V4840 sealing issues even with mouse

[Amy Snowden]

Need some help here– my husband and I tried for a half hour to seal a small roast in a small bag. When we tried to seal the corner, the machine wouldn’t recognize the bag. We eventually got the mouse attached to the opening (no corner seal) but then the bag would not seal as much as it tried. So, my questions are; Do we need to use the mouse to seal the corner even though the instructions don’t say you need to and then use a second mouse to seal the bag?? And second, the mice are doubled over, when we got the mouse to attach to the bag we doubled the length by tearing it from its doubled over format. Is that the issue as to why it wouldn’t seal?

[Ron Pratt]

Sorry to hear of your frustration. And the approach you and he took was proper. No you need not have to use the mouse cut in half as long as your diagonal seals were good. The issue is not the UMAi Dry® bag, but instead your V4840 sealer. You should have been able to seal the corners using the Seal Only setting. During those seals you are not vacuuming the air out. The most logical reason for not sealing the corners was due to the vacuum “brain” thinking it had not gotten all of the air out. I use an older, less sophisticated FS which has a manual seal button which over rides the “brain”.

I applaud you for was sticking with the first bag! Too often people will say they went through 3 or 4 bags! I must have practiced sealing my first bag 7 or 8 times until I learned how my FS was going to react to the bag. Key here is the FS is made to act with its proprietary style of bag and is always looking to vacuum the air before sealing.

Remember small pockets of air may still exist. but they pose no problem. As long as 75 to 80% surface bond that is sufficient.
Ron

[Matthew Rogers]

Hi Ron,

I really did not want to hijack someone’s thread, however I have created two new topics with request for help with no success. Each time it says my post is awaiting moderator approval, which has not happened. Can you please take a look and approve one of my new topics? Thanks!

[Ron Pratt]

Sorry – but this is the only post shown as waiting approval. What can we help you with?
Ron

[Matthew Rogers]

– Ron
This is my first attempt at dry aging, I just recently bought the ribeye bags and bagged a 19 pound bone-in prime rib. I am a little concerned because after only one day it looks like more air is in the bag. I am worried because I really had to squeeze the meat into this bag. The meat at its widest point just barely fit in. I have just received some larger brisket bags and am wondering if I need to re-bag it? If so, is there anything special that needs to be done? I read that there should be some moisture for a proper bond and am worried it may be fairly dry in there as it has been in the fridge since Jan 5th.

There appears to be a great bond on the right side and completely on the bottom where the fat cap is, however I think this may be due to how tightly the meat is in the bag not because of a good seal. Please take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks!

[Matthew Rogers]

Hey Ron, please see above.

[Ron Pratt]

Looks good from here. You are extremely lucky so far in having not punctured the bag with those sharp bone edges. If I were you I would quit handling that meat until you are done! UMAi Dry® recommends covering those sharp edges with parchment paper before sealing.
Ron

[Matthew Rogers]

Thank you for the response. I will definitely use parchment paper (and a larger bag) next time, and I will go ahead and leave it alone and see what happens. Thanks!

[Sean Petersel]

I need help to, I am a rookie at this and after a week ot seems like there is sone air in my bag and my meat isnt looking great, can somebody please help!

What should my meat look like after a week?

Should i open and smell/rebag?
Also noticed what may be mold (white spots) is that bad?

Thank you!!!

[Author]

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