I tried something new today with a paper clip.

[Anonymous]

A few weeks ago. .I made a different bend, a very simple bend of a paper clip.
1) Take a paper clip, and begin to unbend its folds.
2) Don’t unbend it entirely.. just the three corners of the bends.
3) Now you have the two cut ends, one longer, one shorter.
4) Just bend those two ends to match/overlap each other and you should have a 3 corner equal triangle.
5) This triangled Paper Clip will fit inside the snorkle tube unless your using a extra large paper clip. Just use a standard regular sized one.
6) When you draw your vacuum to the limit, and then press down the sealing bar, the clip will remain inside your bag for the duration of the dry bag process.
7) Today, I sealed a 15.6 lb. Ribeye full loin in the extra large loin/Brisket bag and folded the bags open end down on the outside half way before inserting the full loin. This prevents any soiling of the material so it will seal nicely.
8) These extra large bags are much wider than the sealing bar heat elements and let me suggest this.
I find that the very end tips of the heating strip will melt the bags leaving a air leakage if done improperly.
And there is NO need to make a small entry hole for the snorkle. The Vaccum will draw down fine with a wider gap.
So when your meat is in the bag, make your 90 degree angle seal so the bag is not at the sealing bar strip edges. Size is your option.
Do both sides the same.
Now center your bag on the snorkle tube, with the bent clip inserted in the snorkel tube, and slide it forward to near the meat your sealing.
Draw your vaccum, and when you hear the machine begin to labor in the vacuum process, press down on the heating bar and watch your timer until you hear the bell.. then release the heating bar, and then the lid.
Your done.
Congratulations & Good Luck..
“C~W”
BTW.. I may have made some edit error’s.. so let me know.
Pictures may follow for clarity.

[Ron Pratt]

C~W,

I assume this is what you meant – right?

Thank you, Sir! This is even simpler yet!

Ron

[Anonymous]

Exactly and thanks Ron for posting a picture.. It seems I lacked the ability to upload one from either of my sources.
Photobucket or my Picasa 3 program. :angry:
Use the long end curved end inserted in the snorkles tube. It works fine.
“C~W”

[Ron Pratt]

C~W

Today I was doing some other bag testing so I included one using your “new” bent paper clip design. It works like you said…not that I doubted you! I then cut the bag open again and tried what I think is a hard test of just using a couple Coca-Colas in the standard size bag. Anyone who has had experience with the Sinbo snorkel knows it tends to collapse the Drybag material up close to the entrance of the snorkel long before the air is out UNLESS something is inserted in the bag to keep it open. Merely having two bottles inside vs. a large chunk of damp meat made the Sinbo strut it’s stuff! I was amazed watching that bag collapse down tighter and tighter and tighter until it was a full vacuum!

Good job, my man!

Ron

[Anonymous]

:blush:
Way to go Ron….do some more experimenting and posting.
I believe there is something in the works for a “factory” method
using the clip design coming up. I will leave that one to Thea.
The clips as per your showing, seem to do a great job, and its quick and easy.
I like to push the clip right up to the meat as the vacuum is drawing.
Cheers..
Thumbs up… :woohoo:
“C~W”

[Anonymous]

The engineer in me picked up on a statement that Charwoody made at the beginning of this thread that caused a light to go on.

He said:
“I find that the very end tips of the heating strip will melt the bags leaving a air leakage if done improperly.”

I found this also with my FoodSaver and this may be key in understanding how to get a good seal. The very ends of the bags were always getting melted through. If indeed the ends of the sealing strip is higher in temp during the sealing process then that is a very key understanding to getting a good seal.

Based on this I have a few experiments to run with my FoodSaver and will post the results I find.

[Anonymous]

Thanks.. and your correct.
This is the primary reason to shorten the bags entry width with a 90 or ? degree pre seal. So the final seal (on large width bags) has no contact with the edges of the sealing strip itself. I wasn’t aware of FoodSaver having the same problem, but my bets on your research.

[Anonymous]

I have one of those IR temp guns and will see if I can get some relative numbers sealing some bags. Not sure if I can aim at that spot but if I can I will post the numbers.

[Anonymous]

I like your style.. and equipment…:-)

[Anonymous]

I thought I would add an idea to the mix. Where I work, they have different grades of scotchbrite, one of which is a course tough grade that you have to cut with scissors and can’t really squish with your fingers. I thought that if you took a small piece maybe 3/4 of an inch, cut a slot about half way through, and fit over the snorkel. With it being mesh like and not having any hard edges, I thought it might be able to continue to suck air until nice and tight, then just leave that little piece in the bag.

[Anonymous]

Tried your idea of scotchbrite on a rib eye today.

Cut a 1 inch X 1 inch piece and made an incision with hard backed razor about half way through the piece and inserted it over the nozzle of the sealer.

It worked like a treat. Easiest and best vacuum seal I have done to date.

Thanks.

[Ron Pratt]

would/could you or kinder mind posting a picture? I don’t grasp why the Scotchbrite keeps the Drybag open. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Happy to try and do some photos.

However I am a bit of a techno-peasant so need some advice on how to upload photos.

On my computer I have Windows photo shop and cannot seem to upload photos.

Cheers

[Ron Pratt]

hound – you can’t upload a picture here directly from your computer, but need a host site to do that. Many are available, but the one I have used for 10 years that I find easy to use and FREE!!! is Photobucket. The following site goes to a site that at first you may think is porn, but TRUST ME The Naked Whiz is NOT porn! Just disregard the first sentence about posting on the Big Green Egg board – the instructions will help you get set up on Photobucket. Here ya go!
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/howtopostaphoto.htm

[Anonymous]

What color was the scotchbrite, burgundy? I know different colors mean different sniffness for harder scrub jobs.

[Author]

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