vacuum machine options?

[Anonymous]

so as we all the Sinbo isn’t the best machine around.

does anyone know of a better machine to use? i’m willing to spend up to $500.

[Ron Pratt]

Scott,

I’m not sure that if we took a poll that the Sinbo would be as poorly rated as it is in your mind. There have been several helpful hints posted about increasing the sealing time – I find a 4 works for me. Also there are several tricks offered to help get all the air out thus overcoming the Sinbo’s tendency to think a vacuum has been reached. Also there is the issue of where to press on the sealing bar.

Are you looking at it as a commercial application? I don’t think too many of us here are willing to plop down $500 to seal bags when the Sinbo can be made to work with just a little practice and finesse.

Ron

[Anonymous]

maybe it would be a good idea to combine all the tricks into one post? i have read some and tried some, although i haven’t heard about the pressing the sealing bar, please enlighten me.

i’m not running a business that requires commercial application, although I have thought about looking into becoming an australian distributor for drybagsteak, there are farmers markets each weekend in my area and it would be a good place to demo and cook up samples, with meat prices on the up in australia, i’m sure these bags would have an extra appeal.

i do a a lot of sealing for family and friends, so spending $500 on a machine I’m sure I would get enough use out of it to be worth while.

[Anonymous]

Scott,

FWIW, I’ve gotten to where I can reliably seal bags with very good contact on the first try (without the help of any additional implement like rafts or paper clips or whatever). Next time I seal something up, I’ll take detailed pictures and post some detailed instructions.

[Anonymous]

Aegwyn11, that would be great mate! thanks

[Rich Lansdale]

Instead of the machine I used a straw and the power of my own lungs. Put the meat in the bag then insert the straw and clamp the bag aroung it. Start sucking the air out of the bag then when you think you got all the air out start twisting the bag like a loaf of bread and continue sucking. Pull out the straw and tie the end of the bag up (I used some butchers twine). Worked like a charm. I got this method from another board member and decided to try it since I was having issues using the machine for the first time.

[Ron Pratt]

A mechanical variation on the straw method is using the canister vacuuming tube that comes with some Food Saver models.

[Billy Barrington]

How about using the flat attachment to my vacuum cleaner? It should have a better suction than my lungs. 😀

[Ron Pratt]

Quincy wrote:

quote :

How about using the flat attachment to my vacuum cleaner? It should have a better suction than my lungs. 😀

I’d just make sure that flat attachment was sanitized first! Washing it thoroughly and then submersing it entirely in boiling water would work. Reason to sanitize is because during the air extraction process that flat attachment is inside the Drybag and could contaminate the meat! Drawback might be in handling the VC hose while touching the raw meat though!

[Anonymous]

So I just ordered me a vacuum sealer (for general purpose, not for drybagging). I decided not to get a Foodsaver as I tend to want to spend money once, and reveiws both from friends and online of the longevity of the Foodsavers (particularily the newer ones) isn’t very good.

I went with an entry level commercial style sealer. With these the entire bag to be vacuum sealed goes inside the chamber. Once you close the chamber, the machine evacuates all the air from inside the chamber (both inside and outside the bag), then seals the bag. After this, the chamber opens, atmosphere rushes in and poof, you have a perfectly vacuum sealed bag.

One key benefit of this style is that you don’t need embossed (foodsaver) style bags, so the bags are MUCH cheaper. I ordered a case of 1000 8″x12″ bags with the machine for $75. The other key benefit (the reason I went down this path) is that its a much higher build quality machine that can be repaired.

The downside is the initial cost and the size (dimensions and weight).

If you want something better than the Sinbo, this would be the way to go. But you’re going to pay. I got the VP-112 with a chamber size of 11x12x5. For drybagging, I think you’d need something much larger and more expensive for drybagging full subprimals….

Here’s the place I ordered from….VERY nice and helpful people.

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/vacuum_packaging_machine_ary_vacmaster_food_vac_system.aspx

[Anonymous]

i did look into the above chamber machine however it doesn’t fit the standard size drybags…

i still haven’t found a machine…. i looked into a few high quality channel machines that were 15″ or wider… The Weston Pro 2100 was one of them, i thought with a decent channel sealer (thats wide enough), I could insert a piece of channel bag into the drybag which would then draw out the air… however the Pr 2100 only comes in 120v which doesn’t working australia..

[Author]

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