Paper Clip Wire arrowhead clips…

[Anonymous]

Hope this works.. One photo of a type of arrow head clip. You can make any type shape you wish. Just make the end tips that fit in the snorkel tip, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch long. with a bend to the side to the arrow head to keep the clip in the forward position.

:woohoo:

[Ron Pratt]

Thank you, Sir! – just tonight for the first time it finally dawned on me that your wire solution has a bend downward which keeps a wide throat open in the bag, but allows the snorkel to snap back leaving it in place. Most times I can visualize written concepts and especially after seeing a picture – but for some reason it wasn’t until tonight that I sensed that bend!

[Anonymous]

😉
Your welcome kind sir.. Give it a try. And do try the wide open bag end as well.
There really isn’t much need to make that elaborate short entry for the snorkle tube to fit in. The bag will vacuum tightly as it is.
With the exception of the largest bags that take up the entire width of the sealing strip. Those ends of the sealing strip seem to get a wee bit hotter and melt a hole. Thus the need for shortening the bag edges via the 45 degree short seals.
Otherwise, just place the clip into the bag, the bag adusted to the inside of the sealing area, clamp it shut and press down on the sealing bar on the ends of the bar, temperature at about 4,,,and watch the count and the color indicator.
Dang.. its fun to do.
My two steaks are getting the short term aging. 7 to 10 day. Maybe Wednesday this week I will do a kick butt steak. :woohoo: :woohoo:
Cheers..
C~W = Char-Woody
PS…. its best to place the clip on the meat before the sealing process.

[Anonymous]

recently i bought a Snorkel sealer to use with the drybag, its the same as the recommended machine only branded differently.

i’ve also got a chamber machine.

anyways i’m finding it hard to get all the air out of the standard bags the machine came with and all i was doing was vac’ing frozen meats.

i tried the clip wire trick and that pretty improved the amount of air that was pulled out of the bags…

i’m just wondering if theres something wrong with my machine or if these Snorkel machines are really just designed badly…

[Ron Pratt]

Welcome aboard, Scott! IMHO what problem you are experiencing is more with the freezer bags AND the machine. If you are accustomed to using a Food Saver along with their proprietary channel bags those are easy to get an excellent tight seal. Otherwise the non-channeled material tends to collapse the bags up close. That is not always bad – for instance I frequently will reseal potato chips, snacks and cookies with my snorkel machine as it keeps from crushing the contents. Otherwise it takes a little practice.

[Anonymous]

So CW, couple of questions that might be obvious…if so sorry :blush:

1) Do the paper clips stay in the bag after sealing?

2) Do you just boil them to sterilize prior to using them?

Nick

[Anonymous]

Hya Nick…
1) Yes…this is the reason for the small clip ends to fit insided the snorkle tip.
When you press on the bar for the sealing, the snorkle snaps back leaving the clip inside the bag material and meat as the bar seals the material.
2) Again, yes.. you can boil… but I just wash in soap and water and then if you wish, a hot water rinse prior to there use.
No problems so far.
I have one more trial type clip to show off once I use it to determine if it will suffice.
Good luck with the Waygu…

[Anonymous]

I’m gonna bag one of the sasquatch feet (nickname my wife came up with for the goofy looking Wagyu briskets) tonight…I’ll give the paper clip a try. Seems like it should make things much easier 🙂

[Andy Starvaski]

Ahhh I think I understand the paper clip trick but I still unsure about the “Bend” part. is the front of the arrow bent downwards?

Thanks
Andy

[Ron Pratt]

Welcome aboard, Andy!

Actually that is sort of an optical allusion the tip looks to be pointing down, but actually is pointing up.

[Ron Pratt]

Andy,
here’s the link to yet another paper clip design that C~W also came up with and is even more simple and having tried it myself I think it even works better. The thread starts here and is followed by a picture that I added.

http://www.drybagsteak.com/forum/13-general-questions/684-i-tried-something-new-today-with-a-paper-clip

[Andy Starvaski]

Thanks for the pointer.RRP. I’m intriguted by the scotchbrite idea.

This is my third go around. last summer I started off with a NY Strip loin and aged it for 2 weeks. I noticed an improvement with the steak flavor, and quickly did a 12lb Rib eye loin for 28 days and had amazing results. The rib eyes were some of the best steaks I have ever had, anywhere.

The other day I sealed up another 12lb rib loin and plan to take it 35 days.

I am used to using my Tila Foodsaver chamber sealer for most foods, so it’s been a learning process using the snorkel sealer. The two machines are significantly different. I used the straw method the other night and had good luck and got the best seal yet.

My tips so far would include:

1) don’t cut the bag.
2) fold the bag’s top down when putting the roast in to avoid getting the inside wet and affecting the heat seal.
3)Massage, Massage, Massage.
4) Massage some more
5) After I seal the bag, I quickly slide the bag down a bit and re-seal so I have to seal lines. Sometimes I do 3.

B)

[Ron Pratt]

Good list you have made there! You might want to add one more trick to it – a piece of a woman’s panty hose will eliminate a lot of the massaging needed to get air pockets out. Then after sealing of course remove the hose. As for aging time I currently have a 16 pound rib eye that I initially planned to age 45 days but have since decided to go 60 days – my longest yet.

[Anonymous]

Hi…I have been out of touch for a few days…and will try and clarify the clip thingy.
I opened up the paper clip as it is, so the three sides would form a triangular shape with two equal sides and the cut ends forming the third side, overlapping each other a bit. This saved any cutting of any part of the paper clip.
I used the end at the longest end to insert directly into the snorkle tube.
It didn’t affect the draw of the vaccum in the slightest.
I pushed the clip up onto the meat, and let the vaccum do the rest of the work while I helped form the bag around the meat itself… Once a tight seal had been accomplished, I pressed down on both ends of the sealing bar, and did about a 4 count of the red light, at a 4 setting on the heat dial.
No problems at all.. fast and furious it was… :laugh:
Good luck to you all..
“Char-Woody” = “C~W”

[Ron Pratt]

Thanks for chiming in C~W. I kinda figured you were out and about or you would have answered Andy’s question. I thought maybe he was getting ready to seal up and needed an answer “right soon” so I infringed a bit…sorry if it offended you, my friend!

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