you.

I am going to be away for 2 or 3 hours but will check back then.

Ron

[Steve Lubinsky]

Thanks for the quick response! I will try your suggestions and let you know how it turns out.

[Al Gulutzan]

A similar thing happened to me. I took a gamble and tried to revacum throughout the existing seal. It worked. I just resealed and it is still good. If this works it probably means the original seal was not strong enough. If it doesn’t then it could be a tear as previously suggested. To ensure a better bond I double sealed in the exact same spot. Hope this helps.

[Steve Lubinsky]

Thanks, that does help. I just tried re-sealing and it’s now evident that there’s some sort of hole in the bag but I can’t seem to find it. Fortunately I had another bag, transferred it and sealed it up. The vacuum is clearly stronger than it was when I tried this the first time.

Anyway, I think all is well. Thanks to both you and Ron. I do have one final admittedly stupid question for you two (or anyone): SInce I interrupted the aging process and I assume the bond has to reform, do I consider this day 1 of the aging process or do I give credit for the past week? I ask because I’m trying to determine my preference for aging time.

Thanks.

[Ron Pratt]

quote Luby1″ post=3540:

do I consider this day 1 of the aging process or do I give credit for the past week?

No, the aging period started with your first bag. Ron

[Steve Lubinsky]

Hello,

Here’s an update:

Don’t know if this one was meant to be. I resealed it in a new bag on Saturday, but I re-used the vac mouse which was probably a mistake….I didn’t have any more. It looked good until yesterday. when I noticed an increasing number of air pocket. I then reopened it, cut some of the bag back and re-sealed it (again with the same vac mouse which was probably an even bigger mistake). Today, more new pockets and I repeated what I did yesterday (you guessed it, same vac mouse). I now don’t have any more bag left to seal and I know this seal will not hold. I have another bag kit with vac mouse on order. Do you think the meat will be OK (from a safety perspective) if I leave it with a failed seal for another couple of days? It will be pushing basically 2 weeks with a bad seal…..

Thanks again for all of the help!

[Ron Pratt]

Sorry to hear of your continued issues, but I have to think there are more issues at work here. OTOH I would not be worried about the seal nor spoilage unless you haven’t told us all of the story. Mankind has been aging meat for decades and living to tell about it! IMHO the Drybag has allowed us to be less concerned about contamination, so even with a bad seal it is not like some creepy crawly has entered your refrig! Ron

[Steve Lubinsky]

Yes, I agree I’m doing something wrong. I guess I just got lucky the first time. I’ll spend some time with the practice bag when the new bag arrive. Thanks again for your help!

[Barry]

Be patient and you will do well. I noticed loss of vacuum and discovered it was the food saver not sealing well. Hopefully, you did a double seal on the end.

[Steve Lubinsky]

Thanks aiki. All I needed to do was a double seal in the same spot as suggested (and another safety seal just in case) and everything is working fine. Now, the hard part…… waiting!

[Barry]

You are certainly welcome. Double sealing should become a habit. I have noticed a slow loss of vacuum on some frozen pieces. Not good to lose good meat to freezer burn!

[Author]

Posts